Francesca Marlene de Czanyi von Gerber (September 4, 1931 – October 17, 2024), known professionally as Mitzi Gaynor, was an American actress, singer and dancer.

[6] Gaynor made her film debut in the musical My Blue Heaven (1950);[11] Betty Grable and Dan Dailey starred and she had a supporting role.

[12] Fox then gave Gaynor a star part playing Lotta Crabtree in the musical biopic Golden Girl (1951).

[16] Gaynor married Jack Bean, a talent agent and public relations executive for MCA, in San Francisco on November 18, 1954.

[6][18][19][20] In 1956, Gaynor appeared in the Paramount remake of Anything Goes, co-starring Bing Crosby, Donald O'Connor, and Zizi Jeanmaire, loosely based on the musical by Cole Porter, P. G. Wodehouse, and Guy Bolton.

Her third film for Paramount was The Joker Is Wild (1957), a biopic of Joe E. Lewis starring Frank Sinatra, in which Gaynor played the female lead.

In 1957, Gaynor appeared in MGM's Les Girls, directed by George Cukor, with Gene Kelly and Kay Kendall.

[21] Gaynor's greatest international fame came from her starring role as Ensign Nellie Forbush in the film version of Rodgers and Hammerstein's South Pacific.

[11] Gaynor followed that with Happy Anniversary (1959), co-starring David Niven,[22] and the United Kingdom production Surprise Package (1960), a musical comedy thriller directed by Stanley Donen.

Gaynor performed for a nine-minute segment from the stage of the Deauville Hotel in Miami Beach, separated by one commercial break.

[citation needed] During her nightclub years, Gaynor developed and rehearsed her routines at The Cave, a club in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

"Mitzi's back in town" became an annual slogan when Gaynor would come to the city for a number of weeks each year to develop her Las Vegas routines.

For several decades, Gaynor appeared regularly in Las Vegas and at nightclub and concert venues throughout the United States and Canada.

The film, which was broadcast on public television and released on DVD, includes moments from the original specials (digitally remastered in 5.1 stereo) along with newly taped interviews with Gaynor colleagues, friends, and admirers, including Bob Mackie, Carl Reiner, Kristin Chenoweth, Rex Reed, Tony Charmoli, Alton Ruff, Randy Doney, and Kelli O'Hara.

Gaynor's one-woman show Razzle Dazzle: My Life Behind the Sequins toured the United States and Vancouver from 2009 through 2014, including a two-week engagement in New York City.

New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg issued a proclamation paying tribute to her distinguished career as a singer, dancer, actress and writer.

: The Special Years featured a screening followed by a panel discussion with Gaynor, designer Bob Mackie, and director-choreographer Tony Charmoli.