Donald Novis

Donald George Novis (3 March 1906 – 23 July 1966) was an English-born American actor and tenor whose career spanned Broadway, film, radio, and live performance. Born in Hastings, Sussex, to Frederick George Novis and Charlotte Morris, he emigrated with his family to Canada shortly after birth, settling in Chapleau, Ontario. On 8 November 1908, the family crossed into the United States through Detroit, ultimately making their home in Los Angeles. Novis received his education at Thomas Jefferson Elementary School, Pasadena High School, and Whittier College, and during his formative years sang as a soloist at two churches and performed on radio station KPSN.

In 1928, Novis entered the national Atwater Kent Foundation singing competition, having first placed in a regional contest drawing contestants from nine western states. His victory in the second national Radio Audition brought him $5,000 in prize money and a two-year university scholarship.

Novis made his film debut as the Country Boy in the 1929 detective film Bulldog Drummond and went on to appear in numerous pictures through 1937, frequently in singing roles, including One Hour with You (1932) and This Is the Night (1932). His on-screen appearances became less frequent after that period, though he continued contributing to film soundtracks. Among his most notable recorded performances was his singing of "Love Is a Song" for the Disney animated feature Bambi (1942), a song that received an Academy Award nomination. He also provided voice work for Lady and the Tramp (1955).

His Broadway career began in 1930 when he originated the role of Hoheno in the musical Luana, based on music by Rudolf Friml. Five years later, he returned to Broadway as Matt Mulligan, Jr. in Jumbo, the 1935–1936 Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart musical. Those two productions represent the full extent of his Broadway credits. Beyond Broadway, Novis starred in a 1938 Los Angeles Civic Light Opera production of Jerome Kern's Roberta.

Throughout the 1930s, Novis maintained a prominent presence in radio and with big bands. He launched his own NBC program on 15 June 1932, and beginning 4 January 1933, he co-starred with Morton Downey in a weekly NBC Radio program, with Leon Belasco's orchestra providing accompaniment on the Wednesday night Woodbury broadcasts. He performed regularly with Anson Weeks and his band and was a frequent presence on Fibber McGee and Molly. He also played Matt Mulligan in the NBC radio adaptation of Jumbo during 1935–1936. From 1932 to 1934, he led his own orchestra, which recorded for Brunswick Records. Together with Gloria Grafton, he introduced the song "My Romance" in the film version of Jumbo (1935).

In 1955, Novis co-wrote the script for the Golden Horseshoe Revue at Disneyland's Frontierland alongside Wally Boag. The production ran continuously until 1986, and Novis himself starred in it from its opening until his retirement in 1964.

Novis married soprano Emma Julietta Burnett on 4 November 1929 in Long Beach, California; the couple divorced four years later. In February 1938, he married Dorothy Bradshaw, a former Ziegfeld girl, at Sky Harbor Airport in Phoenix, Arizona. They had two daughters, Carol Jean and Leslie Katherine Novis. Novis died on 23 July 1966 in California at the age of 60, survived by his wife, two daughters, two brothers, and a sister.