Education
Born in San Antonio, Texas, Simms attended Fresno State Teachers College, where she studied piano.
Born in San Antonio, Texas, Simms attended Fresno State Teachers College, where she studied piano.
She labeled with Dinah Shore, Peggy Lee, Ella Fitzgerald, Jo Stafford and others She sang with big bands and worked as an Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer contract player film actress. She appeared in 11 movies from 1939 to 1951, when she retired.
She originally considered studying to become a concert pianist but enrolled instead at Fresno State Teachers College.
While there, she began performing in campus productions, singing with sorority sisters and even forming a popular campus vocal trio. Shortly afterward, she struck out on her own to establish a solo singing career, and by 1932 she had her own program on a local radio station.
Also in 1932, she became band vocalist for the Tom Gerun band in San Francisco, working together with other vocalists, including a young Tony Martin and Woody Herman. In 1938 she joined the Kay Kyser Orchestra, where she received her first national exposure, appearing on radio shows and in films with Kyser.
She made her first movie with Kyser and Lucille Ball, That’s Right You’re Wrong (1939).
She starred in the movies Here We Go Again with Edgar Bergen, Charlie McCarthy, and Fibber McGee & Molly (1942), Hit the Ice with Abbott & Costello (1943), Broadway Rhythm as Helen Hoyt with George Murphy (1944), and Cole Porter’s Night and Day (1946) as Carole Hill with Cary Grant and Alexis Smith. In 1951, Simms hosted a local television show on KTTV, channel 11, in Los Angeles which featured dance bands and talent from army, navy, marine, and air force bases around Southern California. In 1993, a Golden Palm Star on the Palm Springs, California, Walk of Stars was dedicated to her.
Simms and Kay Kyser co-starred in "Niagara to Reno" (described as "an original comedy") on Columbia Broadcasting System radio"s Silver Theater April 6, 1941.
Like many stars, Simms was active in entertaining troops during World World War World War II After the war ended, she continued to help servicemen. In 1947, a radio station"s newsletter noted: "ow she is helping provide new homes for them.
Ginny is sponsoring the construction of 450 homes for vets in Los Los Angeles"
Simms had a son, David. She died as the result of a heart attack in 1994 in Palm Springs, aged 80, and is interred in Desert Memorial Park in Cathedral City, California.