- Born
- Died
- Birth nameFania Borach
- Height5′ 6″ (1.68 m)
- Fanny Brice was a popular and influential American comedienne, singer, theatre and film actress, who made many stage, radio and film appearances but is best remembered as the creator and star of the top-rated radio comedy series, The Baby Snooks Show. Thirteen years after her death, she was portrayed on the Broadway stage by Barbra Streisand in Funny Girl. The show was made into a musical film in 1968. Born Fania Borach, in New York City, she was the third child of Rose (Stern) and Charles Borach, relatively well-off saloon owners of Hungarian Jewish descent. In 1908, she dropped out of school to work in a burlesque revue, and two years later she began her association with Florenz Ziegfeld, headlining his Ziegfeld Follies from 1910 into the 1930s. In the 1921 Follies, she was featured singing "My Man" which became both a big hit and her signature song. She made a popular recording of it for Victor Records. The second song most associated with her is "Second Hand Rose". She recorded nearly two dozen record sides for Victor and also cut several for Columbia. She is a posthumous recipient of a Grammy Hall of Fame Award for her 1921 recording of "My Man". Her films include My Man (1928), Be Yourself! (1930) and Everybody Sing (1938) with Judy Garland. Brice, Ray Bolger and Harriet Hoctor were the only original Ziegfeld performers to portray themselves in The Great Ziegfeld (1936) and Ziegfeld Follies (1946). For her contribution to the motion picture industry, she has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at MP 6415 Hollywood Boulevard.- IMDb Mini Biography By: Anonymous
- SpousesBilly Rose(February 8, 1929 - October 27, 1939) (divorced)Julius Wilford Arndtstein(April 5, 1919 - September 17, 1927) (divorced, 2 children)Frank White(February 14, 1910 - August 15, 1913) (divorced)
- Starred in every Ziegfeld Follies on Broadway from 1910 until 1936.
- Believed that pearls should not be taken off and needed to be lived in, so she would sleep in hers at night.
- The birth name of her second husband, better known as Nick Arnstein, was actually Jules W. Arndt Stein.
- Returned to work two months after giving birth to her daughter Frances in order to begin performing on the Broadway production of "Ziegfeld Midnight Frolic".
- Was three months pregnant with her son William when she ended her run on the Broadway production of "Ziegfeld Follies of 1920".
- Men always fall for frigid women because they put on the best show.
- With Nick Arnstein, I was miserably happy. With Billy Rose, I was happily miserable.
- I am not sorry. I will tell anybody that, and it is the truth. I lived the way I wanted and never did what people said I should do or advised me to do. And I want my children to do the same. Let the world know you as you are, not as you think you should be, because sooner or later, if you are posing, you will forget the pose, and then where are you?
- [summing up her career] Listen, kid. I've done everything in theatre except marry a property man. I've been a soubrette in burlesque and I've accompanied stereopticon slides. I've acted for Belasco [David Belasco] and I've laid 'em out in rows at the Palace. I've doubled as an alligator; I've worked for the Schuberts; and I've been joined to Billy Rose in the holy bonds. I've painted the house boards and I've sold tickets and I've been fired by George M. Cohan. I've played in London before the king and in Oil City before miners with lanterns in their caps.
- [on Esther Williams] Wet, she's a star. Dry, she ain't.
Contribute to this page
Suggest an edit or add missing content