DICK HAYMES

Dick Haymes was an actor from the 1930s to the 1970s. He was born in 1918, and was a singer as a teenager. He wanted to become a songwriter, and he met Harry James, who instead hired him as his featured vocalist. He also worked with Benny Goodman and Tommy Dorsey, before becoming a solo performer. He appeared in a number of musicals in the 1940s. He had a really wonderful voice, but was a somewhat bland performer, and didn't have great success in the movies. He also didn't have great success romantically, having six wives, including Joanne Dru and Rita Hayworth. He was an alcoholic and had great financial difficulties, but he still lived until 1980, when he passed away at the age of 71. He is not remembered in the same way as other great singers of his era, like Frank Sinatra, but in his day, he was a really major singing star!