This biography is taken from ReelJewels and is copyrighted to Ginny Sayre:

Jeanette Anna MacDonald was born on June 18, 1903, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to parents Daniel and Anna Macdonald. She was the youngest of three girls and grew up in a house that always encouraged her musical gifts.

The youngest of the family made her public debut at three years old singing the hymn O' That Will Be Glory, at Tennent Memorial Presbyterian Church. The audience was not quick enough in their applause, so legend has it that Jeanette clapped and told everyone to clap with her. When Jeannette was five years old, she appeared in a juvenile opera to raise money for Philadelphia's Samaritan Hospital and landed three solo parts. Little MacDonald would soon start taking dancing lessons. While grooming her talents, she even played in vaudeville with Al White's Six Sunny Songbirds, for a time and gained a lot of stage experience for a girl of nine years. Her Vaudeville career lasted for six years, the time she spent on stage gave her plenty of experience in front of a crowd.

Jeanette lived with Blossom in New York City when she first got her real start in show business. Her sister, Blossom, ended up getting Jeanette her first chorus job there. Jeanette began to train her voice in 1923 with Ferdinand Torriani and later would train with Grace Adele Newell (She was Jeanette's teacher from the time they met until Miss Newell's death in the 1950s, often living with Jeanette), realizing that she had to both sing and dance to become a big star on stage. Jeanette was wonderful in a lot of shows that flopped.

It was not long after Hollywood came into the sound age and Jeanette would be summoned to Paramount. Jeanette starred in her first movie role, which was The Love Parade. MacDonald co-starred in the majority of her earlier roles with Maurice Chavalier, but would forever linked with Nelson Eddy after starring together in Naughty Marietta, the first of eight movies they made together.

Jeanette was married to fellow film star Gene Raymond in 1937, a shock to Nelson and Jeanette fans everywhere. The couple even made a film together, Smilin' Through, which was beautifully done in Technicolor and showed Jeanette at her most gorgeous.

Jeanette longed to be in grand opera while she was still in pictures and tried to land a solid operatic role to no avail. By the time the movie-going public changed gears, Jeanette began failing health wise. This is not to say her talent was to go unremembered. Jeanette even got the degree of Doctor of Music on May 30, 1953. Jeanette did appear in The King and I, on stage in Kansas City in August of 1956, however. In 1958, she made a record with Nelson Eddy singing their favorite songs. The album went gold. Rightly so, too!

Sadly, Jeanette died on January 14, 1965, in Houston, Texas of heart failure. Jeanette might have had a weak heart physically, but Jeanette gave so much of herself to so many. Her motto was "If you want to be something, do something!" I think you could say she definitely lived up to her own standards. From entertaining on the silver screen and the Broadway Stage to donating money and her services during World War II, as well as other vastly important causes. Jeanette was a beautiful woman inside and out, as shown through her actions and her impact on society.

Miss MacDonald is remembered by many new fans and devotees alike, her beauty and her voice will will echo through the hearts of those who love her, as The Indian Love Call, echos in the hills in Rose-Marie.