Langford was 'Sweetheart of the Fighting Fronts'

JENSEN BEACH, Fla. -- Frances Langford's career was skyrocketing with every sweet note she sang. Then, World War II broke out and Langford, a recording artist, radio and movie star, joined Bob Hope on his overseas USO tours.

"You forget about show business," says Langford, now 87. "We were there just to do our job, to help make them laugh and be happy if they could."

Last year, the United Service Organizations kicked into gear for a new generation of forces in Afghanistan. But this time, Langford, once known as "Sweetheart of the Fighting Fronts," wasn't packing her bags.

Out of the limelight for decades, Langford -- also known for playing the wife opposite Don Ameche in the old-time radio comedy "The Bickersons" -- lives quietly on her 57-acre spread overlooking the Indian River in this Florida town 100 miles north of Miami.

Her memory may have robbed her of the ability to remember names, but she can still recall in vivid detail the visits to troops in England, North Africa, the South Pacific and later to Korea and Vietnam.

Langford brought troops "a vision of home, and hope that it would be over sometime soon," says her former manager, Charles Wick.

"She had a very charming and glamorous personality, which along with her deep sexy voice certainly combined to give her the kind of image that the GIs used to really cheer," he says, "in addition to being moved by her lovely voice."

Born in Lakeland in 1914, she was discovered at age 16 by bandleader Rudy Vallee. He invited her backstage to sing after a Miami performance.

"I sang maybe 16 bars and he said, 'That's enough,"' she says. "I thought, oh, that's the end of my career."

Instead, he asked her to sing on his radio program and invited her to New York. There she sang at Cole Porter's birthday party and met Hollywood producers.

She moved to California and sang on Louella Parson's radio show "Hollywood Hotel." She appeared in 30 movies including "Yankee Doodle Dandy."

In 1941, she was singing on Hope's show when he held his first military program at March Field near Pasadena, Calif. The response was so positive Hope asked her if she wanted to bring the show to a training base every week. She quickly agreed.

"I really wanted to do something worthwhile for my country," she says.

Her trademark song, "I'm in the Mood for Love," which was written for her for the 1935 movie, "Every Night at Eight," was a huge hit with the servicemen.

"Everywhere I went, it was the same thing. I got up and sang about eight bars and way in the back some GI would stand up. He'd say, 'You've come to the right place, sister.' They responded to everything, they were such a wonderful audience."

These days, Langford spends much of her time aboard her 110-foot yacht with husband Harold Stuart, who was an assistant secretary of the Air Force under President Truman.

The Chanticleer is docked next to a restaurant-marina she built in the 1960s with late husband Ralph Evinrude, heir to the outboard motor company. (Actor Jon Hall was her long-ago first husband.) She entertained famous friends and locals there until Evinrude died in 1986 and she sold the place.

The new owner, whose father met Langford in Africa, dedicated a room to her with head shots, a blown-up cover of Radio Mirror magazine that she graced and letters from Ronald Reagan.

Her boat is adorned with autographed pictures of Hope, former presidents Eisenhower, Reagan and Nixon, and Winston Churchill.

There's just one photo from her Hollywood career, a publicity shot of a young Langford leaning stylishly against a piano in a sheer gown.

Much of the glamour has left the gray-haired woman with failing eyesight. What remains is the humility that allowed her to sweep her hair up in a bandanna and overcome dust, dirt and danger to boost wartime morale.

The former star of the battlefield jokes that she wouldn't be popular with today's military.

"I'm too old. They don't want to see an old gal get up and sing," she says. "I've done my share."