Happy Birthday, Blossom Rock! (Jeanette MacDonald’s sister)

Today marks the 130th birthday of my dear friend, Jeanette MacDonald’s older sister, Blossom Rock. She’s also remembered as Marie Blake, using that stage name with small roles in over 100 movies. Below you can listen to a radio interview she gave in 1965, not long after Jeanette’s passing. It’s wonderful to hear her speaking voice again! By the way, her favorite song that Jeanette recorded was “Beyond the Blue Horizon.”

After doing a search, I found one poster that had Blossom’s name credited on it as a supporting actress, under the name Marie Blake. Between Two Women (1945) was filmed after Jeanette had left MGM. Surprisingly, she was not featured on any of the Dr. Kildare series posters I could find, for which she seemed to be best known in those early day. But apparently there was a policy that the sisterly connection between her and Jeanette was not to be broadly made public.

Here are the two sisters with their mother. Anna MacDonald remained a powerful influence in Jeanette’s life, and to a great deal the reason for Jeanette’s not deciding to marry Nelson early on. A true stage mother, Anna correctly observed that Nelson posed a threat to Jeanette’s once all-encompassing career drive, and she made no secret of her dislike of him. Blossom, on the other hand, did not have her personal life interfered with by Anna. But she did agree to help out by having Anna live with her and her husband Rocky, in a home owned by Jeanette, until Anna’s death in 1947.

While Anna MacDonald never imagined Blossom becoming a worldwide star, she did become one late in life. Not only as an actress but as a defender of her sister’s life and truths. For that we are forever grateful. Happy birthday, Blossom!