Gisèle MacKenzie (born Gisèle Marie Louise Marguerite LaFlèche; January 10, 1927 – September 5, 2003)
Accessed April 2010 was a Canadian-American singer, actress, and commercial spokesperson, best known for her performances on the US television program ''

Your Hit Parade ''Your Hit Parade'' is an American radio and television music program that was broadcast from 1935 to 1953 on radio, and seen from 1950 to 1959 on television. It was sponsored by American Tobacco's Lucky Strike cigarettes. During its 24-year r ...

''.

Biography

She was born Gisèle Marie Louise Marguerite LaFlèche in

Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Manitoba. It is centred on the confluence of the Red River of the North, Red and Assiniboine River, Assiniboine rivers. , Winnipeg h ...

, Manitoba in 1927. The daughter of a Winnipeg doctor, MacKenzie spent her childhood in Manitoba where she studied violin and attended the Sacred Heart School as a child. As a teenager she studied violin and voice at

The Royal Conservatory of Music The Royal Conservatory of Music (RCM; ), branded as The Royal Conservatory, is a non-profit music education institution and performance venue headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was founded in 1886 by Edward Fisher as The Toronto C ...

Toronto, Ontario Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

. She had at least two

Canadian Broadcasting Corporation The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (), branded as CBC/Radio-Canada, is the Canadian Public broadcasting, public broadcaster for both radio and television. It is a Crown corporation that serves as the national public broadcaster, with its E ...

radio programs, ''Meet Gisèle'', where she played hostess to

Jack Benny Jack Benny (born Benjamin Kubelsky; February 14, 1894 – December 26, 1974) was an American entertainer who evolved from a modest success as a violinist on the vaudeville circuit to one of the leading entertainers of the twentieth century with ...

Clark Gable William Clark Gable (February 1, 1901November 16, 1960) was an American actor often referred to as the "King of Cinema of the United States, Hollywood". He appeared in more than 60 Film, motion pictures across a variety of Film genre, genres dur ...

Loretta Young Loretta Young (born Gretchen Michaela Young; January 6, 1913 – August 12, 2000) was an American actress. Starting as a child, she had a long and varied career in film from 1917 to 1989. She received numerous honors including an Academy Awards ...

Fred Astaire Fred Astaire (born Frederick Austerlitz, May 10, 1899 – June 22, 1987) was an American dancer, actor, singer, musician, choreographer, and presenter, whose career in stage, film, and television spanned 76 years. He is widely regarded as the "g ...

, and

James Stewart James Maitland Stewart (May 20, 1908 – July 2, 1997) was an American actor and military aviator. Known for his distinctive drawl and everyman screen persona, Stewart's film career spanned 80 films from 1935 to 1991. With the strong morali ...

; and ''Gisele and Mr. Cable''. She took on the stage name MacKenzie and moved to Los Angeles, California in 1951 to replace

The Andrews Sisters The Andrews Sisters were an American close harmony singing group of the swing and boogie-woogie eras. The group consisted of three sisters: contralto LaVerne Sophia Andrews (1911–1967), soprano Maxene Anglyn Andrews (1916–1995), and mezzo ...

on CBS Radio's daily program, ''

Club Fifteen ''Club Fifteen'' is a radio program in the United States that featured popular music. It was broadcast weeknights (except for a two month hiatus each summer) 30 June 1947 – 21 December 1951. Then, it aired Monday, Wednesday, and Friday nights u ...

'', starring

Bob Crosby George Robert Crosby (August 23, 1913 – March 9, 1993) was an American jazz singer and bandleader, best known for his group the Bob-Cats, which formed around 1935. The Bob-Cats were a New Orleans Dixieland-style jazz octet. He was the younge ...

, where she alternated as regular vocalist with

Jo Stafford Jo Elizabeth Stafford (November 12, 1917July 16, 2008) was an American traditional pop singer, whose career spanned five decades from the late 1930s to the early 1980s. Admired for the purity of her voice, she originally underwent classical tr ...

. She became a

naturalized Naturalization (or naturalisation) is the legal act or process by which a non-national of a country acquires the nationality of that country after birth. The definition of naturalization by the International Organization for Migration of the ...

US citizen in 1955. MacKenzie recorded albums and singles on various record labels, most notably Capitol and

RCA RCA Corporation was a major American electronics company, which was founded in 1919 as the Radio Corporation of America. It was initially a patent pool, patent trust owned by General Electric (GE), Westinghouse Electric Corporation, Westinghou ...

, Everest, Mercury, Liberty Sunset, and Cricket Playhour (Pickwick). In 1953 she reached No. 6 in the UK Singles Chart, with her rendition of "Seven Lonely Days". Her biggest selling song was " Hard To Get" in 1955. She was also an accomplished classical violinist, studying at The Royal Conservatory of Music; she performed many comedic musical duets with mentor

. In an often-played clip, she and Benny perform a violin duet of " Getting to Know You", in which she breaks their synchronization several times to add some extra musical flourishes, to his mock irritation. Finally, he breaks in with a lengthy (and stereotypically mediocre) flourish of his own, and evokes audience laughter with mock indignation: "Fool around with ME, sister!" She was a guest on such shows as ''

The Jack Benny Program ''The Jack Benny Program'', starring Jack Benny, is a radio and television comedy series. The show ran for over three decades, from 1932 to 1955 on radio, and from 1950 to 1965 on television. It won numerous awards, including the 1959 and 19 ...

''; ''

The Dinah Shore Chevy Show ''The Dinah Shore Chevy Show'' is an American variety series hosted by Dinah Shore, and broadcast on NBC from October 1956 to May 1963. The series was sponsored by the Chevrolet Motor Division of General Motors and its theme song, sung by Shor ...

''; '' The Ford Show, Starring Tennessee Ernie Ford''; ''

The Pat Boone Chevy Showroom ''The'' is a grammatical article in English, denoting nouns that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The ...

''; ''

The Bell Telephone Hour ''The Bell Telephone Hour'', also known as ''The Telephone Hour'', is a concert series broadcast on NBC Radio Network from April 29, 1940 to June 30, 1958. Sponsored by Bell Telephone as the name implies, it showcased the best in classical and ...

''; ''

The Colgate Comedy Hour ''The Colgate Comedy Hour'' is an American comedy-musical variety series that aired live on the NBC network from 1950 to 1955. The show featured many notable comedians and entertainers of the era as guest stars. Many of the scripts of the serie ...

''; '' The Eddie Fisher Show''; ''The George Gobel Show''; and ''

The Ed Sullivan Show ''The Ed Sullivan Show'' is an American television variety show that ran on CBS from June 20, 1948, to March 28, 1971, and was hosted by New York City, New York entertainment columnist Ed Sullivan. It was replaced in September 1971 by the ''CB ...

''. She acted in ''

Justice In its broadest sense, justice is the idea that individuals should be treated fairly. According to the ''Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy'', the most plausible candidate for a core definition comes from the ''Institutes (Justinian), Inst ...

''. She appeared frequently in

Las Vegas Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...

venues and in numerous North American concerts. She did a European tour with Benny. In the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

, she replaced

the Andrews Sisters The Andrews Sisters were an American close harmony singing group of the swing and boogie-woogie eras. The group consisted of three sisters: contralto LaVerne Sophia Andrews (1911–1967), soprano Maxene Anglyn Andrews (1916–1995), and mezzo ...

as a regular vocalist on "Club 15" and her guest appearance on Mario Lanza's "Coke Time" resulted in Lanza inviting her to join his show's cast every week. She also hosted a radio show entitled ''Airtime'' at the same time she was appearing on TV's ''Your Hit Parade''. In 1952–53, she toured with Jack Benny, who recommended her for ''Your Hit Parade''. During her 4-year tenure on that show, "Hard to Get" became a

hit Hit means to strike someone or something. Hit or HIT may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Fictional entities * Hit, a fictional character from ''Dragon Ball Super'' * Homicide International Trust or HIT, a fictional organization i ...

. She announced in 1957 that she would not be returning to the show for another season. She went on to star in her own short lived Saturday night NBC variety program, ''

The Gisele MacKenzie Show ''The Gisele MacKenzie Show'' is an American musical variety television program that was broadcast on NBC from September 28, 1957, to March 29, 1958. Format Star Gisele MacKenzie sang, played her violin, danced, and acted with guest stars eac ...

'', and hosted such guests as Benny,

Boris Karloff William Henry Pratt (23 November 1887 – 2 February 1969), known professionally as Boris Karloff () and occasionally billed as Karloff the Uncanny, was a British actor. His portrayal of Frankenstein's monster in the horror film ''Frankenstei ...

Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan (February 6, 1911 – June 5, 2004) was an American politician and actor who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He was a member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party a ...

Bobby Diamond Robert LeRoy Diamond (August 23, 1943May 15, 2019) was an American actor active in the 1950s and 1960s before retiring from the profession and becoming a lawyer. He is best known as the child lead in the television series '' Fury''. Early life ...

, and folk singer

Jimmie Rodgers James Charles Rodgers ( – ) was an American singer, songwriter, and musician who rose to popularity in the late 1920s. Widely regarded as the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Father of Country Music", he is best known for his di ...

; it was cancelled after twentysix weeks. She returned to television in 1963 as Sid Caesar's 4th television wife on '' The Sid Caesar Show'', in which she did comedy with Caesar and sang a song each week. 1959 saw the release of her first of a series of children's albums, "Gisele MacKenzie sings Lullaby and Goodnight". The album sold very well and resulted in two more for Cricket Play Hour Records (Pickwick). Starting in 1955, during her summer breaks from ''Your Hit Parade'', she added musical comedies to her resume

musical theater Musical theatre is a form of theatrical performance that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance. The story and emotional content of a musical – humor, pathos, love, anger – are communicated through words, music, moveme ...

by starring in such classics as ''

Annie Get Your Gun Annie may refer to: People and fictional characters * Annie (given name), a given name and a list of people and fictional characters with the name * Annie (Malayalam actress) (born 1975), Indian actress who works in Malayalam-language films * ...

'', ''

The King and I ''The King and I'' is the fifth musical by the team of Rodgers and Hammerstein. It is based on Margaret Landon's novel '' Anna and the King of Siam'' (1944), which is in turn derived from the memoirs of Anna Leonowens, governess to the childr ...

'', and ''

South Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five Borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is ...

''. In 1957 she appeared in the TV drama ''

Love at Fourth Sight "Love at Fourth Sight" is a 1957 American television play written by Sumner Locke Elliott Sumner Locke Elliott (17 October 191724 June 1991) was an Australian (later American) novelist and playwright. Biography Elliott was born in Sydney t ...

''. In 1986, she appeared in several episodes as a temporary recast in the role of

Katherine Chancellor Katherine Chancellor is a fictional character from the CBS Daytime soap opera ''The Young and the Restless'', portrayed by Jeanne Cooper. Created and introduced by show creator William J. Bell in January 1974, Cooper's Katherine was introduced ...

on ''

The Young and the Restless ''The Young and the Restless'' (often abbreviated as ''Y&R'') is an American television soap opera created by William J. Bell and Lee Phillip Bell for CBS. The show is set in the fictional Genoa City (named after the real-life Genoa City, Wiscon ...

''. She expanded her acting credits in the 1990s, making guest appearances on television series including ''

Murder, She Wrote ''Murder, She Wrote'' is an American crime drama television series, created by Peter S. Fischer, Richard Levinson and William Link, starring Angela Lansbury, and produced and distributed by Universal Television for the CBS network. The series f ...

'', ''

Boy Meets World ''Boy Meets World'' is an American coming-of-age sitcom created by Michael Jacobs and April Kelly that aired on ABC for seven seasons between September1993 and May2000. The series centers on Cory Matthews ( Ben Savage) and his friends and f ...

'', and ''

MacGyver Angus "Mac" MacGyver is the title character and the protagonist in the TV series ''MacGyver''. He is played by Richard Dean Anderson in the MacGyver (1985 TV series), 1985 original series. Lucas Till portrays a younger version of MacGyver in Mac ...

''. MacKenzie has a star on the

Hollywood Walk Of Fame The Hollywood Walk of Fame is a landmark which consists of 2,813 five-pointed terrazzo-and-brass stars embedded in the sidewalks along 15 blocks of Hollywood Boulevard and three blocks of Vine Street in the Hollywood, Los Angeles, Hollywood dist ...

at 1601 Vine.

Personal life

MacKenzie was married to her personal manager, Robert J. Shuttleworth (February 24, 1958 – August 12, 1966) and to Robert F. Klein (May 10, 1975–????); both marriages ended in divorce. She had a son, MacKenzie Duffy, and a daughter, contemporary jazz artist

Gigi MacKenzie Gigi MacKenzie (born 1962) is a smooth jazz artist and the daughter of singer Gisele MacKenzie. MacKenzie has a number of credits as a studio singer in Los Angeles. She has recorded national commercials and music for major movie soundtracks, i ...

Death

MacKenzie died from

colon cancer Colorectal cancer (CRC), also known as bowel cancer, colon cancer, or rectal cancer, is the development of cancer from the colon or rectum (parts of the large intestine). Signs and symptoms may include blood in the stool, a change in bowel ...

, aged 76, on September 5, 2003, in

Burbank, California Burbank is a city in the southeastern end of the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Located northwest of downtown Los Angeles, Burbank had a Census-estimated population of 102,755 as of 2023. The city was ...

Singles

''This list is incomplete.'' * "Le Fiacre" (February 1952, U.S. airplay #20) Capitol F1907 b/w "Tuh Pocket Tuh Pocket (Mississippi River Boat)" * "Adios" (August 1952, U.S. airplay #14) Capitol F2156 b/w "Darlin', You Can't Love Two" * "

Don't Let the Stars Get in Your Eyes "Don't Let the Stars Get in Your Eyes" is a country song about a man away from home who is worried that his paramour may unwittingly stray from their relationship. It was written by Winston L. Moore (whose stage name was Slim Willet) and published ...

" (December 1952, U.S. airplay #11/jukebox play #18) Capitol F2256 b/w "My Favorite Song" * " Hard to Get" (June 1955, U.S. airplay #4/sales #5/jukebox play #5) "X" 0137 b/w "Boston Fancy" * "Pepper Hot Baby" (November 1955, U.S. top 100 #60) "X" 0172 b/w "That's the Chance I've Got To Take" * " The Star You Wished Upon Last Night" (November 1956, U.S. top 100 #42)

Vik Vik or VIK may refer to: Places Finland * Viikki, a neighbourhood of Helsinki, known as Vik in Swedish Iceland * Vík í Mýrdal, a village in southern Iceland Iran * Vik, Iran, a village in Zanjan Province, Iran Norway *Vik, Buskerud, a vill ...

0233 b/w "It's Delightful to Be Married" * "He Knows" (February 1957) Vik 0249 b/w "Hello There" * "Oh Pain! Oh Agony! (Know What I Mean Jellybean)" (June 1957,

CHUM radio Bell Media Radio, G.P. (formerly CHUM Radio), operating as iHeartRadio Canada, is the radio broadcasting and music events subsidiary of Canadian media conglomerate Bell Media, a division of BCE Inc.. The company owns stations across the count ...

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

#26) Vik 0274 b/w "The Waltz That Broke My Heart" * "Come to Me, My True Love" (March 1958) RCA 7183 b/w "They're Playing Our Song" * "

Hey There "Hey There" is a show tune from the musical play ''The Pajama Game,'' written by Richard Adler and Jerry Ross. Published in 1954, it was introduced by John Raitt in the original production. In the show, Sid sings it to a recording device, tell ...

" 1958 * "Seven Lonely Days"

References

External links

* * *
Old Time Radio Researchers Database of People and Programs
otrrpedia.net. Retrieved February 28, 2015 {{DEFAULTSORT:Mackenzie, Gisele 1927 births 2003 deaths Actresses from Winnipeg Canadian emigrants to the United States Canadian television actresses Canadian women violinists and fiddlers RCA Victor artists Deaths from colorectal cancer in California Musicians from Greater Los Angeles Actors from Greater Los Angeles Musicians from Winnipeg Franco-Manitoban people The Royal Conservatory of Music alumni X Records artists 20th-century Canadian violinists and fiddlers 20th-century Canadian women singers Traditional pop music singers Vik Records artists Singers from Manitoba