Marni Nixon — Secretly Famous Singer Dead At 86

Marni Nixon has passed away at the age of 86 from breast cancer — bringing an end to one of Hollywood's quietest careers in hit musicals! Marni achieved screen immortality as the voice behind stars like Audrey Hepburn and Natalie Wood, serving as their secret singing voices in, respectively, "My Fair Lady" and "West Side Story."

Later famous as The Queen of Dubbing, Marni went unknown while singing classic tunes like "The Rain In Spain" and "I Could Have Danced All Night" in 1964's "My Fair Lady," and "I Feel Pretty" and "Somewhere" from "West Side Story" in 1961. She was also hidden away while singing "A Dream Is a Wish Your Heart Makes" in Walt Disney's classic animated "Cinderella."

Marni was also the voice of Deborah Kerr in "The King And I." The singer was originally forbidden by the studios to ever discuss her secret vocals — but Deborah once told The National ENQUIRER the truth about her role: "I took lessons for six weeks, but still I was only able to sing the low notes. The voice of singer Marni Nixon was dubbed in for the high notes. It was the first case in film history of 50-50 singing!"

Marni also worked regularly as an actress, and made a triumphant return to Broadway late in life — working in a 2001 revival of "Follies" and taking a featured role in a 2003 revival of "Nine." She didn't receive credit when her voice was heard in a song from "West Side Story" on a 2011 episode of the hit show "Glee," however.

Marni's first husband was Oscar-winning composer Ernest Gold, who composed the theme song to the movie "Exodus." Their three children included hit singer/songwriter Andrew Gold, who enjoyed chart success with "Thank You For Being A Friend," which later became the theme to the "Golden Girls" sitcom. Sadly, Andrew passed away from heart failure in 2011 at the age of 59. Marni married third husband Albert Block in 1983. He passed away in 2015.