Singer Dinah Shore Dies -- Broadcast Star Was A Fixture On TV For Four Decades

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. - Dinah Shore, who delighted radio and television audiences over decades with her singing and Southern charm, died today. She was 76.

Miss Shore, who was recently diagnosed with cancer, died at her home here after a short illness, said publicist Connie Stone. Her grown children and ex-husband George Montgomery were with her when she died.

Her television career spanned the 1950s to the early 1990s, when she had a half-hour talk show on The Nashville Network. She won 10 Emmy awards.

She started in 1951 with "The Dinah Shore Show," a live, 15-minute musical show. The more elaborate "The Dinah Shore Chevy Show" premiered in 1956 and ran until 1963.

From 1970-74 she was in "Dinah's Place;" from 1974-79 in "Dinah," and from 1979 to 1984, "Dinah and Friends."

Her romance with actor Burt Reynolds in the 1970s made headlines in part because she was nearly 20 years older than he.

"What difference does it make?" she said in 1981. "Chronology has nothing to do with it. It has to do with how you feel emotionally about yourself."

Before going into television, she was a singing star on radio known for such hits as "I'll Walk Alone" and "The Anniversary Song." She appeared in films in the 1940s, including "Follow the Boys" and - with her voice only - "Fun and Fancy Free."

Miss Shore was born Frances Rose Shore on March 1, 1917, in Winchester, Tenn. She married Montgomery in 1943; they had two children. She divorced Montgomery in 1962, and a second marriage to Maurice Smith in 1963 lasted only a year.

For more than two decades, she had played host to the Dinah Shore Classic golf tournament in the Palm Springs area. She was also a champion of animal rights.

She wrote a best-selling cookbook, "Someone's in the Kitchen With Dinah."

"I do seem to live for the present," she said in a 1962 interview, "because today is so full and interesting that there just isn't time to worry about yesterday's mistakes or tomorrow's promises."