Mary Martin

Mary Virginia Martin was born on December 1, 1913, in Weatherford, Texas, and died on November 3, 1990. She worked as an actress and singer, becoming a favorite of the songwriting duo Rodgers and Hammerstein. On stage, she created several iconic roles: Nellie Forbush in *South Pacific* (1949), the title character in *Peter Pan* (1954), and Maria von Trapp in *The Sound of Music* (1959). She won four Tony Awards and one Emmy, and in 1989 she was named a Kennedy Center Honoree. She was also the mother of actor Larry Hagman.

Martin grew up in a secure, happy home, as she later wrote in her autobiography. Her father, Preston Martin, was a lawyer; her mother, Juanita Presley, taught violin. Doctors warned Juanita that another pregnancy could kill her, but she wanted a boy. Instead, she had Mary, who grew up a tomboy. Mary spent her childhood playing in the family’s barn and orchard with her older sister Geraldine, whom she called “Sister.” They climbed trees and rode ponies. Mary adored her father, describing him as tall, handsome, and kind-eyed, while her mother handled discipline. She began singing on Saturday nights at a bandstand near her father’s courtroom, performing in a trio with her sister and a friend, all dressed in bellhop costumes. Even without a microphone, her high voice carried across the square—a trait she believed she inherited from her father.

As a child, Martin had a photographic memory, which made school tests easy and helped her learn songs quickly. Her first solo singing experience came at a fire hall, where she felt the crowd’s appreciation. She later reflected that she may have given too much of her love to audiences instead of her family, but she felt she couldn’t help it. She honed her craft by watching movies and imitating performers, winning prizes for mimicking Ruby Keeler’s look and dance moves and Bing Crosby’s singing voice. She insisted her childhood was pure joy, never frustrating. Her mother called her the happiest child, waking each morning with a smile. Martin herself remembered never wanting to go to sleep, afraid she might miss something.

In high school, she dated Benjamin Hagman. She left to attend finishing school at Ward–Belmont in Nashville, where she enjoyed imitating Fanny Brice at singing gigs but found the school dull and its rules confining. Homesick for Weatherford, her family, and Hagman, she convinced her mother to let them marry. They wed on November 3, 1930, at Grace Episcopal Church in Hopkinsville, Kentucky. Ten months later, pregnant with Larry, she was forced to leave Ward–Belmont. She was happy to start a new life but soon realized it was just “role playing.” The honeymoon took place at her parents’ house, and her dream of a family with a white-picket fence faded. At 17, she felt miserable, confused, and bored as a wife. Her sister suggested she teach dance, showing her the waltz clog. Martin imitated the move perfectly and opened a dance studio, where she created her own steps and taught her sister’s routine. She felt she was finally doing something she wanted to do: creating.

Wanting to learn more, she went to California to attend the Franchon and Marco School of the Theatre, then opened her own studio in Mineral Wells, Texas. She was given a ballroom studio on the condition that she sing in the lobby every Saturday, where she learned to use a microphone and phrase blues songs. One day, she accidentally walked into an audition room. Asked what key she wanted to sing “How Red the Rose, How Blue the Sky,” she had no idea but sang anyway and got the job. Back in California, she was hired to sing that song at the Fox Theater in San Francisco and then at the Paramount Theater in Los Angeles—though she had to perform from the wings. It was her first professional gig.

Soon after, her Texas studio was burned down by a man who considered dancing a sin. Unhappy, she took her father’s advice that she was too young to be married. She left everything, including her young son Larry, and stayed in Los Angeles while her father handled her divorce. She threw herself into auditions, earning the nickname “Audition Mary.” Her first professional audition and job was on a national radio network. At one early audition, she sang “Indian Love Call.” After she finished, a tall, craggly man who looked like a mountain told her she had something special. It was Oscar Hammerstein II. That meeting marked the start of her career. She began her radio work in 1939 as a vocalist on a short-lived revival.