Born Margaret Nixon McEathron in Altadena, California, United States, to Charles Nixon and Margaret Elsa (née Wittke) McEathron, Nixon was a child actress and also began singing at an early age in choruses, including performing solos with the Roger Wagner Chorale. She went on to study singing and opera with Thomas Noble MacBurney, Carl Ebert, Jan Popper, Boris Goldovsky and Sarah Caldwell. Nixon's career in film started in 1948 when she sang the voices of the angels heard by Ingrid Bergman in Joan of Arc (1948). The same year, she did her first dubbing work when she provided Margaret O'Brien's singing voice in 1948's Big City and then 1949's The Secret Garden. She also dubbed Marilyn Monroe's high notes in "Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend" in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953). She appeared on Broadway in 1954 in The Girl in Pink Tights. In 1956, she worked closely with Deborah Kerr to supply the star's singing voice for the film version of Rodgers & Hammerstein's The King and I, and the next year she again worked with Kerr to dub her voice in An Affair to Remember. That year, she also sang for Sophia Loren in Boy on a Dolphin. In 1960, she had an on-screen chorus role in Can-Can. In 1961's West Side Story, the studio kept her work on the film (as the singing voice of Natalie Wood's Maria) a secret from the actress, and Nixon also dubbed Rita Moreno's singing in the film's "Tonight" quintet. She asked the film's producers for, but did not receive, any direct royalties from her work on the film, but Leonard Bernstein contractually gave her 1/4 of one percent of his personal royalties from it. In 1962, she also sang Wood's high notes in Gypsy. For My Fair Lady in 1964, she again worked with the female lead of the film, Audrey Hepburn, to perform the songs of Hepburn's character Eliza. Because of her uncredited dubbing work in these films, Time magazine called her "The Ghostess with the Mostest".
Nixon made a special guest appearance on Leonard Bernstein's Young People's Concerts broadcast that aired April 9, 1961, entitled "Folk Music in the Concert Hall". She sang three "Songs of the Auvergne" by Canteloube. Before My Fair Lady was released in theatres in 1964, Nixon played Eliza in a production at New York City Center. Nixon's first onscreen appearance was as Sister Sophia in the 1965 film The Sound of Music. In the DVD commentary to the film, director Robert Wise comments that audiences were finally able to see the woman whose voice they knew so well. In 1967, she was the singing voice of Princess Serena in a live action and animated version of Jack and the Beanstalk on NBC. Also in the 1960s, Nixon made concert appearances.
Nixon taught at the California Institute of Arts from 1969 to 1971 and joined the faculty of the Music Academy of the West, Santa Barbara, in 1980, where she taught for many years. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, she hosted a children's television show in Seattle on KOMO-TV channel 4 called Boomerang, winning four Emmy Awards as best actress, and made numerous other television appearances on variety shows and as a guest star in prime time series.
Nixon's opera repertory included Zerbinetta in Ariadne auf Naxos, Susanna in Le nozze di Figaro, both Blonde and Konstanze in Die Entführung aus dem Serail, Violetta in La traviata, the title role in La Périchole and Philine in Mignon. Her opera credits include performances at Los Angeles Opera, Seattle Opera, San Francisco Opera and the Tanglewood Festival among others. In addition to giving recitals, she appeared as an oratorio and concert soloist with the New York Philharmonic under Leonard Bernstein, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Cleveland Orchestra, Toronto Symphony Orchestra, the London Symphony Orchestra and the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra among others. Nixon also toured with Liberace and Victor Borge and in her own cabaret shows. On stage, in 1984, she originated the role of Edna Off-Broadway in Taking My Turn, composed by Gary William Friedman, receiving a nomination for a Drama Desk Award. She also originated the role of Sadie McKibben in Opal (1992), and she had a 1997 film role as Aunt Alice in I Think I Do. Under her own name, beginning in the 1980s, Nixon recorded songs by Jerome Kern, George Gershwin, Arnold Schönberg, Charles Ives, Aaron Copland and Anton Webern. She was nominated for two Grammy Awards for Best Classical Performance, Vocal Soloist, one for her Schönberg album and one for her Copland album.
In the 1998 Disney film Mulan, Nixon was the singing voice of "Grandmother Fa". She then returned to the stage, touring the US as Fraulein Schneider in Cabaret in 1997–1998. In 1999, she originated the role of Mrs. Wilson in the premiere of Ballymore, an opera by Richard Wargo at Skylight Opera Theatre in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, which was taped for PBS. In regional theatre and Off-Broadway, she played Nurse in Romeo & Juliet and appeared in productions of The King and I and The Sound of Music. She also continued to teach voice and judge vocal competitions.
In 2000, after nearly a half century away, she returned to Broadway as Aunt Kate in James Joyce's The Dead. In 2001, Nixon replaced Joan Roberts as Heidi Schiller in the Broadway revival of Stephen Sondheim's Follies. She played Eunice Miller in 70, Girls, 70 in a 2002 production in Los Angeles. In 2003, she was again on Broadway as a replacement in role of Guido's mother in the revival of Nine. Her autobiography, I Could Have Sung All Night, was published in 2006. She performed in the 2008 North American Tour of Cameron Mackintosh's UK revival of My Fair Lady in the role of Mrs. Higgins.
On October 27, 2008, Nixon was presented with the Singer Symposium's Distinguished Artist Award in New York City. She is also an Honorary Member of Sigma Alpha Iota International Women's Music Fraternity.
In 1950, Nixon married the first of her three husbands, Ernest Gold, who composed the theme song to the movie Exodus. They had three children, including singer/songwriter Andrew Gold. They divorced in 1969. She was married to Dr. Lajos "Fritz" Fenster from 1971 to 1975, and to woodwind player Albert Block from 1983 to his death in 2015.
Nixon died in New York from the effects of breast cancer, aged 86.
I Could Have Danced All Night
Marni Nixon Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
My head's too light to try to set it down
Sleep! Sleep! I couldn't sleep tonight
Not for all the jewels in the crown
I could have danced all night
I could have danced all night
And still have begged for more
I could have spread my wings
I've never done before
I'll never know
What made it so exciting
Why all at once
My heart took flight
I only know when he
Began to dance with me
I could have danced, danced, danced all night
It's after three now
Don't you agree now
She ought to be in bed
I could have danced all night
I could have danced all night
And still have begged for more
I could have spread my wings
And done a thousand things
I've never done before
I'll never know
What made it so exciting
Why all at once my heart took flight
I only know when he
Began to dance with me
I could have danced, danced, danced all night
I understand, dear
It's all been grand, dear
But now it's time to sleep
I could have danced all night
I could have danced all night
And still have begged for more
I could have spread my wings
And done a thousand things
I've never done before
I'll never know
What made it so exciting
Why all at once my heart took flight
I only know when he
Began to dance with me
I could have danced, danced, danced
All night
The lyrics of Marni Nixon's song, "I Could Have Danced All Night," depict a moment of pure joy and excitement. The singer of the song is so thrilled with the experience of dancing that she cannot even think of going to bed despite the late hour. As she contemplates this feeling, she realizes that dancing has expanded her horizons and allowed her to explore parts of herself that were previously uncharted.
Through her words, we see that the act of dancing has allowed her to "spread her wings and do a thousand things she's never done before." When she is asked to explain what made the experience so thrilling, she cannot put it into words. Instead, all she knows is that when the man she is dancing with took her in his arms, her heart took flight and she could have continued dancing all night.
Despite the joy that she feels at this moment, however, the lyrics also hint at the idea that all good things must eventually come to an end. As the singer of the song is gently but firmly reminded that it is time to go to bed, she acknowledges that the experience has been wonderful, but that it is now time to sleep.
Line by Line Meaning
Bed! Bed! I couldn't go to bed
I am so energized and excited from dancing that I don't want to sleep.
My head's too light to try to set it down
I feel so alive and exhilarated that my head feels weightless and I can't even try to sleep.
Sleep! Sleep! I couldn't sleep tonight
I am so restless and full of energy that I cannot bring myself to fall asleep.
Not for all the jewels in the crown
There is nothing of value that could make me want to go to sleep instead of dancing.
I could have danced all night
I have so much energy and joy from dancing that I could keep going forever.
And still have begged for more
Even if I danced all night, I would still want to keep going.
I could have spread my wings
I feel free and limitless in my ability to move and express myself through dance.
And done a thousand things
Dancing has opened up a realm of possibilities and experiences I had never imagined before.
I've never done before
Dancing has allowed me to explore new territories and emotions within myself.
I'll never know
I cannot quite explain why I feel so excited and alive from dancing.
What made it so exciting
There is a magical quality to dancing that just fills me with joy and passion.
Why all at once my heart took flight
Dancing has lifted my heart and soul to a new dimension of happiness and freedom.
I only know when he began to dance with me
It is the connection and passion between me and my partner that makes dancing so special.
I understand, dear
I know I should probably try to sleep now.
It's all been grand, dear
The experience of dancing has been incredible and unforgettable.
But now it's time to sleep
I need to rest my body after the excitement and energy of the dance.
I could have danced, danced, danced all night
I am filled with so much energy and passion from dancing that I cannot help but want to keep going.
Lyrics © TuneCore Inc., BMG Rights Management, Universal Music Publishing Group, Royalty Network, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Iricom US Ltd, Downtown Music Publishing, Songtrust Ave, Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd., Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: Alan Jay Lerner, Frederick Loewe
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind