Biography
Born Bernice Gaunt on 7 January 1909—though 1913 has also been given—in Omaha, Nebraska, she died on 9 March 1975 in Menlo Park, California. After working as a vocalist with Gus Arnheim’s popular dance band, she began appearing in Hollywood motion pictures in 1933. Those productions included both musicals and light comedies that incorporated musical sequences. Her early screen credits featured minor parts in The Merry Widow (1934, starring Maurice Chevalier and Jeanette MacDonald) and The Big Broadcast Of 1937 (1936, where she performed “I’m Talking Through My Heart” and “You Came To My Rescue,” the second as a duet with Frank Forrest). In 1936 she delivered “Happy New Year” for the drama San Francisco, and the following year she joined Bing Crosby for the duet “Blue Hawaii” in Waikiki Wedding. Additional roles came in Hideaway Girl (1936, alongside Martha Raye), Blossoms On Broadway (1937, with Edward Arnold and Weber And Fields), and The Big Broadcast Of 1938 (1938, in which she sang “Thanks For The Memory” with Bob Hope). That number later became Hope’s signature theme.
She next shared top billing with Hope in Thanks For The Memory (1938), where the pair performed both the title song and Frank Loesser and Hoagy Carmichael’s “Two Sleepy People.” The two artists also recorded popular versions of these numbers, which remain the recordings most closely associated with her name. In 1939 she appeared in Paris Honeymoon opposite Crosby and in Café Society with Madeleine Carroll and Fred MacMurray; she also co-starred with Hope in Some Like It Hot (subsequently retitled Rhythm Romance), which featured Gene Krupa and his band. Further films followed with Sailors On Leave in 1941 and A Song For Miss Julie in 1945, after which she withdrew from show business.
She next shared top billing with Hope in Thanks For The Memory (1938), where the pair performed both the title song and Frank Loesser and Hoagy Carmichael’s “Two Sleepy People.” The two artists also recorded popular versions of these numbers, which remain the recordings most closely associated with her name. In 1939 she appeared in Paris Honeymoon opposite Crosby and in Café Society with Madeleine Carroll and Fred MacMurray; she also co-starred with Hope in Some Like It Hot (subsequently retitled Rhythm Romance), which featured Gene Krupa and his band. Further films followed with Sailors On Leave in 1941 and A Song For Miss Julie in 1945, after which she withdrew from show business.
Singles
