Jeanette Anna MacDonald was born on June 18, 1903, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to parents Daniel and Anna Macdonald. She was the youngest of three girls and grew up in a house that always encouraged her musical gifts.

The youngest of the family made her public debut at three years old singing the hymn "O' That Will Be Glory," at Tennent Memorial Presbyterian Church. The audience was not quick enough in their applause. Legend has it that Jeanette clapped and told everyone to clap with her.

When Jeanette was five years old, she appeared in a juvenile opera to raise money for Philadelphia's Samaritan Hospital and landed three solo parts. While grooming her talents, Jeanette played in vaudeville with Al White's Six Sunny Songbirds and gained a lot of stage experience for a girl of nine years. MacDonald remained in vaudeville for six years.

MacDonald lived with her siser Blossom in New York City when she first got her real start in show business. Blossom got Jeanette her first chorus job. She also began to train her voice in 1923 with Ferdinand Torriani and would later train with Grace Adele Newell (she was Jeanette's teacher from the time they met until Miss Newell's death in the 1950s, often living with Jeanette), realizing that she had to both sing and dance to become a big star on stage. Jeanette was wonderful in a lot of shows that flopped.

It was not long after her stint on Broadway that Hollywood came into the sound era and Jeanette would be summoned to Paramount Studios. Jeanette starred in her first movie role, The Love Parade, in 1929. MacDonald co-starred in the majority of her earlier roles with Maurice Chavalier, but would forever linked with Nelson Eddy after starring together in Naughty Marietta, the first of eight movies they made together.

Jeanette was married to fellow film star Gene Raymond in 1937, a shock to many fans Nelson and Jeanette who envisioned them together in life as on film. Toward the end of Jeanette's film career, the couple even made a film together, Smilin' Through--a film that had been made twice; once in the silent era with Norma Talmadge and again in 1932 with Norma Shearer.

MacDonald longed to be in grand opera while she was still in pictures and tried to land a solid operatic role to no avail. By the time the movie-going public changed gears from operettas to dramas and more stagey musicals, Jeanette began failing health wise. Her heart gave her trouble from a very young age and would continue to act up throughout her life.

Fans of Jeanette MacDonald were and are devoted. She was never forgotten by her audience. MacDonald was not unrewarded for career and philanthropic efforts. She was even awarded an honorary Doctor of Music degree on May 30, 1953 from Ithaca College.

Jeanette did appear again on stage in The King and I in August of 1956 in Kansas City. She also recorded several albums, one of which she recorded with Nelson Eddy singing their favorite songs in 1958. The album went gold.

Jeanette died on January 14, 1965, in Houston, Texas of heart failure. Jeanette might have had a weak heart physically, but Jeanette gave so much of herself to so many. Her motto was "If you want to be something, do something!" She lived up to her own standards. From entertaining on the silver screen and the Broadway stage to donating money and her services during World War II, as well as other vastly important causes MacDonald made a difference. Jeanette was a beautiful woman inside and out, as shown through her actions and her impact on society.

Miss MacDonald is remembered by many new fans and devotees alike, for her beauty and her voice will will echo through the hearts of those who love her, as the Indian Love Call, echos in the hills in Rose-Marie.