I loved her singing ever since I was a kid. She was one of the dearest and most down-to-earth stars I ever met and worked with. I met her through Rose Marie of THE DICK VAN DYKE SHOW fame. Rose was in a revue show that toured the country. Another one of the 4 GIRLS 4 quartet was...Rosemary Clooney. I wound up writing some material for the show and that's how I got to meet and work with her. She gave me her home address. She even mentioned me to her nephew, George Clooney. I got that info from George himself.
After watching hours of live news coverage, I needed something to sooth my ears and refresh my mind. So, let me share with you, a few of my favorite Rosemary Clooney vocals. One o my favorite albums in my old record collection was the jazz album she cut with the great Duke Ellington.
Here's Rosemary Clooney with Duke Ellington doing "You and Me."
Here she is doing Duke's classic, "It Don't Mean a Thing If It Ain't Got That Swing."
PEYTON PLACE was a racy, highly best-selling novel that was turned into a good, 1957 hit movie that got Oscar nominations. It spawned a 1961 sequel that was not nearly as good as the original nor did it have any of the original cast members. But RETURN TO PEYTON PLACE did have a couple of worthwhile elements -- the juicy supporting role performance from Mary Astor and the tune sung over the opening credits by Rosemary Clooney.
Here's Rosie singing "The Wonderful Season of Love" from RETURN TO PEYTON PLACE directed by her then-husband, Jose Ferrer.
That shimmering voice. The fabulous phrasing. How I loved the singing of Rosemary Clooney.
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