Mitzi Gaynor was born as Francesca Marlene de Czanyi von Gerber in Chicago, Illinois to Pauline Fisher, a dancer, and Henry von Gerber, a violinist, cellist, and music director. The family first moved to Detroit and when she was eleven to Hollywood, California. She trained as a ballerina as a child and began her career as a chorus dancer. At 13 she was singing and dancing with the Los Angeles Civic Light Opera company. She lied about her address so she could go to Hollywood High School, and signed a seven year contract with Twentieth Century-Fox at age 17. She sang, acted and danced in a number of film musicals, often paired with some of the biggest male musical stars of the day. A Fox Studio executive thought that Mitzi Gerber sounded like the name of a delicatessen and they came up with a name that used the same initials. Notable early roles included There’s No Business Like Show Business (1954) which featured Irving Berlin’s music and also starred Ethel Merman.
