After conquering radio in the 1930s she commandeered MGM’s vocal department in the 1940s, where she revolutionized the studio’s greatest musicals with her audacious arrangements, from The Harvey Girls to Ziegfeld Follies.

The dame cut a wide swath through the arts. She was a charter member of the Rat Pack, costarred in a whodunit with Ronald Reagan, and directed John F. Danny Kaye masqueraded in drag as her Noël Coward and Cole Porter wrote musicals for her and The Beatles wanted to hold her hand. Kay’s legion of fans included Queen Elizabeth of England, King Juan Carlos of Spain, and Princess Grace (Kelly) of Monaco. She coached Bette Davis and Eleanor Roosevelt she created nightclub acts for Marlene Dietrich and Ginger Rogers and when Lucille Ball had to sing on Broadway, Kay was the wind beneath her wings, too. She went to school with Tennessee Williams, auditioned for Henry Ford, got her first big break from Bing Crosby, trained Marilyn Monroe, channeled Elvis Presley, rejected Andy Warhol, rebuffed Federico Fellini, got fired by Howard Hughes, and snubbed Donald Trump.

Kay Thompson’s larger-than-life story is an effervescent toast to show business with a shot of Auntie Mame and a twist of The Devil Wears Prada.Ī multi-threat entertainer and a world-class eccentric, Kay Thompson was the mentor/best friend of Judy Garland, the vocal guru for Frank Sinatra and Lena Horne, and the godmother/Svengali of Liza Minnelli (who recreated Thompson’s nightclub act in her 2009 Tony Award–winning event, Liza’s at the Palace). She created Eloise in 1955, and those books of the girl raised at the Plaza Hotel remain best sellers today.Kay Thompson | From Funny Face to Eloise by Sam Irvin tells the thrilling life story of actress Kay Thompson.

Thompson starred in the movies The Ziegfield Follies, The Kid From Brooklyn, and Funny Face with Fred Astaire and Audrey Hepburn. She made her Broadway debut in Hooray for What in 1937 and later joined MGM as a musical arranger and vocal coach to Lena Horne and Judy Garland, the mother of her goddaughter. Thompson got her own CBS radio show in 1935. She then moved on to cabaret, joining the Mills Brothers on a radio show and performing with the Fred Waring Band.

A gifted pianist and vocalist, she attended George Washington University before joining the St. The jeweler's daughter was born Kitty Fink in St. Thompson created two unforgettable characters-the precocious Eloise and magazine editor Maggie Prescott. Kay Thompson died in 1998 at the age of 95 in New York, where she lived with her goddaughter, Liza Minelli. What became of Kay Thompson, who appeared in Funny Face and later wrote the Eloise books?

Kay thompson from funny face to eloise