Irene Manning

For the One Life to Live character, see Irene Manning Clayton

Irene Manning
Born	Irene Harvuot July 17, 1912(1912-07-17) Cincinnati, Ohio USA
Died	May 28, 2004 (aged 91) San Carlos, California USA
Occupation	actress, singer
Years active	1936–1955

Irene Manning (July 17, 1912 – May 28, 2004) was an actress/singer.

She was born Inez Harvuot in Cincinnati, Ohio in a family of 5 siblings. Her family loved to go on outdoor picnics where the featured activity was group singing. This family environment helped Irene to develop a keen interest in singing at a very early age. Her sisters later complained that little Irene would sing in her sleep, keeping them awake.

While performing with an all-girl USO show in England, Irene was asked to perform with bandleader Glenn Miller shortly before his death in 1944. Miller was involved in making swing records to be broadcast into Nazi Germany as part of the American Broadcasting System in Europe or ABSIE. Because she had been a light opera star prior to World War II and was fluent in singing in German, she was asked to sing some American pop tunes which had been translated into German vocals. Her sides were some of the last records made by Glenn Miller, prior to being lost on an ill-fated flight to Paris over the English Channel in December 1944.

She is probably best remembered as diva "Fay Templeton" in Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942) opposite James Cagney. In this film, Irene has a scene in which she has to simultaneously act, sing the song, "Mary," and play the piano all in the same take. This coordination of multiple talents takes concentration and is very difficult to complete live. Few Hollywood talents have ever executed these skills as well as Irene Manning, who was also a master sight reading musician.

Also briefly known as Hope Manning during her first films, as she broke into the Republic Studio system in 1936. Her first film placed her as the lead actress in a western, "The Old Corral," opposite Gene Autry. (A young actor, named Dick Weston, later to be known as Roy Rogers, also appeared as a bad guy in this film.) Irene once said in gest that "she had left light opera for a horse opera." Of note, "The Old Corral" was the only Gene Autry film that ever received a "three star rating," and it has been voted the most favorite Autry movie by the Gene Autry Fan Club, partly in response to Irene's sophistication and vocal talent.

By the early 1940s, Irene was employed in the Warner Bros studio system as a contract actress and singer. She was featured in "Yankee Doodle Dandy," the "Desert Song" with Dennis Morgan, the "Big Shot," opposite Humphrey Bogart, "Spy Ship," and "Shine On Harvest Moon," co-starring Jack Carson.

Her contract was picked up by MGM to place her singing skills as a threat to Jeanette MacDonald, who was giving MGM fits over Jeanette's difficult demands. In private Irene, claimed that she was a better singer. Singing comparisons between Irene Manning and Jeanette MacDonald clearly indicate that Irene's assessment of her skills is correct. The problem between Jeannette and MGM subsided, and Irene's contract was dropped without any appearances in a MGM film.

In all, Irene Manning made a dozen films. Although her film career is short, many of her film appearances are notable. In the "Old Corral" she gets to kiss Gene Autry ( a rare event). "Yankee Doodle Dandy" is listed as one of the top 100 films of all time. "The Big Shot" is the second rated gangster movie of all time. In "Spy Ship," Irene plays the role of a female villain who collaborates with the Japanese military, not exactly a popular role during World War II.

She is not known to be related to the late opera singer Clifford Harvuot.

The musical stage took priority in the second half of the 1940s with The Day Before Spring on Broadway and both DuBarry Was a Lady and Serenade in London. She remained in England and appeared on her own BBC TV show, An American in England until 1951, when she returned to the United States for TV and nightclub work.

Eventually she retired to teach acting and voice.

She died aged 91 from congestive heart failure at her home in San Carlos, California.

External links

• Irene Manning at the IMDB
• Photo of Irene Manning signing autographs for troops in World War II
• Photo