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[On Bing Crosby] Bing had a brilliant mind and an original wit. That casual delivery combined with an unexpectedly wide vocabulary. It was a great device for comedy -- and also an effective way of communicating with an audience or with a person.
-- Rosemary Clooney
When Rosemary Clooney remarried, her nephew George Clooney, according to rumor, did not attend, as he "did not wish to steal away the spotlight" on his aunt's special day.
Rosemary Clooney
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Rosemary Clooney
23 May 1928, Maysville, Kentucky
29 June 2002, Beverly Hills, California
Rosemary Clooney (May 23, 1928 – June 29, 2002) was an American singer and actress. She came to prominence in the early 1950s with the novelty hit "Come On-a My House", which was followed by other pop numbers such as "Botch-a-Me" (a cover version of the Italian song Ba-Ba-Baciami Piccina by Alberto Rabagliati), "Mambo Italiano", "Tenderly", "Half as Much", "Hey There" and "This Ole House", though she would go on to 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 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.
Clooney was born in Maysville, Kentucky, to Andrew Joseph Clooney and Frances Marie Guilfoyle, both of whom were Roman Catholics of Irish and German ancestry. Her father was an alcoholic and she and her brother and sister were constantly moving back and forth between her parents. When Clooney was fifteen, her mother and brother, Nick, moved to California. She and her sister, Betty, remained with their father.
Rosemary, Betty and Nick all became entertainers. In the next generation, some of her own 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.
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Clooney's first recordings, in May 1946, were for Columbia Records. She sang with Tony Pastor's 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. In later years, Clooney would often appear with Crosby on television, such as in the 1957 special The Edsel Show, and the two friends made a concert tour of Ireland together. Crosby opined that Clooney was "the best in the business." In 1960, she and Crosby co-starred in a 20-minute CBS radio show that went to air before the midday news every weekday.
She starred, in 1956, in a half-hour syndicated television 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 The Modernaires singing group and Frank DeVol's orchestra.
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, 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 commercials 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." Jim Belushi later parodied Clooney and the commercial while as a cast member on NBC's Saturday Night Live in the early 1980s.
In 1982, Sondra Locke portrayed Rosemary Clooney in the television movie Rosie: The Rosemary Clooney Story based on Clooney's autobiography, This for Remembrance. The movie won a Primetime Emmy.
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 with Barry Manilow in his 1994 album, Singin' with the Big Bands.
She guest-starred in the NBC television medical drama ER (starring her nephew, George Clooney) in 1995; she received a Primetime Emmy Award nomination for 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.
In 1999, Clooney founded the Rosemary Clooney Music Festival, held annually in Maysville, her hometown. 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.
Clooney suffered for much of her life from bipolar disorder. She revealed this and other details of her life in her autobiography titled This for Rememberance published in 1977 by Playboy Press. Her sister Betty died suddenly of a brain aneurysm in 1976, which Clooney also recounted in her book. She subsequently started a foundation in memory of and named for her sister. Additionally, "Aunt Rosie" became "Grandma Rosie" to Betty's grandchildren.
Clooney was married twice to José Ferrer, from 1953 until 1961 and 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).
In 1968, her relationship with a young drummer ended after two years, and she became increasingly dependent on pills after a punishing tour.
She joined the presidential campaign of close friend Bobby Kennedy, and was in The Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, California, when he was assassinated on June 5, 1968.
A month later she had a nervous breakdown onstage in Reno, Nevada, and was hospitalized. She remained in therapy for eight years afterwards.
Living primarily in Beverly Hills, California, for many years, in 1980, she purchased a second home on Riverside Drive in Augusta, Kentucky, near Maysville, her childhood hometown. Today, it houses collections of her personal items and memorabilia from many of her films and singing performances.
She married Dante DiPaolo in 1997 at St. Patrick's Church in Maysville, Kentucky.
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 Pops; her last song was "God Bless America". Despite surgery, she died six months later on June 29, 2002, at her Beverly Hills home. 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.
In September 2007 a mural honoring moments from her life was painted in downtown Maysville. The mural highlights her life long friendship with Blanche Chambers, 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 Floodwall Murals project. Her brother Nick Clooney spoke during the dedication for the mural, explaining various images to the crowd.
One-time boyfriends included TV's "Today" show host Dave Garroway.
Singer, actress
The Maysville, Kentucky street where her parents lived when she was born was renamed in her honor.
Older sister of actor and AMC host Nick Clooney and Betty Clooney.
She is George Clooney's aunt.
Mother of actor Miguel Ferrer, actor Rafael Ferrer and artist Gabriel Ferrer.
Rosemary started out with her sister, Betty Clooney (1931-1976), as a singing duo on radio and in bands before going solo. When Betty died of a brain aneurysm at age 45, Rosie spearheaded a living memorial to her sister with the Betty Clooney Center in Long Beach, California, for brain-injured young adults. She performs annually to raise funds for this foundation.
Mother-in-law of singer Debby Boone.
Winner of the MAC Award.
Performed annually at "Rosemary Clooney Music Festival" in her hometown of Maysville, Kentucky.
Performing once on the same bill with singer/pianist Michael Feinstein at the Hollywood Bowl, they both appeared highly nervous before setting foot on stage. Expecting Rosie to give him words of strength and encouragement, she instead told him, "Don't think this ever gets any easier."
Rosemary hated the derivative Armenian folk song "Come On-a My House" and originally resisted recording the song she considered "dumb" with lyrics that "sounded more like a drunken chant than an historic folk art form." Within weeks of her finally relenting, she found herself with one of the biggest-selling hits in the country, selling more than a million copies. It still did not endear her to the song, however, and she usually tried to squirm out of singing it at her concerts and nightclub appearances when requested.
Appeared on The Edsel Show (1957) (TV) with Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, and Louis Armstrong. The show was aired on October 13, 1957 and introduced Ford's ill-fated Edsel automobile to a nationwide audience.
Buried at St. Patrick's Cemetery near her mother and grandmother in Maysville, Ky.
Her brother, veteran television newscaster Nick Clooney, gave a eulogy at the end of the hour-long traditional Catholic funeral mass. Actor George Clooney, Nick's son, sat with more than three dozen family members and was one of 10 pallbearers. Also in the crowd were singer Debby Boone, Clooney's daughter-in-law; actors Al Pacino and Beverly D'Angelo; and Maysville native and former Miss America Heather Renee French, the wife of Kentucky Lt. Gov. Steve Henry.
Had five children with José Ferrer. Their first son, Miguel, was born in 1955. He was followed by Maria in 1956, Gabriel in 1957, Monsita in 1958 and Rafael in 1960.
Measurements: 37C-24-34 (in 1953), (Source: Celebrity Sleuth magazine)
Is portrayed by Sondra Locke in Rosie: The Rosemary Clooney Story (1982) (TV)
On October 1st, 2005, her Augusta, Kentucky home was partially transformed into the Rosemary Clooney Museum. Current owner/part-time resident Heather Renee French Henry (Miss America 2000) spearheaded the creation of the museum which amasses a large amount of memorabilia from Clooney's film, television and recording career. A re-creation of her red and white gown from White Christmas (1954) was painstakingly assembled by Henry and her mother by watching the film frame by frame (the original dress is M.I.A.). Some of her other original costumes are on display at the museum. The opening ceremony was attended by Nick Clooney, Rick Dees and Dante DiPaolo', among others while her recording of "Bless This House" was played.
Former mother-in-law of actress Leilani Sarelle.
She was awarded a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for Recording at 6325 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California.
A frequent escort in 1952 was CBS star Robert Q. Lewis. In later years, he would joke that his greatest regret was that he introduced Rosie to José Ferrer.
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