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Biography
Infobox musical artist|name = Rosemary Clooney|image = Rosemary Clooney Allan Warren.jpg|caption = Rosemary Clooney performing in 1977|background = solo_singer|Born = birth date|1928|5|23|mf=y Maysville, Kentucky , United States|U.S. |Died = death date and age|2002|6|29|1928|5|23 Beverly Hills, California , U.S.|genre = Traditional pop music|Traditional pop , vocal jazz |years_active = 1946–2001|occupation = Singer , Actress |spouse = Jose Ferrer (1953& ndash;1961; 1964& ndash;1967), Dante Cesare DiPaolo (1997& ndash;2002, her death)|label = Columbia Records|Columbia MGM Records|MGM Coral Records|Coral RCA Victor Records|RCA Victor Reprise Records|Reprise Dot Records|Dot United Artists Records|United Artists Concord Records|Concord Jazz |website = http://www.rosemaryclooney.com/ Rosemary Clooney Palladium website Rosemary Clooney (May 23, 1928 & ndash; June 29, 2002) was an People of the United States|American singer and actress. She came to prominence in the early 1950s with the novelty hit " Come On-a My House " written by William Saroyan and his cousin Ross Bagdasarian, Sr.|Ross Bagdasarian (better known as David Seville , the father figure of Alvin and the Chipmunks ), which was followed by other pop numbers such as " Botch-a-Me (Ba-Ba-Baciami Piccina)|Botch-a-Me " (a cover version of the Italian language|Italian song Ba-Ba-Baciami Piccina by Alberto Rabagliati ), " Mambo Italiano (song)|Mambo Italiano ", " Tenderly ", " Half as Much ", " Hey There " and " This Ole House ", although she had success as a jazz vocalist. Clooney's career languished in the 1960s, partly due to problems related to depression and drug addiction, but revived in 1974, when her White Christmas (film)|White Christmas co-star Bing Crosby asked her to appear with him at a show marking his 50th anniversary in show business. She continued recording until her death in 2002. She was the aunt of Academy Award winning actor George Clooney .
Early life
Clooney was born in Maysville, Kentucky|Maysville , Kentucky , the daughter of Marie Frances (Guilfoyle) and Andrew Joseph Clooney. Her father was of Irish and German descent and her mother was of Irish and English ancestry. http://www.genealogy.com/famousfolks/george-clooney/index.html She was raised Catholic. When Clooney was fifteen, her mother and brother, Nick Clooney|Nick , moved to California . She and her sister, Betty, remained with their father.citation needed|date=February 2011 The family resided in the John Brett Richeson House in the late 1940s.
Rosemary, Betty and Nick all became entertainers. In the next generation, some of her children, including Miguel Ferrer and Rafael Ferrer , and her nephew, George Clooney , also became respected entertainers. In 1945, the Clooney sisters won a spot on Cincinnati , Ohio 's radio station WLW as singers. Her sister Betty sang in a duo with Clooney for much of her early career.
Career
Clooney's first recordings, in May 1946, were for Columbia Records . She sang with Tony Pastor (bandleader)|Tony Pastor 's big band music|big band . Clooney continued working with the Pastor band until 1949, making her last recording with the band in May of that year and her first as a solo artist a month later, still for Columbia. In 1951, her record of "Come On-a My House", produced by Mitch Miller , became a hit. It was her first of many singles to hit the charts—despite the fact that Clooney hated the song passionately. She had been told by Columbia Records to record the song, and that she would be in violation of her contract if she did not do so. Around 1952, Rosemary recorded several duets with Marlene Dietrich .
In 1954, she starred, along with Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye , and Vera-Ellen , in the movie White Christmas (film)|White Christmas . She starred, in 1956, in a half-hour broadcast syndication|syndicated television variety show|musical-variety show The Rosemary Clooney Show . The show featured The Hi-Lo's singing group and Nelson Riddle 's orchestra. The following year, the show moved to NBC prime time as The Lux Show Starring Rosemary Clooney but only lasted one season. The new show featured the singing group The Modernaires and Frank DeVol 's orchestra. In later years, Clooney would often appear with Bing Crosby on television , such as in the 1957 special The Edsel Show , and the two friends made a concert tour of Ireland together. On November 21, 1957, she appeared on NBC's The Ford Show|The Ford Show, Starring Tennessee Ernie Ford , a frequent entry in the "Top 20" and featuring a musical group called "The Top Twenty." In 1960, Clooney and Crosby co-starred in a 20-minute CBS radio program aired before the midday news each weekday.
Clooney left Columbia Records in 1958, doing a number of recordings for MGM Records and then some for Coral Records . Finally, toward the end of 1958, she signed with RCA Victor Records , where she stayed until 1963. In 1964, she went to Reprise Records , and in 1965 to Dot Records . She moved to United Artists Records in 1966.
Beginning in 1977, she recorded an album a year for the Concord Jazz record label, http://www.concordmusicgroup.com/artists/Rosemary-Clooney/ www.concordmusicgroup.com which continued until her death. This was in contrast to most of her generation of singers who had long since stopped recording regularly by then. In the late-1970s and early-1980s, Clooney did television advertising|commercial s for Coronet brand paper towels, during which she sang a memorable jingle that goes, "Extra value is what you get, when you buy Coro-net." James Belushi later parodied Clooney and the commercial while as a cast member on NBC's Saturday Night Live in the early 1980s. Clooney sang a duet with Wild Man Fischer on "It's a Hard Business" in 1986, and in 1994 she sang a duet of Green Eyes (Aquellos Ojos Verdes)|Green Eyes with Barry Manilow in his 1994 album, '' Singin' with the Big Bands .
She guest appearance|guest-starred in the NBC television medical drama ER (TV series)|ER (starring her nephew, George Clooney ) in 1995; she received a Primetime Emmy Award nomination for Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress – Drama Series|Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series . On January 27, 1996, Clooney appeared on Garrison Keillor 's Prairie Home Companion radio program. She sang " When October Goes " -- lyrics by Johnny Mercer and music by Barry Manilow (after Mercer's death) -- from Manilow's 1984 album 2:00 AM Paradise Cafe , and discussed what an excellent musician Manilow was.A Prairie Home Companion With Garrison Keillor http://prairiehome.publicradio.org/programs/19960127/
In 1999, Clooney founded the Rosemary Clooney Music Festival, held annually in Maysville, her hometown. http://www.cnn.com/SHOWBIZ/News/9906/10/showbuzz/ "Rosemary Clooney to help rescue ailing theater", Showbuzz , CNN.com, June 10, 1999. Retrieved on January 1, 2008 She performed at the festival every year until her death. Proceeds benefit the restoration of the Russell Theater in Maysville, where Clooney's first film, The Stars are Singing , premiered in 1953.
She received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2002.
Personal life
Clooney suffered for much of her life from bipolar disorder . She revealed this and other details of her life in her two autobiographies.
Clooney was married twice to the movie star José Ferrer , who was sixteen years her senior. They were first married from 1953 until 1961 and, despite his open infidelities, again from 1964 to 1967. They had five children: actor Miguel Ferrer (b. 1955), Maria Ferrer (b. 1956), Gabriel Ferrer (b. 1957) (who married singer Debby Boone ), Monsita Ferrer (b. 1958), and Rafael Ferrer (b. 1960).citation needed|date=February 2011 In 1968, her relationship with a young drummer ended after two years, and she became increasingly dependent on pills after a punishing tour.cite book |title=Hollywood Songsters |last=Parish |first=James Robert |authorlink= |coauthors=Michael R. Pitts |year=1991 |publisher=Garland |location=New York |isbn=0415943329 |page=176 |pages= |url= http://books.google.ie/books? id=GlybVaD6cakC
She joined the 1968 presidential campaign|presidential campaign of close friend Robert F. Kennedy|Bobby Kennedy , and heard the shots when he was assassinated on June 5, 1968. http://books.google.com/books? id=bl8EAAAAMBAJ& pg=PA78& dq=%22rosemary+clooney%22+%22robert+F.+Kennedy%22+assassination& hl=en& ei=qHSkTdXxJea50QHawY3sCA& sa=X& oi=book_result& ct=result& resnum=3& ved=0CDkQ6AEwAg#v=onepage& q=%22rosemary%20clooney%22%20%22robert%20F.%20Kennedy%22%20assassination& f=false Los Angeles Magazine Jun 1998 158 pages Vol. 43, No. 6 page 78 ISSN 1522-9149 Published by Emmis Communications A month later she had a nervous breakdown onstage in Reno, Nevada|Reno , Nevada , and was hospitalized. She remained in psychoanalysis therapy for eight years afterwards.Parish and Pitts (1991), p. 177
Her sister Betty died suddenly of a brain aneurysm in 1976. She subsequently started a foundation in memory of and named for her sister. During this time she wrote her first autobiography, This for Remembrance: the Autobiography of Rosemary Clooney, an Irish-American Singer , written in collaboration with Raymond Strait and published by Playboy Press in 1977.cite book |last= Clooney |first= Rosemary |coauthor= Raymond Strait |title= This for remembrance : the autobiography of Rosemary Clooney |publisher= Playboy Press |year= 1977 |isbn= 0671169763 She chronicled her unhappy early life, her career as a singer, her marriage to Ferrer and mental health problems, concluding with her comeback as a singer and her happiness. Her good friend Bing Crosby wrote the introduction. Katherine Coker adapted the book for Jackie Cooper who produced and directed the television movie, http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0084608 Rosie: the Rosemary Clooney Story (1982) starring Sondra Locke (who lip syncs Clooney's songs), Penelope Milford as Betty and Tony Orlando who plays Jose Ferrer.
Living for many years in Beverly Hills , California, in the house formerly owned by George and Ira Gershwin , in 1980, she purchased a second home on Riverside Drive in Augusta, Kentucky|Augusta , Kentucky, near Maysville, her childhood hometown.
In 1983, Rosemary and her brother Nick co-chaired the http://www.bcftbi.org/default.asp Betty Clooney Foundation for the Brain-Injured, addressing the needs of survivors of cognitive disabilities caused by stroke s, tumor s and brain damage from trauma or age.
In 1999 Clooney published her second autobiography, Girl Singer: An Autobiography describing her battles with addiction to prescription drugs for major depressive disorder|depression , and how she lost and then regained a fortune.cite book |last= Clooney |first= Rosemary |coauthor= Joan Barthel |title= Girl singer: an autobiography |publisher= Doubleday (publisher)|Doubleday |year= 1999 |isbn= 0385493345 "I'd call myself a sweet singer with a big band sensibility," she wrote.
Today, the Augusta house offers viewing of collections of her personal items and sectionlink|souvenir|memorabilia from many of her films and singing performances. Her Beverly Hills home at 1019 North Roxbury Drive was sold to a developer after her death in 2002 and has been demolished.
She married her longtime friend, a former dancer, Dante DiPaolo in 1997 at St. Patrick's Church in Maysville, Kentucky.citation needed|date=February 2011
Lung cancer and death
Clooney was diagnosed with lung cancer at the end of 2001. Around this time, she gave her last concert, in Hawaii , backed by the Honolulu Symphony Orchestra|Honolulu Symphony Pops ; her last song was " God Bless America ". Despite surgery, she died six months later on June 29, 2002, at her Beverly Hills home.cite web|url= http://www.findadeath.com/Deceased/c/clooney/dc.jpg|title=Rosemary Clooney Death certificate|accessdate=2011-04-08 Her nephew, George Clooney , was a pallbearer at her funeral, which was attended by numerous stars, including Al Pacino . She is buried at Saint Patrick's Cemetery, Maysville.cite web|url= http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi? page=gr& GRid=6566072|title=Rosemary Clooney|accessdate=2011-06-25
In 2003 Rosemary Clooney was inducted into the Kentucky Women Remembered exhibit and her http://www.lyneart.com/KYWOMEN3.HTM portrait by Alison Lyne is on permanent display in the Kentucky State Capitol's rotunda.
In September 2007 a mural honoring moments from her life was painted in downtown Maysville. The mural highlights her lifelong friendship with Blanche Chambers,Cite news|url= http://www.maysville-online.com/news/article_fd2d5ed2-db7a-5ac4-aa0d-3f8a28bfb01d.html|title=Blanche Chambers dies at 84; was close friend of Rosemary Clooney|author=Michael Arthur|date=2009-01-11|work=The Ledger Independent the 1953 premier of The Stars are Singing and her singing career. It was painted by Louisiana muralists Robert Dafford , Herb Roe and Brett Chigoy as part of the Maysville, Kentucky#Maysville Murals|Maysville Floodwall Murals project.Cite web|url= http://www.cityofmaysville.com/tourism/floodwall%20murals.html|title=Maysville Floodwall Mural Project|accessdate=2010-03-28Cite web|url= http://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WM6QT6_Rosemary_Clooney_Mural_Maysville_KY |title=Rosemary Clooney Mural - Maysville, KY|accessdate=2010-03-23 Her brother Nick Clooney spoke during the dedication for the mural, explaining various images to the crowd.Cite news|title=The Pointer Sisters make excitement in Maysville|author=Misty Maynard|date=2007-09-30|work=The Ledger Independent|url= http://www.maysville-online.com/news/article_17addc6d-dc69-5e93-b561-4e68fc3a217e.html
Discography
Main|Rosemary Clooney discography
Filmography
Tony Pastor and His Orchestra (1947) (short subject)
Slaughter Trail (1951)
The Stars Are Singing (1953)
Here Come the Girls (1953 film)|Here Come the Girls (1953)
Red Garters (film)|Red Garters (1954)
White Christmas (film)|White Christmas (1954)
Deep in My Heart (1954 film)|Deep in My Heart (1954; cameo appearance)
Frasier (1993)
Radioland Murders (1994)
ER (TV series)|ER (1994)
Marlene Dietrich: Her Own Song (2002) (documentary)
http://www.musicianguide.com/biographies/1608001362/Rosemary-Clooney.html Biography on musicianguide.com
http://www.english.ccsu.edu/faculty/Gigliotti/Crosby%20and%20Clooney's%20Fancy%20Meeting%20You%20Here.htm "Elvis Bows, Bing Just Nods: High and Low Culture in Fancy Meeting You Here " by Gilbert L. Gigliotti
Persondata|NAME = Clooney, Rosemary |ALTERNATIVE NAMES= |SHORT DESCRIPTION=singer, actress |DATE OF BIRTH = May 23, 1928 |PLACE OF BIRTH = Maysville, Kentucky , United States |DATE OF DEATH = June 29, 2002 |PLACE OF DEATH = Beverly Hills, California , United States DEFAULTSORT:Clooney, Rosemary Category:1928 births Category:2002 deaths Category:Actors from Kentucky Category:American female singers Category:American musicians of German descent Category:American musicians of Irish descent Category:American people of German descent Category:American people of Irish descent Category:American pop singers Category:American Roman Catholics Category:Cabaret singers Category:California Democrats Category:Cancer deaths in California Category:Concord Records artists Category:Deaths from lung cancer Category:Decca Records artists Category:Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award winners Category:History of women in Kentucky Category:Kentucky Democrats Category:MGM Records artists Category:Musicians from Kentucky Category:People from Mason County, Kentucky Category:People with bipolar disorder Category:RCA Victor artists Category:Torch singers Category:Traditional pop music singers
