Mitzi Gaynor, the leading lady of musical films, has died at the age of 93

“South Pacific” was a box office success, and Ms. Gaynor's performance, opposite Rosano Brazzi, was well received. (It turns out that she is the only star in the film to sing herself.) But she made only three other films, all comedies without music; Her last, “For Love or Money” with Kirk Douglas, was released in 1963. She turned instead to Las Vegas, where she headlined shows at major resorts for more than a decade, and to television.

Her appearance on the network made a particularly strong impression: her performance of the Academy Award-nominated song “Georgy Girl” at the 1967 Academy Awards, with intricate choreography, four backup dancers in white suits, and a striptease costume change. This led to a decade-long string of Emmy Award-winning variety shows, with titles such as “Mitzi and a Hundred Guys” and “Mitzi Zings Into Spring.”

However, perhaps her most famous television experience was her least triumphant. On February 16, 1964, Ms. Gaynor took first place on “The Ed Sullivan Show.” She sang “It's Too Darn Hot” and a medley of blues songs, but was completely overshadowed by another act on the bill that night: The Beatles, in their second American television appearance. She recalled that at a dinner party afterwards, Paul McCartney asked for her autograph.

Francesca Marlene de Cazzani von Gerber was born in Chicago on September 4, 1931, into a show business family. Her father, Henry, was a Hungarian-born cellist and orchestra conductor. Her mother, Pauline (Fischer) von Gerber, was a dancer. When Frances, as she was known, was three years old, the family moved to Detroit; When she was eleven, they moved to Southern California.