Celeste Holm almost didn’t get the role that made her a Broadway star. She auditioned for the part of Ado Annie, in Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein’s 1943 musical Oklahoma!, with a formal song by Franz Schubert, prompting Rodgers to ask if she had anything with “a little less polish.” Holm thought for a second before letting out a loud hog call—“Sooooieeeeeeesoooie”—for the startled composer. The role, and stardom, was hers.
Holm was destined for the stage from an early age, said The Washington Post. As a precocious toddler in New York City, she once danced to the music of the hotel pianist at the Waldorf-Astoria. When guests began applauding, she hid under the piano in fright until “her mother assured her that clapping meant approval.” Holm secured her first Broadway part in 1939, but it was Oklahoma! that brought her wider attention, particularly her “showstopping” rendition of “I Cain’t Say No.”
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