On June 18th, her 120th birthday… some interview quotes:

“I have worked terribly hard… maybe even much harder… than I should have. And you only find this out after you can look back at your experiences and see why you should have accepted things more instead of pushing, as I am sure I did. ”

“So much of my life zooms back at me as being a little ornery…. I guess there isn’t much I haven’t done. But … I think I missed having children. That’s the biggest order I never filled. It just wasn’t in the cards, I guess.”

“I never realized… how much … movie stars mean to people. Not what you do or what you say but just your presence, your being there. It makes you feel embarrassed and rather humble and happy all at once. To be able to bring that much pleasure to people makes me a very lucky woman. Very lucky.”

Bumping up the write-up about Jeanette MacDonald’s funeral TV footage today…  58 years ago today…

Watch it. There is nothing more telling about the Jeanette-Nelson relationship (except “This is Your Life”, of course) than the way Nelson is offered condolences by the other celebrity pallbearers. He’s also the last mourner to step outside the chapel, one can see it in the video footage.

Additionally, he took care of the overdue bills from her funeral expenses that were not paid; one can see some bills in the probate file folder.

The photo snapped of him a month later in Canada later shows a very different Nelson than most people would recognize; he’s quite thin and looks to be lost in his thoughts. Such a difference one month can make.

Nelson Eddy: “The most miserable day of my life” (Jeanette MacDonald’s funeral)