Vera-Ellen
Encyclopedia
Vera-Ellen was an American actress and dancer, principally celebrated for her filmed dance partnerships with Fred Astaire
, Gene Kelly
, Danny Kaye
and Donald O'Connor
.
, an enclave within Cincinnati, to Martin Rohe and Alma Catherine Westmeier, both descended from German
immigrants. She began dancing at age 10 and quickly became very proficient. At 16 she was a winner on the Major Bowes Amateur Hour
, and embarked upon a professional career.
In 1939 Vera-Ellen made her Broadway theatre
debut in the Jerome Kern
/Oscar Hammerstein
musical Very Warm for May
at age 18. She became one of the youngest Rockettes at Radio City Music Hall
, although she was not tall. This led to roles on Broadway in Panama Hattie
, By Jupiter
, and A Connecticut Yankee, where she was spotted by Samuel Goldwyn
, who cast her opposite Danny Kaye
and Virginia Mayo
in Wonder Man
.
She danced with Gene Kelly
in the Hollywood musicals Words and Music
and On the Town
, while also appearing in the last Marx Brothers
film, Love Happy
. She received top billing alongside Fred Astaire
in the MGM musicals, Three Little Words
and The Belle of New York
(1952). She had a co-starring role with Donald O'Connor
in the Ethel Merman
vehicle, Call Me Madam
for 20th Century-Fox, and in perhaps her most well-known and beloved film, with Bing Crosby
, Danny Kaye
and Rosemary Clooney
in Paramount's blockbuster hit, White Christmas
, in which she was partnered with Clooney ("Sisters"), Kaye ("The Best Things Happen While You're Dancing" and "Choreography") and dancer John Brascia
("Mandy," "Choreography," and "Abraham"). Let's Be Happy
was Vera-Ellen's final film.
During the 1950s she was known for having the "smallest waist in Hollywood", and is believed to have suffered from anorexia nervosa
. She retired from the big screen in 1957, and retired completely after the death of her 3-month old daughter in 1963. Guest appearances on the television variety shows of Dinah Shore
and Perry Como
in 1958 and 1959 were among the last of her entertainment career.
in 1963.
Following the death of her child Vera-Ellen withdrew from public life. She died of cancer in Los Angeles, California, in 1981.
Fred Astaire
Fred Astaire was an American film and Broadway stage dancer, choreographer, singer and actor. His stage and subsequent film career spanned a total of 76 years, during which he made 31 musical films. He was named the fifth Greatest Male Star of All Time by the American Film Institute...
, Gene Kelly
Gene Kelly
Eugene Curran "Gene" Kelly was an American dancer, actor, singer, film director and producer, and choreographer...
, Danny Kaye
Danny Kaye
Danny Kaye was a celebrated American actor, singer, dancer, and comedian...
and Donald O'Connor
Donald O'Connor
Donald David Dixon Ronald O’Connor was an American dancer, singer, and actor who came to fame in a series of movies in which he co-starred alternately with Gloria Jean, Peggy Ryan, and Francis the Talking Mule...
.
Early life
She was born Vera Ellen Westmeier Rohe in Norwood, OhioNorwood, Ohio
Norwood is the second most populous city in Hamilton County, Ohio, United States. The city is an enclave of the larger city of Cincinnati. The population was 21,675 at the 2000 census. Originally settled as an early suburb of Cincinnati in the wooded countryside north of the city, the area is...
, an enclave within Cincinnati, to Martin Rohe and Alma Catherine Westmeier, both descended from German
Germans
The Germans are a Germanic ethnic group native to Central Europe. The English term Germans has referred to the German-speaking population of the Holy Roman Empire since the Late Middle Ages....
immigrants. She began dancing at age 10 and quickly became very proficient. At 16 she was a winner on the Major Bowes Amateur Hour
Major Bowes Amateur Hour
Major Bowes Amateur Hour, American radio's best-known talent show, was one of the most popular programs broadcast in the United States in the 1930s and 1940s...
, and embarked upon a professional career.
Career
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
debut in the Jerome Kern
Jerome Kern
Jerome David Kern was an American composer of musical theatre and popular music. One of the most important American theatre composers of the early 20th century, he wrote more than 700 songs, used in over 100 stage works, including such classics as "Ol' Man River", "Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man", "A...
/Oscar Hammerstein
Oscar Hammerstein II
Oscar Greeley Clendenning Hammerstein II was an American librettist, theatrical producer, and theatre director of musicals for almost forty years. Hammerstein won eight Tony Awards and was twice awarded an Academy Award for "Best Original Song". Many of his songs are standard repertoire for...
musical Very Warm for May
Very Warm for May
Very Warm for May is a musical composed by Jerome Kern, with a libretto by Oscar Hammerstein II. It was the team's final score for Broadway, following their hits Show Boat, Sweet Adeline, and Music in the Air...
at age 18. She became one of the youngest Rockettes at Radio City Music Hall
Radio City Music Hall
Radio City Music Hall is an entertainment venue located in New York City's Rockefeller Center. Its nickname is the Showplace of the Nation, and it was for a time the leading tourist destination in the city...
, although she was not tall. This led to roles on Broadway in Panama Hattie
Panama Hattie
Panama Hattie is a musical with music and lyrics by Cole Porter and book by Herbert Fields and B. G. DeSylva. It is also the title of a 1942 MGM musical based upon the play...
, By Jupiter
By Jupiter
By Jupiter is a musical with a book by Lorenz Hart and Richard Rodgers, music by Rodgers, and lyrics by Hart. The musical is based on the play The Warrior's Husband by Julian F. Thompson, set in the land of the Amazons...
, and A Connecticut Yankee, where she was spotted by Samuel Goldwyn
Samuel Goldwyn
Samuel Goldwyn was an American film producer, and founding contributor executive of several motion picture studios.-Biography:...
, who cast her opposite Danny Kaye
Danny Kaye
Danny Kaye was a celebrated American actor, singer, dancer, and comedian...
and Virginia Mayo
Virginia Mayo
Virginia Mayo was an American film actress.After a short career in vaudeville, Mayo progressed to films and during the 1940s established herself as a supporting player in such films as The Best Years of Our Lives and White Heat .Mayo remained an A-list actress into the mid-'50s, but then went...
in Wonder Man
Wonder Man (film)
Wonder Man is a 1945 film starring Danny Kaye and Virginia Mayo. It is based on a short story by Arthur Sheekman, adapted for the screen by a staff of writers led by Jack Jevne and Eddie Moran, produced by Samuel Goldwyn, and directed by H. Bruce Humberstone...
.
She danced with Gene Kelly
Gene Kelly
Eugene Curran "Gene" Kelly was an American dancer, actor, singer, film director and producer, and choreographer...
in the Hollywood musicals Words and Music
Words and Music (1948 film)
Words and Music is a 1948 movie loosely based on the creative partnership of the composer Richard Rodgers and lyricist Lorenz Hart. The film starred Mickey Rooney, Tom Drake, Janet Leigh, Betty Garrett, and Ann Sothern, It is best remembered for the final screen pairing between Rooney and Judy...
and On the Town
On the Town (film)
On the Town is a 1949 musical film with music by Leonard Bernstein and Roger Edens and book and lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green. It is an adaptation of the Broadway stage musical of the same name produced in 1944, although many changes in script and score were made from the original stage...
, while also appearing in the last Marx Brothers
Marx Brothers
The Marx Brothers were an American family comedy act, originally from New York City, that enjoyed success in Vaudeville, Broadway, and motion pictures from the early 1900s to around 1950...
film, Love Happy
Love Happy
Love Happy was the 14th and last starring feature for the Marx Brothers. The film stars Harpo Marx, Chico Marx, and, in a smaller role than usual, Groucho Marx, plus Ilona Massey, Vera-Ellen, Paul Valentine, Marion Hutton, Raymond Burr, Bruce Gordon , and Eric Blore, with a walk-on by Marilyn Monroe...
. She received top billing alongside Fred Astaire
Fred Astaire
Fred Astaire was an American film and Broadway stage dancer, choreographer, singer and actor. His stage and subsequent film career spanned a total of 76 years, during which he made 31 musical films. He was named the fifth Greatest Male Star of All Time by the American Film Institute...
in the MGM musicals, Three Little Words
Three Little Words (film)
Three Little Words is a 1950 American musical film biography of the Tin Pan Alley songwriting partnership of Kalmar and Ruby and stars Fred Astaire as lyricist Bert Kalmar, Red Skelton as composer Harry Ruby, along with Vera-Ellen and Arlene Dahl as their wives, with Debbie Reynolds in a small but...
and The Belle of New York
The Belle of New York
The Belle of New York is a 1952 Hollywood musical comedy film set in New York circa 1900 and stars Fred Astaire, Vera-Ellen, Alice Pearce, Marjorie Main and Keenan Wynn, with music by Harry Warren and lyrics by Johnny Mercer...
(1952). She had a co-starring role with Donald O'Connor
Donald O'Connor
Donald David Dixon Ronald O’Connor was an American dancer, singer, and actor who came to fame in a series of movies in which he co-starred alternately with Gloria Jean, Peggy Ryan, and Francis the Talking Mule...
in the Ethel Merman
Ethel Merman
Ethel Merman was an American actress and singer. Known primarily for her powerful voice and roles in musical theatre, she has been called "the undisputed First Lady of the musical comedy stage." Among the many standards introduced by Merman in Broadway musicals are "I Got Rhythm", "Everything's...
vehicle, Call Me Madam
Call Me Madam (film)
Call Me Madam is a 1953 musical film directed by Walter Lang, with songs by Irving Berlin, based on the stage musical of the same name.The film, with a screenplay by Arthur Sheekman, starred Ethel Merman, Donald O'Connor, Vera-Ellen, Billy DeWolfe, George Sanders, and Walter Slezak...
for 20th Century-Fox, and in perhaps her most well-known and beloved film, with Bing Crosby
Bing Crosby
Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby was an American singer and actor. Crosby's trademark bass-baritone voice made him one of the best-selling recording artists of the 20th century, with over half a billion records in circulation....
, Danny Kaye
Danny Kaye
Danny Kaye was a celebrated American actor, singer, dancer, and comedian...
and Rosemary Clooney
Rosemary Clooney
Rosemary Clooney was an American singer and actress. She came to prominence in the early 1950s with the novelty hit "Come On-a My House" written by William Saroyan and his cousin Ross Bagdasarian , which was followed by other pop numbers such as "Botch-a-Me" Rosemary Clooney (May 23, 1928 –...
in Paramount's blockbuster hit, White Christmas
White Christmas (film)
White Christmas is a 1954 Technicolor musical film starring Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye that features the songs of Irving Berlin, including the titular "White Christmas"...
, in which she was partnered with Clooney ("Sisters"), Kaye ("The Best Things Happen While You're Dancing" and "Choreography") and dancer John Brascia
John Brascia
John Brascia is an American actor and dancer, noted for his dancing partnerships on film with Vera-Ellen in White Christmas and with Cyd Charisse and Liliane Montevecchi in Meet Me in Las Vegas . With dancer Tybee Arfa , the dance team known as Brascia and Tybee became - beginning in 1957 - a...
("Mandy," "Choreography," and "Abraham"). Let's Be Happy
Let's Be Happy
Let's Be Happy is a 1957 British musical film directed by Henry Levin, written by Dorothy Cooper and Diana Morgan. This is also Vera-Ellen's last film.-Credited cast:*Vera-Ellen ... Jeannie*Tony Martin ... Stanley Smith...
was Vera-Ellen's final film.
During the 1950s she was known for having the "smallest waist in Hollywood", and is believed to have suffered from anorexia nervosa
Anorexia nervosa
Anorexia nervosa is an eating disorder characterized by refusal to maintain a healthy body weight and an obsessive fear of gaining weight. Although commonly called "anorexia", that term on its own denotes any symptomatic loss of appetite and is not strictly accurate...
. She retired from the big screen in 1957, and retired completely after the death of her 3-month old daughter in 1963. Guest appearances on the television variety shows of Dinah Shore
Dinah Shore
Dinah Shore was an American singer, actress, and television personality...
and Perry Como
Perry Como
Pierino Ronald "Perry" Como was an American singer and television personality. During a career spanning more than half a century he recorded exclusively for the RCA Victor label after signing with them in 1943. "Mr...
in 1958 and 1959 were among the last of her entertainment career.
Personal life & Death
Vera-Ellen was married twice. Her first husband was fellow dancer, Robert Hightower (1941- 1946). Her second husband was millionaire Victor Rothschild (1954-1966). Both marriages ended in divorce. While married to Rothschild, she gave birth to a daughter, Victoria Ellen Rothschild, who died at three months old of Sudden Infant Death SyndromeSudden infant death syndrome
Sudden infant death syndrome is marked by the sudden death of an infant that is unexpected by medical history, and remains unexplained after a thorough forensic autopsy and a detailed death scene investigation. An infant is at the highest risk for SIDS during sleep, which is why it is sometimes...
in 1963.
Following the death of her child Vera-Ellen withdrew from public life. She died of cancer in Los Angeles, California, in 1981.
Filmography
- Wonder ManWonder Man (film)Wonder Man is a 1945 film starring Danny Kaye and Virginia Mayo. It is based on a short story by Arthur Sheekman, adapted for the screen by a staff of writers led by Jack Jevne and Eddie Moran, produced by Samuel Goldwyn, and directed by H. Bruce Humberstone...
(1945) - The Kid from BrooklynThe Kid from BrooklynThe Kid from Brooklyn is a 1946 comedy film starring Danny Kaye and co-starring Virginia Mayo, Vera-Ellen, Steve Cochran, and Eve Arden, about a milkman who becomes world boxing champion....
(1946) - Three Little Girls in BlueThree Little Girls in BlueThree Little Girls in Blue is a 1946 20th Century Fox musical-comedy film that starred June Haver along with George Montgomery, Vivian Blaine, Celeste Holm, and Vera-Ellen. The film was a re-make of the 1938 play "Three Blind Mice" and 1941's movie musical Moon Over Miami...
(1946) - Carnival in Costa RicaCarnival in Costa RicaCarnival in Costa Rica is an American musical film directed by Gregory Ratoff and written by Samuel Hoffenstein, John Larkin, and Elizabeth Reinhardt. It was released in Technicolor by Twentieth Century Fox...
(1947) - Words and MusicWords and Music (1948 film)Words and Music is a 1948 movie loosely based on the creative partnership of the composer Richard Rodgers and lyricist Lorenz Hart. The film starred Mickey Rooney, Tom Drake, Janet Leigh, Betty Garrett, and Ann Sothern, It is best remembered for the final screen pairing between Rooney and Judy...
(1948) - Love HappyLove HappyLove Happy was the 14th and last starring feature for the Marx Brothers. The film stars Harpo Marx, Chico Marx, and, in a smaller role than usual, Groucho Marx, plus Ilona Massey, Vera-Ellen, Paul Valentine, Marion Hutton, Raymond Burr, Bruce Gordon , and Eric Blore, with a walk-on by Marilyn Monroe...
(1949) - On the TownOn the Town (film)On the Town is a 1949 musical film with music by Leonard Bernstein and Roger Edens and book and lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green. It is an adaptation of the Broadway stage musical of the same name produced in 1944, although many changes in script and score were made from the original stage...
(1949) - Three Little WordsThree Little Words (film)Three Little Words is a 1950 American musical film biography of the Tin Pan Alley songwriting partnership of Kalmar and Ruby and stars Fred Astaire as lyricist Bert Kalmar, Red Skelton as composer Harry Ruby, along with Vera-Ellen and Arlene Dahl as their wives, with Debbie Reynolds in a small but...
(1950) - Happy Go LovelyHappy Go LovelyHappy Go Lovely is a 1951 British musical comedy film with Technicolor, directed by H. Bruce Humberstone and starring Vera Ellen, David Niven, and Cesar Romero. The film was made and first released, in the UK, and distributed in the US by RKO Radio Pictures in 1952...
(1951) - The Belle of New YorkThe Belle of New YorkThe Belle of New York is a 1952 Hollywood musical comedy film set in New York circa 1900 and stars Fred Astaire, Vera-Ellen, Alice Pearce, Marjorie Main and Keenan Wynn, with music by Harry Warren and lyrics by Johnny Mercer...
(1952) - Call Me MadamCall Me Madam (film)Call Me Madam is a 1953 musical film directed by Walter Lang, with songs by Irving Berlin, based on the stage musical of the same name.The film, with a screenplay by Arthur Sheekman, starred Ethel Merman, Donald O'Connor, Vera-Ellen, Billy DeWolfe, George Sanders, and Walter Slezak...
(1953) - Big LeaguerBig LeaguerBig Leaguer is a 1953 film. It starred Edward G. Robinson and was the first film directed by Robert Aldrich.Although this story is fiction, Robinson's character in it, Hans Lobert, was an actual baseball player who played for five Major League Baseball teams and managed the Philadelphia Phillies.-...
(1953) - White ChristmasWhite Christmas (film)White Christmas is a 1954 Technicolor musical film starring Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye that features the songs of Irving Berlin, including the titular "White Christmas"...
(1954) - Let's Be HappyLet's Be HappyLet's Be Happy is a 1957 British musical film directed by Henry Levin, written by Dorothy Cooper and Diana Morgan. This is also Vera-Ellen's last film.-Credited cast:*Vera-Ellen ... Jeannie*Tony Martin ... Stanley Smith...
(1957)
Further reading
- Oderman, Stuart, Talking to the Piano Player 2. BearManor Media, 2009. ISBN #1-59393-320-7.