Dick Haymes

Arguably one of the best crooners of the 20th century, Dick Haymes was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina on September 13, 1918, to an English father and Irish-born mother of English descent. Brought to the U.S. as an infant, Dick inherited his vocal gift from his mother who had made ends meet during the Depression as a singer and voice teacher. A music gig in 1931 caught the eye of a local band leader and soon Dick was moving up, but it was pretty slow-going. In 1939, while Dick was trying to pitch his songwriting talents to band leader Harry James, the 21-year-old wound up as his featured vocalist instead.

During the war years Dick hooked up with the Benny Goodman and Tommy Dorsey orchestras before deciding to go solo. Nabbing his own popular radio program, "The Dick Haymes Show" (1944-1948), in addition to a Decca recording contract, Twentieth Century-Fox soon expressed interest in his musical talents. Among his many staid but pleasant film leads were State Fair (1945) opposite Jeanne Crain and Vivian Blaine, Diamond Horseshoe (1945) and The Shocking Miss Pilgrim (1947), both paired with Betty Grable, One Touch of Venus (1948) with Ava Gardner, and All Ashore (1953), a second string version of On the Town (1949), with Mickey Rooney and Ray McDonald as his shore-leave buddies.

For such a seemingly pleasant and unassuming man, Dick's personal life certainly was a shambles, aggravated by alcoholism and financial debt. Five marriages also came and went (including actresses Joanne Dru, Nora Eddington, Rita Hayworth, and Fran Jeffries) before his sixth one finally stuck. He had six children from three of those marriages.

In the 1960s, he traveled to Europe and picked up the remnants of his career as his reputation had not been damaged there. While he enjoyed some renewed popularity, he never regained a strong foothold in the business again. He did manage to return to the U.S. and find some work on late 60s and 70s TV. Guesting on such programs as "The Saint," "Hec Ramsey," "Adam-12," "Get Christie Love," "McCloud" and "McMillan & Wife." His last TV role was on a 1978 episode of "The Eddie Capra Mysteries."

The older brother of actor Bob Haymes, Dick died of lung cancer in 1980. Though not as well remembered today as other crooners of his time (Frank Sinatra, Tony Martin, Vic Damone), this rich baritone's legacy is his music. Some of Dick's most popular recordings include "The More I See You," "How Blue the Night," "For You, For Me, Forever More," "Speak Low," and "Another Night Like This."