It was seemingly a match made in heaven: two opera singers turned movie stars were madly in love with each other in real life. But one of Hollywood's most powerful studio bosses forbade them from marrying or else they would suffer career-ending consequences. All this off-screen drama took place during the filming of January 1936's "Rose Marie," a movie that proved to be a huge box office bonanza for MGM.
Jeannette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy were introduced to one another a year earlier making the surprise hit of 1935, 'Naughty Marietta.' The two instantaneously clicked. The film was so successful, MGM boss Louis B. Mayer decided to peg them into "Rose Marie," an adaptation of the 1924 Broadway operetta-musical. Mayer must have had an intuition what was going on between the two in their off-screen secret romance because the movie public saw them as an item when "Rose Marie" premiered. The film became the pair's most popular of the eight movies they appeared in together. The two, unmarried, were locked in a multi-year lucrative contract with MGM. Both MacDonald and Eddy made it known to Mayer before filming they were going to officially tie the knot since Jeannette was pregnant with Nelson's child. Mayer flew into a rage, saying he didn't believe in shotgun weddings. He pointed out that the years his studio cultivated MacDonald's angelic public persona would all go to ruin if they did. He pulled the plans to film the movie in Technicolor, which would have been the studio's first, and resorted to black-and-white film. Dejected, the two decided to perform an unofficial wedding while they were on the "Rose Marie's" filming location at Lake Tahoe. They saw themselves linked up "by God's law," and every year the two returned to the Tahoe area to renew their vows.
The affair was the beginning of a lifelong relationship that legally wasn't recognized. The first of eight pregnancies MacDonald had with Nelson was a miscarriage because of her weak heart, just as the other seven were. Two years later, Mayer, tired of the pair's nonsense, arranged a wedding for her and actor Gene Raymond. Even though her marriage with Raymond lasted until her death in 1965, their relationship was reportedly abusive by her husband's verbal and physical bashings, as well as his infidelity by his numerous affairs with other women. Over the years, MacDonald and Eddy purchased several houses together. The actor even leased an apartment adjacent to where she lived with Gene in the later stages of her life. Eddy, who married in 1939, still kept up his relationship with MacDonald until her death, and was the last one to leave the chapel of her funeral.
In "Rose Marie," set in the Canadian Rockies, Eddy is Sergeant Bruce of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police hot on the trail of Marie de Flor's (MacDonald) brother, Jack (Jimmy Stewart), a prison escapee who killed a fellow Mountie. As a famous soprano opera singer, Rose has to go incognito, posing as Marie, and was accompanied by an unscrupulous guide, Boniface (George Regas) to find her brother in Canada. Through a series of bumps along the road, Sgt. Bruce and Marie get down to a lot of lip-smacking before the inevitable happens when the Mountie confronts Jack.
The stiff manner Eddy plays the Mountie in "Rose Marie" served as the model for the cartoon character Dudley Do-Right in the 'The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show' series. Young actor Jimmy Stewart has his biggest role yet as Rose's brother. His presence is largely seen in the movie's last few sequences. The experience in front of the camera was a confidence booster to the stage actor, 28, just breaking into film, and led to MGM giving him bigger parts. Another newbie in cinema is David Niven, 26, who shows up in the early scenes as Teddy, an admirer of Rose. Niven had just arrived in America after resigning from the British Army and was seen briefly in 1935's "The Mutiny on the Bounty" before receiving his first short speaking part in "Rose Marie."
In a strange twist, Robert Miller Barr, in his only film, was hired as an extra for several scenes. He and a friend, Clyde Johnson, were wanted by the law for shooting two policemen in an armed robbery. One cop died and Johnson was caught, but Barr escaped. A few days later Johnson was lynched in Yreka, California, after 50 masked men dragged him out of the jail. Barr, on the loose, was able to get work in "Rose Marie" before arrested a year later for burglary and the killing of officer Frank "Jack' Daw.
The song 'Indian Love Song,' introduced in the 1924 "Rose Marie" stage play, and sung at the conclusion of the 1936 movie, became the signature song for MacDonald and Eddy, selling over a million records. The tune was nominated by the American Film Institute as one of Movies' 100 Best Songs. The film was also nominated by AFI as one of 100 Most Passionate movies. So popular was the tune "Indian Love Song," that when its remake, 1954 "Rose Marie" with Ann Blyth and Howard Keel, was released, the title of the 1936 movie was renamed 'Indian Love Song' so it wouldn't cause any confusion when it was shown on television.
Jeannette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy were introduced to one another a year earlier making the surprise hit of 1935, 'Naughty Marietta.' The two instantaneously clicked. The film was so successful, MGM boss Louis B. Mayer decided to peg them into "Rose Marie," an adaptation of the 1924 Broadway operetta-musical. Mayer must have had an intuition what was going on between the two in their off-screen secret romance because the movie public saw them as an item when "Rose Marie" premiered. The film became the pair's most popular of the eight movies they appeared in together. The two, unmarried, were locked in a multi-year lucrative contract with MGM. Both MacDonald and Eddy made it known to Mayer before filming they were going to officially tie the knot since Jeannette was pregnant with Nelson's child. Mayer flew into a rage, saying he didn't believe in shotgun weddings. He pointed out that the years his studio cultivated MacDonald's angelic public persona would all go to ruin if they did. He pulled the plans to film the movie in Technicolor, which would have been the studio's first, and resorted to black-and-white film. Dejected, the two decided to perform an unofficial wedding while they were on the "Rose Marie's" filming location at Lake Tahoe. They saw themselves linked up "by God's law," and every year the two returned to the Tahoe area to renew their vows.
The affair was the beginning of a lifelong relationship that legally wasn't recognized. The first of eight pregnancies MacDonald had with Nelson was a miscarriage because of her weak heart, just as the other seven were. Two years later, Mayer, tired of the pair's nonsense, arranged a wedding for her and actor Gene Raymond. Even though her marriage with Raymond lasted until her death in 1965, their relationship was reportedly abusive by her husband's verbal and physical bashings, as well as his infidelity by his numerous affairs with other women. Over the years, MacDonald and Eddy purchased several houses together. The actor even leased an apartment adjacent to where she lived with Gene in the later stages of her life. Eddy, who married in 1939, still kept up his relationship with MacDonald until her death, and was the last one to leave the chapel of her funeral.
In "Rose Marie," set in the Canadian Rockies, Eddy is Sergeant Bruce of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police hot on the trail of Marie de Flor's (MacDonald) brother, Jack (Jimmy Stewart), a prison escapee who killed a fellow Mountie. As a famous soprano opera singer, Rose has to go incognito, posing as Marie, and was accompanied by an unscrupulous guide, Boniface (George Regas) to find her brother in Canada. Through a series of bumps along the road, Sgt. Bruce and Marie get down to a lot of lip-smacking before the inevitable happens when the Mountie confronts Jack.
The stiff manner Eddy plays the Mountie in "Rose Marie" served as the model for the cartoon character Dudley Do-Right in the 'The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show' series. Young actor Jimmy Stewart has his biggest role yet as Rose's brother. His presence is largely seen in the movie's last few sequences. The experience in front of the camera was a confidence booster to the stage actor, 28, just breaking into film, and led to MGM giving him bigger parts. Another newbie in cinema is David Niven, 26, who shows up in the early scenes as Teddy, an admirer of Rose. Niven had just arrived in America after resigning from the British Army and was seen briefly in 1935's "The Mutiny on the Bounty" before receiving his first short speaking part in "Rose Marie."
In a strange twist, Robert Miller Barr, in his only film, was hired as an extra for several scenes. He and a friend, Clyde Johnson, were wanted by the law for shooting two policemen in an armed robbery. One cop died and Johnson was caught, but Barr escaped. A few days later Johnson was lynched in Yreka, California, after 50 masked men dragged him out of the jail. Barr, on the loose, was able to get work in "Rose Marie" before arrested a year later for burglary and the killing of officer Frank "Jack' Daw.
The song 'Indian Love Song,' introduced in the 1924 "Rose Marie" stage play, and sung at the conclusion of the 1936 movie, became the signature song for MacDonald and Eddy, selling over a million records. The tune was nominated by the American Film Institute as one of Movies' 100 Best Songs. The film was also nominated by AFI as one of 100 Most Passionate movies. So popular was the tune "Indian Love Song," that when its remake, 1954 "Rose Marie" with Ann Blyth and Howard Keel, was released, the title of the 1936 movie was renamed 'Indian Love Song' so it wouldn't cause any confusion when it was shown on television.