Vera-Ellen
Biography by Hal Erickson
Vivacious, long-stemmed blonde musical star Vera-Ellen was dancing professionally before she was a teenager. After service as a Radio City Music Hall Rockette and a Manhattan nightclub dancer, she graduated to the Broadway stage. She made her film debut in the 1945 Danny Kaye vehicle Wonder Man, then went on to team with such male stars as Gene Kelly (in 1949's On the Town), Fred Astaire (in 1952's Belle of New York), and Bing Crosby (1954's White Christmas). In a moment of weakness, Vera-Ellen agreed to co-star in the Marx Brothers' valedictory film Love Happy (1949), where she was "rewarded" with some of her worst-ever costumes and camera angles. After her final screen appearance in the British Let's Be Happy (1957), Vera-Ellen retired from movies, making a handful of TV appearances before marrying wealthy businessman Victor Rothschild in 1954. Following her divorce in 1966 and the subsequent death of her infant daughter, Vera-Ellen went into seclusion in her Los Angeles home, dropping completely from the public's consciousness until her death from cancer in 1981.
http://www.allmovie.com/artist/vera-ellen-p73296
You can find people similar to Vera-Ellen by visiting our lists 20th-century American women singers and 20th-century American dancers.
| Full name at birth | Vera Ellen Westmeier Rohe
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| Claim to fame | White Christmas; On the Town
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| Date of birth | 16 February 1921
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| Place of birth | Norwood, Ohio, USA
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| Date of death | 30 August 1981
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| Age | 60 (age at death)
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| Place of death | Los Angeles, California, USA
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| Cause of death | Lung Cancer
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| Resting place | Glen Haven Memorial Park, Sylmar, California
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| Occupation | Actress, dancer
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PERSONAL DETAILS
| Height | 5' 4" (163 cm)
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| Weight | 95 lbs (43 kg)
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| Dress size | 2
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| Shoe size | 6
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ADDITIONAL DETAILS
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high school
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- In 1963 she gave birth to a daughter named Victoria Ellen Rothschild, who died of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome that same year.
- Was once a drum majorette in high school.
- Went to the same Cincinnati ballroom dance studio as a child as Doris Day. Their parents used to carpool together to the dance studio.
- All of her costumes in White Christmas (1954), down to her robe and sleepwear, were designed to cover her neck, which was aged beyond her years due to her eating disorder, anorexia.
- Suffered from anorexia for years, which led to premature aging
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