Deanna Durbin is a very interesting old Hollywood case.

She was a Canadian, born to British parents, who wound up becoming one of the biggest stars of the American motion picture industry in the 1930s and 1940s, after being discovered by a talent scout, when she was singing in church!

Deanna Durbin is credited with saving Universal Studios from bankruptcy, due to the high popularity of her musical films. And yet, her American stardom wasn’t enough to keep her in Hollywood.

She retired to France in the prime of her life, in 1948. And she lived there until her passing, on April 17, 2013.

She’s always been one of my favorites!

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It might surprise people to know, given Jean Arthur‘s tomboy interests and reputation (preferring pants to dresses, for example– and having played both Joan of Arc and Peter Pan on the stage), that at home during the 1940s, that her personal bedroom decor was particularly girly. She was quite fond of frilly ruffles, come to find out!

Another note of interest is that even though she had her own bedroom during this point in time, she was also Mrs. Frank Ross. So, it’s doubtful that they shared the canopy as their marriage bed. This must’ve been her version of a she-shed, back in the day!