Corinna Mura (born Corinna Wall; March 16, 1910 – August 1, 1965) was a cabaret singer, actress, and

diseuse A monologist (), or interchangeably monologuist (), is a solo artist who recites or gives dramatic readings from a monologue, soliloquy, poetry, or work of literature, for the entertainment of an audience. The term can also refer to a person wh ...

. She had a small role in the classic film '' Casablanca'' as the woman playing the

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected strin ...

while singing "Tango Delle Rose" and "

La Marseillaise "La Marseillaise" is the national anthem of France. The song was written in 1792 by Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle in Strasbourg after the declaration of war by France against Austria, and was originally titled "Chant de guerre pour l'Armée du R ...

" at Rick's Café Américain.

Biography

Mura was born in

Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital city, capital and primate city, largest city of Mexico, and the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North Amer ...

, Mexico in 1910. As a child she was trained by her parents to become a coloratura soprano. She sang three times for President

Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As the ...

. In 1944, Mura appeared in Cole Porter's hit Broadway musical ''

Mexican Hayride ''Mexican Hayride'' is a 1948 film starring the comedy team of Abbott and Costello. The film is based on Cole Porter's Broadway musical '' Mexican Hayride'' starring Bobby Clark. No songs from the stage musical were used in the film. Plot Joe ...

'', and can be heard in two numbers on the

Decca Decca may refer to: Music * Decca Records or Decca Music Group, a record label * Decca Gold, a classical music record label owned by Universal Music Group * Decca Broadway, a musical theater record label * Decca Studios, a recording facility in W ...

original-cast album. She was stepmother to author/illustrator

Edward Gorey Edward St. John Gorey (February 22, 1925 – April 15, 2000) was an American writer, Tony Award-winning costume designer, and artist, noted for his own illustrated books as well as cover art and illustration for books by other writers. Hi ...

.Theroux, Alexander (2011)
''The Strange Case of Edward Gorey''
Fantagraphics, p. 15. .

Death

She died in

on 1 August 1965, at 55 years of age, from cancer.

Filmography

References

External links

* * * * * * 1910 births 1965 deaths Cabaret singers Deaths from cancer in Mexico American film actresses Place of birth missing 20th-century American actresses 20th-century American singers American expatriates in Mexico 20th-century American women singers {{US-singer-stub