Gladys Swarthout

Gladys Swarthout (December 25, 1900 in Deepwater, Missouri – July 7, 1969 in Florence, Italy) was an American mezzo-soprano opera singer and actress.

She sang Carmen in April 1928 in Chicago with the American Opera Company, of which her future husband, Frank M. Chapman Jr., later became a member.

[4] She appeared in five films for Paramount Pictures, Rose of the Rancho (1936), Give Us This Night (1936), Champagne Waltz (1937), Romance in the Dark (1938), and Ambush (1939).

For the movie Champagne Waltz with Fred MacMurray, she sang her songs in five languages, including French, German, Italian, and Spanish for the foreign versions of the films.

She was often heard on radio programs, including those of General Motors, RCA-Magic Key, Camel Caravan, the Ford Symphony, and the Prudential Family Hour.

Shortly after World War II, Swarthout recorded "Just Awearyin' for You" (w. 1894 by Frank Lebby Stanton, m. 1901 by Carrie Jacobs-Bond).

Swarthout first married Harry Kern of Chicago, an older man who was general credit manager for the Hart-Schaffner Marx Company, but she still retained her maiden name for her singing appearances.

She later married Frank M. Chapman, Jr. in 1931; the two had first met in an opera house in Naples two years earlier, introduced by Gladys' sister, Roma Swarthout.