7 Fun Facts About Donny Osmond

In his 60+ year career, Donny Osmond has done it all — the singer and performer, who turns 67 today, Dec. 9, has been a pop star, both with and without his brothers; a TV host, whether alongside his sister Marie or on game shows like Pyramid; a 2009 Dancing with the Stars winner and 2019 The Masked Singer finalist; and a musical theater performer who is currently touring the UK with a production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.

But there’s even more to the seemingly-tireless former teen heartthrob. Read on to find out about everything from his unlikely collaborators to his most unexpected TV cameo.

1He Made His TV Debut at Age 5

Of the nine Osmond children, Donny was one of the younger ones — only siblings Marie and Jimmy are younger. Four of his older brothers, Alan, Wayne, Merrill and Jay, formed a barbershop quartet, who made their TV debut in 1962 on the Disneyland After Dark TV special. That appearance caught the eye of Andy Williams’ father, Jay, who urged Andy to consider featuring the group on his TV show.

Williams was initially hesitant to work with children, but the Osmonds proved a huge hit, and quickly became staples of The Andy Williams Show. In a 1963 performance, they brought little brother Donny out, who was all of five years old at the time, to sing “Yes Sir, That’s My Baby.” Donny stole the show, and began regularly appearing on the series.

2Donny & Marie Was Created by the Same People Who Made H.R. Pufnstuf

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If you’re a fan of ’70s TV, you know the Krofft brothers, Sid and Marty, who are famous for their bizarre-o, puppet-filled children’s shows like Land of the Lost and H.R. Pufnstuf. However, in 1976, the Kroffts moved to prime time, creating Donny & Marie and making the two the youngest-ever TV hosts at the time.

The Kroffts didn’t have the original idea for the show; rather, the head of ABC hired the pair to host a variety show after watching the siblings banter on The Mike Douglas Show. However, the Kroffts were responsible for the show’s sometimes wacky stylings, which included outlandish costumes and ice dancers.

When Marty Krofft passed in 2023, Osmond wrote on Instagram:

 

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Watch Donny & Marie Channel Luke & Leia in a 1977 ‘Star Wars’ Spoof

3Donny Inspired Grease‘s “Teen Angel”

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Marie Osmond was famously very close to being cast as Sandy in Grease, but ultimately passed on the role, as she didn’t approve of Sandy’s rebellion at the end of the film. Donny was also almost cast in the film, as Teen Angel. In fact, writer Allan Carr allegedly had both Elvis and Donny in mind when he wrote the role. The part, of course, went to Frankie Avalon instead, though Osmond did finally get to play the role in 2009, in the production of the musical in London’s West End.

4His First Broadway Play Closed After One Performance

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Osmond has had quite the theatrical career — his 1992 run in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat was a tremendous breakthrough for the singer, and he has appeared on Broadway as Gaston in a 1994 production of Beauty and the Beast, as well as himself in 2010’s Donny and Marie: A Broadway Christmas.

But before all that, Osmond’s first Broadway performance didn’t turn out quite the way he would have hoped. In 1982, he starred in Little Johnny Jones, a play that had last been performed on the Great White Way in 1904 (!). The musical, which is the source of songs “Yankee Doodle Boy” and “Give My Regards to Broadway,” was successfully adapted into films in 1923 and 1929, and parts of it appear in the 1942 film Yankee Doodle Dandy.

The musical was successfully revived in a touring production starring David Cassidy in 1981. However, the 1982 Broadway revival, starring Osmond, proved unpopular with both audiences and critics. The New York Times review called it “listless” and asked of the patriotic play, “Is it treason to be bored stiff from beginning to end of ‘Little Johnny Jones’?” (though it singled out Osmond for praise, noting that he is “sincere and does know how to sing. One believes that he was born, at least spiritually, on the Fourth of July.”) After several weeks of previews, the play had only one formal performance, after which it closed for good.

5He Made an Unexpected Music Video Cameo

In 1985, Osmond was looking to take his career in a new direction. The Osmonds had split up, and while many of his family members had chosen to pursue careers in country music, Osmond was still interested in pop. But by the early ’80s, ’70s teen idols had fallen out of favor, and Osmond was looking for a way to create a new image.

One step he took: appearing in the video for Jeff Beck’s 1985 song “Ambitious.” Beck, a former member of the Yardbirds as well as the Jeff Beck Group, was classic rock royalty, and the exact last person you’d expect to team up with a pop star like Osmond. The appearance is gently self-mocking (in the video, music execs are shown to be unimpressed with Osmond’s recent output), displaying a new side of the singer.

6He Worked with Peter Gabriel on His Comeback Album

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Another step he took to shed his teen idol image? Working with edgy pop maestro Peter Gabriel. As part of Osmond’s plan to relaunch himself as an adult pop performer, he began working in Gabriel’s UK recording studio on what would become his 1989 comeback album, Donny Osmond. As he notes in this 1989 interview, the “most important reason” he recorded the album in the UK was “to have Gabriel’s influence;” the former Genesis singer would “come in every now and again and give some real strange ideas, as Peter can, but they work.”

And work they did; the single “Solider of Love” hit #2 on the Billboard Hot 100.

7He Was a Cartoon in the ’90s

In 1972, the Osmond Brothers appeared as themselves in one season of the Rankin/Bass cartoon The Osmonds. However, over two decades later, Osmond would find himself being animated again … on a very different cartoon.

Johnny Bravo, one of the original Cartoon Network shows, followed the titular Elvis-obsessed character, as he chased girls, doled out karate chops and went about his daily life. At the end of the show’s first season, in 1997, Osmond mad a cameo as himself — that is, as the 1972 animated version of himself. Drawn in the same outfit he wore as a cartoon on The Osmonds, the then-adult Osmond played a teenage version of himself, who is hired to babysit the immature Bravo. Osmond appeared on the show multiple times, through its fourth and final season in 2004.

Whatever Happened to Marie Osmond?

The Osmond sister is 65 today and still busy!

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