Muriel Smith

Muriel Burrell Smith (February 23, 1923 – September 13, 1985) was an American singer. In the 1940s and 1950s, she was a star of musical theater and opera, and was also the off-film ghost singer in several hit movies. She is perhaps best known in the UK for her 1953 number 3 hit single "Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me", which was first covered in 1965 by Mel Carter (and which remains a staple of easy listening and oldies radio to this day) and later in 1994 by Gloria Estefan.

Biography Smith was born in New York City. Her early life remains obscure. She appeared on the popular radio series Major Bowes' Amateur Hour in 1937.

In 1947, she starred as Delphine with the baritone William Veasey (Joshua Tain) in Theodore Ward's Our Lan at the Royale Theatre. She later appeared in Marc Blitzstein's opera The Cradle Will Rock in 1947/8,

More significantly, she was ghost singer in two songs for the 1958 Hollywood film version of South Pacific, providing the voice for actress Juanita Hall in for the songs "Bali Ha'i" and "Happy Talk",

Later in her life, she worked for Moral Re-Armament. In the late 1950s, she starred in the stage musical The Crowning Experience, inspired by the life of Mary McLeod Bethune, which was later made into a film of the same name. She worked as a voice teacher at Virginia Union University.

Partial filmography Year Title Role Notes 1952 Moulin Rouge Aicha 1956 The Battle of the River Plate Dolores, Montevideo singing voice, uncredited 1958 South Pacific Bloody Mary singing voice, uncredited 1960 The Crowning Experience Emma Tremaine 1964 Voice of the Hurricane Mary