Lorraine Bridges

Lorraine Bridges (August 17, 1906 – December 4, 1993) was an American actress and singer, born in Oklahoma, who built a career spanning radio, film, stage, and Broadway. She was recognized for her ability to reach high notes, and a 1951 Variety review of her show at The Palace in New York characterized her as a fine lyric soprano whose voice occasionally achieved the qualities of a coloratura.

Bridges began her professional life in Oklahoma as a singer for radio station WKY. She subsequently became a contract player at Paramount Pictures, where she remained until the studio dropped her in 1935. Within three weeks she had signed with MGM, where she worked extensively as a vocal stand-in, frequently without screen credit. Her uncredited vocal contributions appeared in some of the era's most prominent productions, among them The Wizard of Oz (1939), for which she dubbed Billie Burke, and three films featuring Jeanette MacDonald: New Moon (1940), Bitter Sweet (1940), and Smilin' Through (1941). She also provided uncredited vocal work for Kathryn Grayson in Rio Rita (1942) and again for MacDonald in Cairo (1942).

Her credited and uncredited on-screen appearances included It's Great to Be Alive (1933), Wagon Wheels (1934), Escapade (1935), A Night at the Opera (1935), Swiss Miss (1938), Kiss the Boys Goodbye (1941), The Chocolate Soldier (1941), and Seven Sweethearts (1942).

In 1943 Bridges married actor Leonard Ceeley, with whom she had previously appeared as a principal player in a Marx Brothers revue, A Day at the Races. The couple later worked together in England, where Ceeley wrote, composed, and produced an adaptation of Cyrano de Bergerac titled Gardenia Lady, staged in Leeds in 1947, in which both performed. Bridges also appeared in additional productions in England during this period. On the American stage, she performed with the St. Louis Municipal Opera during its 1942 season and gave a show at The Palace in New York in 1951. Leonard Ceeley died in 1977.

Bridges appeared on Broadway in 1954 in The Saint of Bleecker Street, the opera by Gian Carlo Menotti.