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Gwen Verdon
Gwen Verdon 1954.jpg
Verdon in 1954
Born
Gwyneth Evelyn Verdon

(1925-01-13)January 13, 1925
Died October 18, 2000(2000-10-18) (aged 75)
Occupation Actress, dancer
Years active 1936–2000
Spouse(s)
  • James Henaghan
    (m. 1942; div. 1947)
  • (m. 1960; died 1987)
Children 2, including Nicole Fosse

Gwyneth Evelyn "Gwen" Verdon (January 13, 1925 – October 18, 2000) was an American actress and dancer. She won four Tony Awards for her musical comedy performances, and served as an uncredited choreographer's assistant and specialty dance coach for theater and film. Verdon was a critically acclaimed performer on Broadway in the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s, having originated many roles in musicals, including the title character in Sweet Charity and Roxie Hart in Chicago. She is also strongly identified with her second husband, director-choreographer Bob Fosse, remembered as the dancer-collaborator-muse for whom he choreographed much of his work and as the guardian of his legacy after his death.

Early life

Verdon was born in Culver City, California, the second child of Gertrude Lilian (née Standring) and Joseph William Verdon, British immigrants to the United States by way of Canada. Her brother was William Farrell Verdon. Her father was an electrician at MGM Studios, and her mother was a former vaudevillian of the Denishawn dance troupe, as well as a dance teacher.

As a toddler, she suffered from rickets, which left her legs so badly misshapen she was called "Gimpy" by other children and spent her early years in orthopedic boots and rigid leg braces. At age three, her mother enrolled her in dance classes. Further ballet training strengthened her legs and improved her carriage.

By age six, she was dancing on stage. She went on to study multiple dance forms, ranging from tap, jazz, ballroom and flamenco to Balinese. She also studied juggling. At age 11, she appeared as a solo ballerina in the musical romance film The King Steps Out (1936), directed by Josef von Sternberg and starring Grace Moore and Franchot Tone. She attended Hamilton High School in Los Angeles and studied under ballet enthusiast Ernest Belcher. While in high school, she was cast in a revival of Show Boat.

In 1942, Verdon's parents asked her to marry family friend and tabloid reporter James Henaghan after he got her pregnant at 17 years old, and she quit her dancing career to raise their child. In 1945, she appeared as a dancer in the movie musical Blonde From Brooklyn. After her divorce, she entrusted her son Jimmy to the care of her parents.

Career

Early on, Verdon found a job as assistant to choreographer Jack Cole, whose work was respected by both Broadway and Hollywood movie studios. During her five-year employment with Cole, she took small roles in movie musicals as a "specialty dancer". She also taught dance to stars such as Jane Russell, Fernando Lamas, Lana Turner, Rita Hayworth, Betty Grable and Marilyn Monroe.

Verdon started out on Broadway going from one chorus line to another. Her breakthrough role finally came when choreographer Michael Kidd cast her as the second female lead in Cole Porter's musical Can-Can (1953), starring French prima donna Lilo. Out-of-town reviewers hailed Verdon's interpretation of Eve in the Garden of Eden ballet as a performance that upstaged the show's star, who reputedly demanded Verdon's role be cut to only two featured dance numbers. With her role reduced to little more than an ensemble part, Verdon formally announced her intention to quit by the time the show premiered on Broadway. But her opening-night Garden of Eden performance was so well-received that the audience screamed her name until the startled actress was brought from her dressing room to take a curtain call. Verdon received a pay increase and her first Tony Award for her performance.

Verdon's biggest critical and commercial success was her following show, George Abbott's Damn Yankees (1955), based on the novel The Year the Yankees Lost the Pennant. The musical ran for 1019 performances. Verdon won another Tony and went to Hollywood to repeat her role in the 1958 movie version Damn Yankees.

Verdon won another Tony for her performance in the musical New Girl in Town. She won her fourth Tony for the murder-mystery musical Redhead, Fosse's Broadway debut as a director/choreographer. In 1960, Fosse and Verdon wed.

In 1966, Verdon returned to the stage in the role of Charity in Sweet Charity, which like many of her earlier Broadway triumphs was choreographed and directed by husband Fosse. The show is loosely based on Federico Fellini's screenplay for Nights of Cabiria. It was followed by a movie version starring Shirley MacLaine as Charity, featuring Ricardo Montalbán, Sammy Davis Jr. and Chita Rivera, with Fosse at the helm of his very first film as director and choreographer. Verdon helped with the choreography. The numbers include the famed "Big Spender", "Rhythm of Life", "If My Friends Could See Me Now", and "I'm a Brass Band". Verdon also traveled to Berlin to help Fosse with Cabaret, the musical film for which he won an Oscar for Best Director.

Although estranged as a couple, Verdon and Fosse continued to collaborate on projects such as the musical Chicago (1975) (in which she originated the role of murderess Roxie Hart) and the musical Dancin' (1978), as well as Fosse's autobiographical movie All That Jazz (1979). The helpmate/peer played by Leland Palmer in that film is based on the role Verdon played in Fosse's real life. She also developed a close working relationship with Fosse's partner, Broadway dancer Ann Reinking, and was an instructor for Reinking's musical theatre classes.

After originating the role of Roxie opposite Chita Rivera's Velma Kelly in Chicago, Verdon focused on film acting, playing character roles in movies such as The Cotton Club (1984), Cocoon (1985) and Cocoon: The Return (1988). She continued to teach dance and musical theater and to act. She received three Emmy Award nominations for appearances on Magnum, P.I. (1988), Dream On (1993) and Homicide: Life on the Street (1993). Verdon appeared as the title character's mother in the Woody Allen movie Alice (1990) and as Ruth in Marvin's Room (1996), co-starring Meryl Streep, Diane Keaton, and Leonardo DiCaprio. In 1999, Verdon served as artistic consultant on a Broadway musical designed to showcase examples of classic Fosse choreography. Called simply Fosse, the revue was conceived and directed by Richard Maltby Jr. and Ann Reinking and choreographed by Reinking and Chet Walker. Verdon's daughter Nicole received a "special thanks" credit. The show won a Tony Award for Best Musical.

In 1997 Verdon appeared in an episode of Walker Texas Ranger as Maisie Whitman. She reprised the role in 1999.

Verdon played Alora in the movie Walking Across Egypt (1999) and appeared in the film Bruno, released in 2000. Verdon received a total of four Tonys, for best featured actress for Can-Can (1953) and best leading actress for Damn Yankees (1955), New Girl in Town (1957) and Redhead (1959). She also won a Grammy Award for the cast recording of Redhead.

Verdon was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame in 1981. In 1998, she was awarded the National Medal of Arts.

Personal life

Verdon was married twice and had two children. She married tabloid reporter James Archibald Henaghan in 1942. They had a son, Jim, the following year and divorced in 1947. In 1960, Verdon married choreographer Bob Fosse. They had a daughter, Nicole, in 1963. By 1971, Verdon and Fosse were separated, but never divorced. Verdon was with Fosse when he suffered a fatal heart attack at the Willard Hotel in Washington, D.C., in September 1987.

Verdon was a cat fancier, having up to six cats at one time, with the pets carrying names such as "Feets Fosse", "Junie Moon", and "Tidbits Tumbler Fosse".

Verdon was a mental health-care advocate; later in life, she openly spoke about the positive effects of mental-health counseling. Along with teaching dance as a form of therapy, she sat on the board of directors for the New York Postgraduate Center for Mental Health, and actively raised funds to support mental health-care research.

Popular culture

Fosse/Verdon is an 8-part American miniseries starring Sam Rockwell as Fosse and Michelle Williams as Verdon. The series, which tells the story of the couple's troubled personal and professional relationship, is based on the biography Fosse by Sam Wasson. It premiered in eight parts on April 9, 2019, on FX. At the 71st Primetime Emmy Awards, Fosse/Verdon received seventeen nominations, including Outstanding Limited Series and acting nominations for Rockwell, Williams, and Margaret Qualley (as Ann Reinking). Williams won the Emmy for Outstanding Actress in a Limited Series.

Death and legacy

Verdon died from a heart attack on October 18, 2000, aged 75, at her daughter's home in Woodstock, Vermont. Later that night, at 8 pm, all marquee lights on Broadway were dimmed in a tribute to Verdon.

Work

Stage

Year Title Role Notes
1950 Alive and Kicking Herself Musical revue
1953 Can-Can Claudine/Eve Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical
1955 Damn Yankees Lola Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical
1957 New Girl in Town Anna Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical
1959 Redhead Essie Whimple Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical
1966 Sweet Charity Charity Hope Valentine Nominated – Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical
1972 Children! Children! Helen Giles Only played one performance (13 previews)
1975 Chicago Roxie Hart Nominated – Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical

Film

Year Title Role Notes
1936 The King Steps Out Specialty Ballerina Uncredited
1941 The Girl After My Heart Specialty Ballerina Credited as "Gwen Verdun" [sic]
a featurette by Roy Mack
1943 Hoosier Holiday Cheerleader Uncredited
1945 Blonde from Brooklyn Girl in Nightclub Uncredited
1951 On the Riviera Specialty Dancer Uncredited
1951 David and Bathsheba Specialty Dancer Uncredited
1951 Meet Me After the Show Sappho Uncredited
prominent dancer in "No Talent Joe"
1952 Dreamboat Girl Uncredited
1952 The Merry Widow Specialty Can-Can Dancer Uncredited
1953 The I Don't Care Girl Specialty Dancer Uncredited
1953 The Mississippi Gambler Voodoo Dancer Uncredited
1953 The Farmer Takes a Wife Abigail Uncredited
1955 Gentlemen Marry Brunettes Specialty Dancer Uncredited
1958 Damn Yankees Lola
1978 Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band Our Guests at Heartland
1982 Creepshow Voice of Lenora Castonmeyer Uncredited
1984 The Cotton Club Tish Dwyer
1985 Cocoon Bess McCarthy
1987 Nadine Vera
1988 Cocoon: The Return Bess McCarthy Selwyn
1990 Alice Alice's mother
1994 Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All Etta Pell, Nursing Home Resident
1996 Marvin's Room Ruth Wakefield
1999 Walking Across Egypt Alora
2000 Bruno Mrs. Drago

Television

Year Title Role Notes
1954 Goodyear Playhouse Shirley Kochendorfer Episode: "Native Dancer"
1972 Love, American Style Estelle Mayberry Segment: "Love and the New Act"
1973 The $10,000 Pyramid Celebrity Guest Week of October 22–26, playing against Godfrey Cambridge
1981 M*A*S*H Brandy Doyle(USO performer) Episode: "That's Show Biz"
1982 Fame Melinda MacNeil Episode: "Come One, Come All"
1982 All My Children Judith Kingsley Sawyer Unknown episodes
1983 Legs Maureen Comly Television movie
1984 The Jerk, Too Bag Lady Television movie; uncredited
1984 Gimme a Break! Lily Episode: "The Center"
1985 Trapper John, M.D. Ms. Taylor Episode: "All the King's Horses"
1985 Kids Incorporated Ruth Episode: "Grandma, Won't You Dance with Me"
1985–1988 Magnum, P.I. Katherine Peterson 5 episodes
Nominated—Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series
1986 The Equalizer Kelly Sterling Episode: "Unnatural Causes"
1986 All Is Forgiven Bonita Harrell Episode: "I Can't Say No"
1986–1988 Webster Aunt Charlotte 3 episodes
1987 Hotel Iris Lloyd Episode: "Second Thoughts"
1989 Dear John Yvonne Episode: "The Second Time Around"
1990 Paris is Burning Herself Uncredited
1992 Dream On Kitty Brewer Episode: "For Peter's Sake"
Nominated—Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series
1993 Homicide: Life on the Street Jessie Doohen Episode: "Ghost of a Chance"
Nominated—Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series
1993 Key West Sister Grace Episode: "Gimme Shelter"
1994 The Cosby Mysteries Yolanda 2 episodes
1996 In Cold Blood Sadie Truitt 2 episodes
1997 Touched by an Angel Lorraine McCully Episode: "Missing in Action"
1997–1999 Walker, Texas Ranger Maisie Whitman 2 episodes
1998 Promised Land Karen Hatcher Episode: "Undercover Granny"

Music

In 1956, Verdon released an album titled The Girl I Left Home For. The album includes her covers of popular jazz standards of the time.

Awards and nominations

Year Award Category Work Result Ref.
1953 Theatre World Award Can-Can Won
1954 Tony Award Best Featured Actress in a Musical Won
1956 Best Leading Actress in a Musical Damn Yankees Won
1958 New Girl in Town Won
1959 Redhead Won
1966 Sweet Charity Nominated
1976 Chicago Nominated
1960 Grammy Award Best Broadway Show Album Redhead †† Won
1959 BAFTA Awards Most Promising Newcomer to Leading Film Roles Damn Yankees Nominated
1966 Outer Critics Circle Award Outstanding Performance Sweet Charity Won
1979 Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award Choreography Dancin' ††† Won
1988 Primetime Emmy Awards Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series Magnum, P.I. Nominated
1993 Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series Dream On Nominated
Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series Homicide: Life on the Street Nominated
1997 Screen Actors Guild Awards Outstanding Actress in a Supporting Role Marvin's Room Nominated
Outstanding Ensemble Cast in a Motion Picture Nominated

† Tied with co-star Thelma Ritter
†† Tied with Ethel Merman for Gypsy
††† Shared with Bob Fosse

See also

Kids robot.svg In Spanish: Gwen Verdon para niños

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