“I’ve done a few things people have enjoyed and remembered. I wasn’t wonderful, just an ordinary man taking part in movie pictures.” That is a comment Nelson Eddy made about himself near the end of his career. However, Nelson was not an ordinary man, he was an extraordinary man.

His dream was to be an operatic baritone singer, but he often stated that his voice was not loud enough, nor high enough to star in opera. It was in movies that he attained his stardom. Nelson was uncomfortable in the role of a super star because of his unassuming personality.

Nelson studied both in America and abroad and performed in operas and concerts. However, he was a virtual unknown when MGM took an enormous gamble in offering him the role opposite Jeanette MacDonald in Naughty Marietta.

The audience responded overwhelmingly to the chemistry between Nelson and Jeanette in this film. This union between these two stars proved to be the most successful of any romantic couple in the history of Hollywood.

Their fans saw them as an inseparable couple. To them they were equally popular, not preferring one to the other.

After their last movie together in 1942, he went on to further success in films, concerts, radio, and TV.

After completing a concert tour in 1952, Nelson developed a nightclub act. He performed in nightclubs for 15 years where he became one of the most successful nightclub performers. His popularity resulted in two years advance bookings for his act.

Nelson resisted all suggestions that it was time for him to retire, often saying that when it was his time to go, he wanted to die doing the thing he loved the best, singing. On March 6th 1967, his wish tragically came true when during one of his stage performances he suffered a fatal stroke.