Legendary Movie Star Deanna Durbin Dies at 91! (VIDEO)

Before Shirley Temple came along Deanna Durbin was the biggest child star in Hollywood.

The slender beauty appeared to critical praise in dozens of musicals usually singing operatic numbers.  Her most famous films included Every Sunday (1936, with Judy Garland), Three Smart Girls (1936), It Started with Eve (1941), Can't Help Singing (1944) and Lady on a Train (1945).  She received a Juvenile Academy Award with Mickey Rooney in 1938 when she was 17.

Her movies were so successful that is it reported that she literally saved Universal Pictures from declaring bankruptcy.  Deanna Durbin was so popular that little Anne Frank pasted a photo of Durbin on the wall of her hiding place in Amsterdam, Holland.  Even today, when you climb up the stairs to view the Frank family hiding place you can still see the glamour magazine photo of Deanna Durbin covered in glass on young Anne's bedroom wall.

When she was just 25 years old she was the second highest paid movie star (behind Bette Davis) in Hollywood, and she had the world's largest fan club for several years.

She recorded more than 50 records for her recording label Decca Records.  Deanna Durbin retired from show business more than a half century ago and has led a reclusive life ever since.

She was 91 years old at the time of her death.