The singer Marni Nixon, who sang vocal parts for numerous stars including Marilyn Monroe, has died aged 86
She was a soprano and was known as Hollywood's "invisible voice". She appeared, uncredited, in many of the biggest movie musicals of all time - dubbing the voices for Deborah Kerr in The King and I, and Audrey Hepburn in My Fair Lady.
She also sang the high notes for Monroe in Diamonds Are A Girl's Best Friend; and "ghosted" Natalie Wood's vocals in West Side Story.
Nixon, who was born in California, died of breast cancer on Sunday in New York, her agent confirmed to the BBC.
For most of her career, the classically-trained musician remained unknown. Twentieth Century Fox made her sign a contract saying she would never reveal the ghost-singing on The King and I.
The story only came out later, when Deborah Kerr herself credited Nixon's work in a press interview.
During an interview in 1967 Nixon said, "The anonymity didn't bother me until I sang Natalie Wood's songs in West Side Story. Then I saw how important my singing was to the picture. I was giving my talent, and somebody else was taking the credit."
She finally secured a screen appearance in The Sound of Music in 1965 but was only given a couple of solo lines in How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria? as a singing nun.
Her singing career in films ended by the mid 1960s, but she continued on with concerts and in symphony halls, while billing herself as "The Voice of Hollywood" in one-woman cabaret shows.
The clandestine nature of her Hollywood work led Time magazine to dub Nixon "the ghostess with the mostest".
