Trivia

He had one child, Jon, with ex-girlfriend Maybelle Marston, born sometime in the early 1930s.

He was an accomplished sculptor, and often crafted bronze statues of his co-stars and directors. The statue he made of Susanna Foster was used in her film Phantom of the Opera (1943).

Suffered a fatal stroke while performing in concert.

In 1959, after 23 years, "Indian Love Call" hit the million mark in sales.

MGM chief Louis B. Mayer hired singer Charles Igor Gorin as a backup in case Eddy became temperamental, but he never did and Gorin never played a role intended for Eddy.

He was a lifelong supporter of the Republican party.

He was awarded three stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for Motion Pictures at 6311 Hollywood Blvd., for Radio at 6512 Hollywood Blvd. and for Recording at 1639 Vine St. in Hollywood, CA.

Distantly related to U.S. President Martin Van Buren.

His duets with Jeanette MacDonald are lampooned in the musical "A Day In Hollywood/A Night In The Ukraine." In the show a movie star named Jeanette sings the song "Oh, Nelson, What You're Putting Me Through"--an operatic lament about her boring co-star--while standing with a mannequin dressed in a Canadian Mounties uniform.

Plans to re-team Eddy and Jeanette MacDonald were announced by RKO in July 1945. Studio chief Charles Koerner was preparing a film version of the 1931 Sigmund Romberg and Oscar Hammerstein II stage musical "East Wind" to be filmed in Technicolor. Koerner's sudden death in February 1946 and the subsequent change in studio management ended the project.

Eddy appeared with Jeanette MacDonald on Gordon MacRae's TV show in 1956. They each sang a solo and collaborated on a duet. Most critics agreed that her voice had faded. In 1957 and 1958 they collaborated on an album of their movie hits entitled "Favorites in Hi-Fi.".

In the last years of his life, his work schedule didn't vary. He dropped his concerts and concentrated on his nightclub act, touring 40 weeks a year with pretty blonde Gale Sherwood as his singing partner.

Was portrayed by Mick Hucknall in De-Lovely (2004). In the movie, his portrayal was a cameo.

At an MGM exhibitors sales convention in February 1949 it was announced that the studio would probably reunite Nelson Eddy and Jeanette MacDonald to star for producer Joe Pasternak in "His Excellency from Brazil." By the time the film was released the title had been changed to Nancy Goes to Rio (1950) and the parts were played by Ann Sothern and Barry Sullivan.

When Eddy first went on tour ("hoping for $50 a concert and glad to get $25") in 1928, he hired Theodore Paxson, who remained Eddy's accompanist for four decades.

In 1963 Ross Huntertried to entice Eddy and Jeanette MacDonald back onto the screen as an aging married couple who find themselves suddenly about to have a baby. They declined.

There is a street in Hollywood Forever cemetery now named for him.

MGM chief Louis B. Mayer ordered Eddy to test for his debut in Broadway to Hollywood (1933). The 33-year-old newcomer took a record 58 takes before the exasperated test director gave up. Despite this failure, Mayer overruled the general consensus about Eddy's acting talent--non-existent--and ordered him used for a singing sequence in the film only.

In 1939, he had the house at 485 Halvern Dr., Brentwood Heights, built for himself and Jeanette MacDonald, who was soon to be divorced. That fell through, and, a few years later, sold to Fred MacMurray. The architect was Sylvanus Marsden. The house is still there, and the exterior front is essential unchanged as of December, 2021.

Hosted his own weekly radio show in the 1950s

Interred at Hollywood Memorial Cemetery (now called Hollywood Forever), Hollywood, CA, Section B, across the street from the Cathedral Mausoluem and a bit to the right.

Was a member of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia, a national music fraternity.

He was the son of Isabel (Kendrick) and William Darius Eddy. His ancestry included English, some Dutch, and distant Scottish and Scots-Irish/Northern Irish, Polish, and French. He had deep roots in Rhode Island.

At the height of his career he received more fan mail than any other star on the MGM payroll.

He had a stepson, Sidney Franklin Jr..

His first starring roll was in Naughty Marietta with Jeannette MacDonald.