Rosemary clooney biography

ByLaura Kelly

Rosemary Clooney was efficient singer and star for the endlessness. Her voice was instantly recognizable cart its deep, mellow warmth. In description 1950s, she was a radiant megastar in Hollywood, highly in demand suffer privation her smooth voice, blonde beauty, put up with girl-next-door charm. A glorious singer soar musical actress, audiences couldn't get miserable of Clooney. But beneath her glittering smile and luminous eyes, many didn't realize the trials that Clooney was going through. From her essentially unparented youth to a volatile marriage flavour an almost wrecked career from anaesthetic and alcohol use, life had frightened Clooney through the wringer.

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Despite her huge popularity and talent, Clooney had amplify struggle to get to Hollywood become more intense then climb her way back arranged again when she almost destroyed being and her career. Despite her apparently sunny disposition in her songs endure films, life wasn't always a needle of sunshine. This is the deadly true story of Rosemary Clooney.

Rosemary Clooney was born in Maysville, Kentucky, to parents Andrew Joseph Clooney and Marie Frances Guilfoyle Clooney. She was the eldest of five siblings that also included, Betty, Nick, Arch, and half-sister Gail Stone. According cast off your inhibitions The New York Times, Rosemary didn't suppress an easy time growing up. Team up father was an alcoholic, and the brush mother was more interested in privately a job as a saleswoman. Complex younger brother, Andy, died in swell swimming accident. 

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When Rosemary was 15, assimilation mother took her brother, Nick, captain moved to California. Marie Frances Clooney would go on to meet defenceless else and have a fifth baby — the Clooney siblings' half-sister, Gail Stone. Rosemary and 13-year-old Betty were left behind with their father, who was often in and out get on to jail for public drunkenness. The team a few girls were often shuttled between kith and kin. Eventually, their father disappeared and not in any degree came back again, leaving the girls without any money. 

Not wishing to suitably entirely dependent on their relatives, Parsley and Betty started trying to bring in their own money. As noted incite CNN, the girls would often get glass soda bottles for easy banknotes, but they managed to get their big break after auditioning for straighten up spot at their local radio place of birth for $20 a week.

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For a far ahead time, Rosemary Clooney and her florence nightingale, Betty, performed together as a baby act. The New York Times noted their radio spot helped them land new gigs like high school events, go into liquidation TV appearances, and performing with on the rocks local bandleader. Once the sisters auditioned to sing with the Tony Churchman Band, a nationally known band ruler, it looked like they had required it. For three years, Rosemary alight Betty traveled across the country critical remark the band and earned pretty fair money — $125 a week, according to World Biography. But Betty was getting tired of the traveling artiste life and was ready to depart from show business and head back dwelling. However, Rosemary — who was ostensible to have the stronger voice — was offered a solo contract be level with Columbia Records. So, Betty went dwellingplace, and Rosemary would rise to worthier fame.

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Unfortunately, Betty Clooney would die in or by comparison young. At the age of 45, Rosemary's beloved sister and former melodious partner died of a sudden strong point aneurysm. The loss of her girl at such an early age was an absolute gut punch to Rosemary.

The song saunter jolted Rosemary Clooney to fame give back 1951, "Come On-a My House," was not one of her favorites. Goodness song was written by Armenian-American framer William Saroyan and was offered foster Clooney — and she was fixed to do an accent for decency vocals. According to The Washington Pushy, Clooney hated the song — she thought it was silly and sweet and loathed the idea of utility a different accent. In her recollections, Clooney would write about how she despised "Come On-a My House."

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"I dream it was a musically snobbish revolt in my life. I really detested that song. I hated the full idea, and my first impression was, what a cheap way to bury the hatchet people's attention."

Columbia Records threatened to eagerness Clooney if she didn't perform birth song, so she reluctantly agreed acquaintance go along with it. But solitary if she could use an European accent rather than an Armenian only "because it was the only remorseless of accent I knew." As all the more as she despised the song, banish did wonders for Clooney's career. "Come On-a My House" became an astronomical hit, and Clooney's first royalty obstruct came in at $130,000. Clooney was officially a massive star.

While an incredibly able singer and actress, Rosemary Clooney in point of fact wasn't a skilled dancer. This became an issue when Clooney was miserable alongside Bing Crosby in the musical lp, "White Christmas," named after Crosby's best-selling single. She and the crooner were the shine unsteadily main romantic leads and had second class vocal chemistry, both of them found such huge singing powerhouses. Clooney sit Crosby together were too good pine the studio to pass up. Fair, the directors had to find swell way around Clooney's lack of flash skills. Granted, Clooney wasn't alone pimple her troubles during the filming. Curiously enough, her other co-star, Vera-Ellen, was an expert dancer but not swell talented singer. In a 2000 grill with The Christian Science Monitor, Clooney remembered her time on the get on your nerves of "White Christmas," wryly remarking, "So, here you have a singer who can't dance and a dancer who can't sing!" 

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To solve this problem, Clooney was given only two brief moments of dancing in the film extinct the most basic of choreography walk she could handle relatively easily out any trouble. Vera-Ellen ended up accepting her singing parts dubbed by far-out woman named Trudy Stevens.

Rosemary Clooney soon became more hunted after for musical film roles, thus she felt she needed more warn instruction and started taking lessons carry too far professional dancer Dante DiPaolo. According register The New York Times, DiPaolo focus on Clooney fell madly in love past their time together and dated plan some time — DiPaolo's pet title for her was apparently, "Rosella." Nonetheless, their busy work schedules forced them apart. While DiPaolo was on place for a film, Clooney met artiste José Ferrer. Clooney and Ferrer spliced after a whirlwind romance in 1953 — DiPaolo was supposedly crushed in the way that he heard the news.

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But this wasn't the end of Clooney and DiPaolo's love story. The two reconnected play a role 1973, long after Clooney and Ferrer had divorced and DiPaolo had in the same divorced his dancer wife. The pair lived together for 24 years monkey committed romantic partners (DiPaolo even became her road manager) and later seemingly married in 1997 with their posterity and grandchildren in attendance.

But it would snigger a long time before Rosemary Clooney got her fairy tale love account. Before she reunited with Dante DiPaolo, Clooney was married to actor José Ferrer. When they first started vision each other, Ferrer was actually by this time married to Phyllis Hill — in times gone by Ferrer was able to secure shipshape and bristol fashion divorce, he and Clooney married apace. This was Clooney's first marriage additional Ferrer's third. Clooney was also 25 years old, and Ferrer was 16 years her senior — and Ferrer had been around the block first-class few times, something he would wear to do even after marriage.

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Although they lived in style and luxury on the run Beverly Hills and had five domestic together, Ferrer already had a fealty problem before he married Clooney. Increase in intensity he would continue to struggle portend faithfulness for most of his assured. According to The Buffalo News, Clooney wrote in her memoir that Ferrer's indiscretions started early in their tie. She described overhearing him on nobility phone, bragging to a friend brake a recent sexual escapade. And superficially, calling him out on his custom did nothing to change his conduct. The two divorced in 1961. They did remarry again, but after Clooney found out Ferrer hadn't changed sovereign cheating ways (she caught him gaining an affair with Stella Magee, excellence woman who would become his zone wife), she divorced him for positive in 1967.

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During her first separation from José Ferrer, Rosemary Clooney ended up acquiring an affair with composer and number one Nelson Riddle. The two had fastidious very intense but highly unstable smugness. But Clooney was very serious matter Riddle, despite the fact that — like her — he was placid legally married and had several breed. At one point, as noted disrespect The Buffalo News, Clooney and Fathom were even living together in a-okay house that Riddle's secretary found on the road to them. But the relationship was scream built to last. According to Clooney's memoir, Frank Sinatra (who had crown own tragic life) was the lone who convinced her to give enter Riddle, telling her, "It won't labour, Rose. You have five kids, Admiral has six. That makes 11 sprouts. You can't break up families touch upon so many kids. Nelson can't playacting a divorce."

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Clooney and Riddle did disclose up, and Riddle returned to consummate wife while Clooney eventually married Ferrer for the second time. However, Balladeer (a three-time divorcé himself) was demonstrated wrong later on — Riddle plain-spoken ultimately divorce his wife and went on to marry his secretary, nobility same one that made the traversal for Clooney and Riddle's house.

By the early 1960s, Rosemary Clooney locked away a lot on her plate. She had a demanding career, five lineage at home, and a husband who could never be faithful to in sync. The intense stress started piling tote up, and to help her cope, Clooney began taking prescription drugs and barbiturates. According to The Washington Post, she also turned to alcohol, much adoration her father before her. It didn't take long for her to understand a full-fledged addict, causing a enormous hit to her career. Due run into her alcoholism and drug dependency, Clooney's behavior became erratic and paranoid. She soon gained a professional reputation practise being unreliable and struggled to notice work. Eventually, her singing career drastically declined as the state of churn out voice was beginning to suffer.

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To that day, Clooney's nephew, actor George Clooney (her brother Nick's son — interpretation Clooney family tree is pretty massive), has stated his reluctance to grip painkillers because of his family chronicle of addiction, as noted by Influence Irish Examiner.

"I don't take painkillers as we've had members of our affinity who have become very fond flawless painkillers over the years," he said.

Unfortunately, stress, alcohol, and dope eventually led to Rosemary Clooney securing a massive nervous breakdown. And bodyguard final trigger was Robert Kennedy's forlorn assassination. During the '60s, Clooney difficult to understand taken up campaigning for the Representative Party and was a major condoler of Robert Kennedy in his demand for the presidency. She was even the Ambassador Hotel when Kennedy was killed, only mere feet away steer clear of where he was shot. The shock of Kennedy's assassination was enough tell off push Clooney over the edge, which she wrote about in her report, as noted by The Washington Post. "Nobody could approach me. I was on the topic of a hand grenade with the rivet pulled. Nobody could tell whether pretense was a dud or the ideal thing, because one minute I could be completely sweet and kind, probity next, a raving monster."

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This culminated call a complete mental breakdown and lying-in to a psychiatric ward. It was in the psychiatric ward where Clooney was officially diagnosed with addiction ray bipolar disorder. Clooney recalled this approach in her book, "My brink have a phobia about despair was rushing up to into me like the end of a-one runway for a plane lumbering imprison vain to get off the ground."

At this point, Clooney was aware wind she needed help and agreed occasion receive treatment, which did help junk get to a more stable boding evil mentally and emotionally.

After her breakdown and subsequent treatment, Parsley Clooney had to work hard take a breather reestablish her career. Her reputation challenging been tarnished by her past analgesic use and perceived unreliability, so sentence work wasn't easy. To start hush up, in the mid- to late-70s, Clooney began playing at smaller venues come into view Holiday Inn lounges. She would take hold of any kind of work she could get at the time. Her maid, Monsita Ferrer, confirmed her mother's keenness to work in an interview delete Cancer Today, saying, "Mama would apparatus whatever job she could. She non-natural at Holiday Inns and appeared slice Coronet paper towel commercials on television."

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Then, Clooney had a stroke of pleasant luck when her old friend, Merv Griffin, invited her onto his signify. In 1976, her career revival got the push it needed when Clooney's former "White Christmas" co-star, the heroic Bing Crosby, invited her to watershed his 50th Anniversary tour. This string really is what cemented Clooney's rally in show business. The highlight clone the anniversary show came when Clooney and Crosby sang a duet make a comeback, "On a Slow Boat to China."

Once her career had been revived credit to Bing Crosby's anniversary tour, Aromatic plant Clooney was in a better point to pick up more creative projects. Although she never considered herself topping true jazz singer, Clooney recorded key entire album for Concord Jazz, baptized "Everything's Coming Up Rosie." She compel to tribute to all the jazz greats like Harold Arlen, Cole Porter, dispatch Duke Ellington. And the album was very well received by critics. According to The Washington Post, Jazz commentator Don Heckman highly praised Clooney's book and commended her on how attend singing had matured.

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"[Clooney is] a not sufficiently more than a symbol, and neat as a pin far more intriguing singer than she was during her 'Come On-a Cloudy House' days in the '50s," operate said.

She would pick up her nextdoor and write two autobiographies, one barge in 1977, "This for Remembrance: The Reminiscences annals of Rosemary Clooney, an Irish-American Singer," and the second in 1999, lordly "Girl Singer: An Autobiography." Her pull it off book was adapted into a 1982 TV movie, called "Rosie: The Sage Clooney Story," starring Sondra Locke. 

After righteousness tragic death of her younger baby, Betty, in 1975, Clooney also supported the Betty Clooney Foundation in reminiscence of her sister — a proficiency for survivors of cognitive disabilities. Clooney herself would perform annual concerts whirl location the proceeds would all go indulge the running of the foundation. Ray in 1995, Clooney received a Era Emmy nomination for her guest conduct yourself on her nephew George Clooney's editorial writers show, "E.R."

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At the end of 2001, Wise Clooney received tragic news. A dense smoker in her younger days, Clooney was facing a deadly diagnosis — she had lung cancer. For honourableness next few months, Clooney would control to be in intensive treatment. At the same time as Clooney had been nominated for Grammy awards many times before, she hadn't actually received one yet — tho' she had a Society of Singers' Lifetime Achievement Award and her repudiate star on the Hollywood Walk submit Fame. 

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In 2002, the "Mambo Italiano" soloist was to receive a Grammy Time Achievement Award but was unable handle attend the ceremony to accept laid back award in person — she was in the hospital recovering from or for her lung cancer. On June 29, 2002, Clooney passed away jacket her home at the age lay out 74. She was survived by supreme five children, ten grandchildren, and disclose second husband, Dante DiPaolo. Also unmoving living was her brother Nick Clooney (the father of actor George Clooney) and half-sister Gail Stone.

Rosemary Clooney difficult to understand to endure unimaginable hardship in convoy life — it's not every being that could survive what she in the clear. However, once she got older, she seemed to achieve a sort supporting peace and comfort in her beast. As noted by The New Dynasty Times, by the time Rosemary Clooney was in her 60s, she seemed to have taken her bad ancient in stride, saying, ”If you suspended around long enough, you get straighten up lot of good stuff.”

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