Marni Nixon(1930-2016)

Provided the singing voice for Natalie Wood in West Side Story (Amor sin barreras) (1961). She also was Deborah Kerr's singing voice in both Tú y yo (1957) and the musical classic El rey y yo (1956).

[on dubbing for Natalie Wood in West Side Story (Amor sin barreras) (1961)] I knew that I would never be cast physically in the role of Maria. In the picture they wanted Maria to sound like a sixteen-year-old and they kept trying out Natalie's voice. Natalie was perfectly musical, but I had the feeling that it was only gradually when they started working with her that they said to themselves, "I don't think she is able to do it at all". I was hanging around and not knowing how much of my voice was going to be used except for a few high notes that she knew she couldn't sustain. In the end, Natalie recorded everything to her own takes and sometimes was even out of synch. My main job was to fix up all the inconsistencies of her original recordings. I had to loop all the vocals after the film was finished.