American singer and stage, film and radio actress.
Born 2 August 1900 in Danville, Illinois, USA.
Died 9 October 1941 (age of 41) in Chicago, Illinois, USA.
She charted six times between 1927-1930. Her top charted song Bill hit #4 in 1928. Her other top 10 songs included Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man (#7, 1928), Why Was I Born? (#8, 1930), and A Tree in the Park (#9, 1927).
As an actress, she is best remembered on screen as Julie in
Show Boat (1936), repeating her 1927 Broadway role. In a number of stage revues, she danced, sang, and excelled in sketch comedy.
She came to New York in 1918 after winning a couple of beauty contests. She was eventually hired by Florenz Ziegfield to appear in the chorus of
Sally, which opened at the New Amsterdam Theatre on December 21, 1920. It ran for two years.
In 1941 she came to appear in a version of
George White's Scandals at the State Lake Theatre. She became seriously ill with a liver complaint brought on by her drinking and died. There have been two films on her life story: a 1957 Playhouse 90 drama,
The Helen Morgan Story and the feature film
The Helen Morgan Story (also in 1957), starring
Ann Blyth.