Deanna Durbin dead at 91 VETERAN Canadian actress and singer Deanna Durbin has died at the age of 91. The star's son, Peter H David, confirmed to the Deanna Durbin Society she passed away "a few days ago," the fan club announced on Tuesday. No further details were given. The actress, born Edna Mae Durbin, studied music as a child, but was signed to Hollywood studio MGM after a casting agent discovered her, and she later moved on to Universal. She made her debut in a short entitled Every Sunday with a teenage Judy Garland, and went on to appear in movies such as Three Smart Girls in 1936, 1944's Christmas Holiday and Lady on a Train the following year. Durbin decided to step out of the public eye after 1948's For the Love of Mary and she retired to the French countryside with her third husband, director Charles David, who died in 1999. As well as her son Peter, the star had a daughter named Jessica from her second marriage to Felix Jackson.