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Operatic mezzo-soprano Gladys Swarthout spent five years singing with the Metropolitan Opera in New York before Paramount studios recruited her to come to Hollywood in the mid-'30s. Swarthout was once hailed as the newest rival to MGM's Jeanette MacDonald and Columbia's Grace Moore, but though talented and beautiful, her film career never took off. She did, however, find success on radio and television. Swarthout was born in Deepwater, MO, and got her start singing in a church choir at age 12. Following studies at Chicago's Bush Conservatory, she debuted in 1924 with the city's Civic Opera Company. She joined the Met in 1929. A bout with rheumatic fever in her youth left Swarthout with the heart condition that claimed her life in 1969.