Irene Manning

Irene Manning

Born: July 17, 1912
Died: May 28, 2004
in Cincinnati, Ohio, USA
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Irene Manning (born Inez Harvuot, July 17, 1912 – May 28, 2004) was an American actress and singer.

Manning was born on July 17, 1912 in Cincinnati, Ohio, in a family of five siblings. Both of her parents were singers. Her family loved to go on outdoor picnics where the featured activity was group singing. This family environment helped Irene to develop a keen interest in singing at a very early age. Her sisters later complained that little Irene would sing in her sleep, keeping them awake. Manning trained as an opera singer at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester.

While performing with an all-girl USO show in England, Irene was asked to perform with band leader Glenn Miller in 1944. Miller was involved in making swing records to be broadcast into Nazi Germany as part of the American Broadcasting System in Europe. Because she had been a light opera star prior to World War II and was fluent in singing in German, she was asked to sing some American pop tunes which had been translated into German vocals.

She was briefly credited as Hope Manning in her first films, as she broke in with the Republic Studios system in 1936. Her first film placed her as the lead actress in a western, The Old Corral, opposite Gene Autry. Irene once said in jest that "she had left light opera for a horse opera."

By the early 1940s, Irene was employed in the Warner Bros. studio system as a contract actress and singer. She is probably best remembered as diva "Fay Templeton" in Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942), opposite James Cagney. In this film, she had a scene in which she had to simultaneously act, sing the song "Mary", and play the piano. She starred with Humphrey Bogart in The Big Shot (1942) and with Dennis Morgan in both The Desert Song (1943) and Shine On, Harvest Moon (1944).

Her contract was picked up by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) to place her singing skills as a threat to Jeanette MacDonald, who was giving MGM fits with her difficult demands. In private, Manning claimed that she was a better singer. The problem between MacDonald and MGM subsided, and Manning's contract was dropped without any appearances in an MGM film. In all, Irene Manning made a dozen films.

The musical stage took priority in the second half of the 1940s with The Day Before Spring on Broadway and both DuBarry Was a Lady and Serenade in London. She remained in England and appeared on her own BBC TV show, An American in England until 1951, when she returned to the United States for television and nightclub work. Eventually she retired to teach acting and voice.

Manning died on May 28, 2004, from congestive heart failure at her home in San Carlos, California, at the age of 91.

Movies for Irene Manning...

I Live in Grosvenor Square
Title: I Live in Grosvenor Square
Character: Herself - U.S.O. Singer
Released: July 20, 1945
Type: Movie
The WW II romance set in Grosvenor square aka Eisenhower's home where the GIs stayed in London. Neagle loves Harrison. There arrives patriot GI Dean Jagger to rouse things up in the square. Snotty British Neagle and Jagger clash and fall for each other. What will Harrison have to say or do about these? What will the consequences be? Will the three finally become two and which two in this extremely patriotic love and war story.
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Escape in the Desert
Title: Escape in the Desert
Character: Lora Tedder
Released: May 1, 1945
Type: Movie
Escaped Nazi POWs hold the denizens of a California resort hostage.
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Hollywood Canteen
Title: Hollywood Canteen
Character: Self
Released: December 15, 1944
Type: Movie
Two soldiers on leave spend three nights at a club offering free of charge food, dancing, and entertainment for servicemen on their way overseas. Club founders Bette Davis and John Garfield give talks on the history of the place.
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The Doughgirls
Title: The Doughgirls
Character: Mrs. Sylvia Cadman
Released: November 25, 1944
Type: Movie
Arthur and Vivian are just married, but when the get to their honeymoon suite in Washington D.C., they find it occupied. Arthur goes to meet Slade, his new boss, and when he comes back, he finds three girls in his suite. He orders Vivian to get rid of them, but they are friends of Vivian's and as time goes by, it looks more like Grand Central Station than the quiet honeymoon suite Arthur expected. As long as there is anyone else in the suite, Arthur will not stay there and there will be no honeymoon.
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Make Your Own Bed
Title: Make Your Own Bed
Character: Vivian Whirtle
Released: June 10, 1944
Type: Movie
Walter and Vivian live in the country and have a difficult time keeping servants. Walter then hires a private detective who has been fired for arresting the District Attorney. They only way that Walter can get Jerry to work for him is to tell Jerry that his life is in danger; the neighbor is trying to take his wife; and that Nazi spies are everywhere. Jerry needs a cook for his 'cover' so he gets his fiancée Susan to work with him. To keep Jerry working, Walter sends the threatening letters to himself and hires actors to play the spies but when a real group of spies disguised as a troupe of radio actors appears on the scene, events quickly spiral out of control.
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The Road to Victory
Title: The Road to Victory
Character: Irene Manning (uncredited)
Released: May 18, 1944
Type: Movie
Documentary short film intended to drum up support for the Fifth War Loan Campaign. It shows a happy family in the future of 1960 enjoying the prosperity and advantages made possible by the successful prosecution of the war, and how the sacrifices of 1944 have made the world a better place. Edited down from The Shining Future (1944).
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The Shining Future
Title: The Shining Future
Character: Self
Released: April 11, 1944
Type: Movie
Documentary short film intended to drum up support for the Fifth War Loan Campaign. It shows a happy family in the future of 1960 enjoying the prosperity and advantages made possible by the successful prosecution of the war, and how the sacrifices of 1944 have made the world a better place.
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Shine on Harvest Moon
Title: Shine on Harvest Moon
Character: Blanche Mallory
Released: March 10, 1944
Type: Movie
Biographical movie about the early 20th century broadway stars Nora Bayes and Jack Norworth.
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The Desert Song
Title: The Desert Song
Character: Margot
Released: December 17, 1943
Type: Movie
Paul Hudson, leads a group of desert bandits against some Nazis, who want to use them as cheap labor for their railroad.
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Breakdowns of 1942
Title: Breakdowns of 1942
Character: Self
Released: December 31, 1942
Type: Movie
Flubs and bloopers that occurred on the set of some of the major Warner Bros. pictures of 1942.
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The Big Shot
Title: The Big Shot
Character: Lorna Fleming
Released: June 13, 1942
Type: Movie
Duke Berne, former big shot but now a three-time loser, fears returning to crime because a fourth conviction will mean a life sentence. Finally, haunted by his past and goaded by his cohorts, he joins in planning an armoured car robbery.
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Spy Ship
Title: Spy Ship
Character: Pam Mitchell
Released: June 6, 1942
Type: Movie
A radio reporter begins to suspect that a commentator at his station may be using her position to broadcast shipping information to enemy spies. With the help of the girl's sister, he sets out to expose the spy and her Nazi gang.
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Yankee Doodle Dandy
Title: Yankee Doodle Dandy
Character: Fay Templeton
Released: May 29, 1942
Type: Movie
A film of the life of the renowned musical composer, playwright, actor, dancer and singer George M. Cohan.
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Michael O'Halloran
Title: Michael O'Halloran
Character: Leslie (as Hope Manning)
Released: May 15, 1937
Type: Movie
A wealthy woman's wild lifestyle finally drives her husband to take their two children, move out of the house and file for divorce. Positive she'll lose her children unless she shows the judge that she's changed her wild ways, she takes in two poor street kids, a brother and sister.
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Two Wise Maids
Title: Two Wise Maids
Character: Ellen Southard
Released: February 15, 1937
Type: Movie
The two leading ladies are cast as Prudence and Agatha, a pair of old-fashioned schoolteachers in an old-fashioned small town. Disdaining the wimpy theories of "progressive" education, Prudence and Agatha stick to the reliable "Three R's," often teaching to the tune of a hickory stick. Though ridiculed for their so-called outmoded methods, the heroines manage to turn out quite a few prize students, earning the undying gratitude of the local citizenry.
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The Old Corral
Title: The Old Corral
Character: Eleanor Spencer, aka Jane Edwards
Released: December 21, 1936
Type: Movie
As the sheriff of a small western town, Autry sings his way into a relationship with Eleanor, a singer from a Chicago nightclub who earlier witnessed a murder.