Mary Martin

Mary Virginia Martin, born December 1, 1913, in Weatherford, Texas, was an American actress and singer whose Broadway career spanned from 1938 to 1986. The daughter of Preston Martin, a lawyer, and Juanita Presley, a violin teacher, she grew up in Weatherford alongside her elder sister Geraldine. As a child she demonstrated a photographic memory and an early aptitude for performance, singing in a trio with her sister and a friend at a bandstand near her father's courthouse on Saturday nights. She developed her craft by watching films and imitating performers, winning prizes for mimicking dancers such as Ruby Keeler and singers such as Bing Crosby.

During high school Martin dated Benjamin Hagman, and the two married on November 3, 1930, at Grace Episcopal Church in Hopkinsville, Kentucky. Their son, actor Larry Hagman, was born approximately ten months later. The marriage proved difficult, and Martin eventually relocated to Los Angeles while her father handled her divorce. In California she pursued auditions so relentlessly that she became known as "Audition Mary." Among her early auditions she sang "Indian Love Call," after which Oscar Hammerstein II told her he believed she had something special, marking the beginning of her professional trajectory.

Martin made her Broadway debut in November 1938 in Cole Porter's Leave It to Me!, where her performance of the spoof striptease number "My Heart Belongs to Daddy" brought her overnight recognition. She went on to star in the Kurt Weill musical One Touch of Venus in 1943 and Lute Song in 1946. Her most celebrated stage work came through her association with Rodgers and Hammerstein: she originated the role of Nellie Forbush in South Pacific, opening on Broadway on April 7, 1949, and later brought the production to the West End on November 1, 1951. That performance earned her a Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical in 1950. In October 1954 she took on the title role in Peter Pan on Broadway, winning a second Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical in 1955. She opened in The Sound of Music on Broadway on November 16, 1959, originating the role of Maria von Trapp, a performance that brought her a third Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical in 1960.

Later Broadway credits included Jennie, I Do! I Do!, A Celebration of Richard Rodgers, Together on Broadway alongside Ethel Merman, and Do You Turn Somersaults?, the last of which extended her Broadway presence through 1986. Over the full arc of her career Martin received four Tony Awards and an Emmy Award. In 1989 she was named a Kennedy Center Honoree. She died on November 3, 1990.