Mitzi Gaynor, the glamorous actress and dancer known for her roles in 1950s musical films like South Pacific, has died. She was 93.

The beloved actress died of natural causes at her home in Los Angeles, her managers said.

Mitzi Gaynor dies

“As we celebrate her legacy, we offer our thanks to her friends and fans and the countless audiences she entertained throughout her long life,” Rene Reyes and Shane Rosamonda of Gaynor’s MGMT team said.

The managers continued, "We take great comfort in the fact that her creative legacy will endure through her many magical performances captured on film and video, through her recordings and especially through the love and support audiences around the world have shared so generously with her throughout her life and career. Please keep Mitzi in your thoughts and prayers.”

Gaynor was born Francesca Marlene de Czanyi von Gerber in Chicago. Her Hungarian father was a violinist, cellist, and music director and her mother was a dancer.

1950s fame

As a young star in the 1950s, Gaynor starred in musical movies like Anything Goes (1956) with Bing Crosby and Donald O’Connor, Les Girls (1957) with Gene Kelly and The Joker Is Wild (1957) with Frank Sinatra.

Gaynor received an Emmy nod for her role as Nellie Forbush in South Pacific (1958), based on the musical by legendary Broadway duo Hammerstein and Rodgers.

Words cannot express the sorrow and sadness we feel at the loss of Mitzi Gaynor, an R&H legend known for her starring role as Nellie Forbush in Rodgers & Hammerstein's South Pacific in 1958.

Mitzi's memory will forever live on through our screens and in our hearts. 🤍 pic.twitter.com/0KOIIRVaFE

— The Rodgers & Hammerstein Organization (@RnH_Org) October 17, 2024

TV fixture and Vegas entertainer

In 1963, Gaynor starred in For Love Or Money with Kirk Douglas. It was her last movie, but not the end of her acting career.

She became a fixture on variety shows, appearing on The Ed Sullivan Show alongside the Beatles during Beatlemania in 1964. Gaynor starred in her first TV special, Mitzi, in 1968.

Gaynor also enjoyed success as a Las Vegas entertainer for many years, smashing box office records with her 1961 debut at the Flamingo Hotel.

She was predeceased by her husband and longtime manager, Jack Bean, in 2006. The couple shared a mansion in Beverly Hills for decades. They did not have any children.