From the front lines of World War II to the mansions of Hollywood, Dinah Shore's enthusiasm, Southern drawl and warm, sentimental contralto made her one of America's best-loved performers.
Shore, 76, died of cancer Thursday at her home in Beverly Hills, with her former husband and her children at her side."She is the only person I ever knew who had nothing bad to say about anyone," said actor Burt Reynolds, who was once romantically linked to Shore and was a friend of hers for many years.
"Hollywood has lost its greatest and only real angel. Dinah is what God meant when he strived to make perfection," a distraught Reynolds added.
"Dear Dinah was a wonderful ray of sunshine, always ready with a word of support, a funny anecdote, a smile," said Frank Sinatra, who said he'd known Shore as a close friend for a half century.
"Everyone who knew Dinah is weeping, as I am now," said Jack Valenti, president of the Motion Picture Association of America Inc. "She was the kindest and the gentlest and the most enduring of all the talented folks in the world."
Shore has three stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for her careers in recording, radio and television. She won 10 Emmy Awards, nine gold records and the USO Medallion Award as the first entertainer to visit GIs on the front lines during World War II.
Bob Hope recalled Shore as "one of the most talented, charming and gracious women of this century. Our friendship goes back a long way. We did KP together at the Hollywood Canteen during World War II."
Former President Gerald Ford, an old friend and desert neighbor of Shore, called her "five-star in every way."
"Betty and I have lost a very dear friend, one of the finest, most generous and thoughtful persons we have been privileged to know," he said.
Former President Ronald Reagan and his wife, Nancy, who had known Shore for more than 40 years, said, "Dinah was a dynamic individual. She was talented, energetic and had a sincere spark for life."
Born Frances Rose Shore on March 1, 1917, in Tennessee, Shore graduated from Vanderbilt University in 1938 and began her singing career on WNEW radio in New York City, where Sinatra was also an aspiring singer.
She joined Eddie Cantor's radio show in 1941 and got her own show two years later.