Tuesday, December 25, 2007

Michael Kidd: 1915-2007

Michael Kidd, the Tony and Academy Award-winning choreographer known for his athletic and acrobatic dances on both stage and screen, has died at the age of 92.

Kidd began as a ballet dancer, but quickly gained fame and accolades once he started choreographing with the original Broadway production of Finian's Rainbow, which won him his first of five Tony Awards. He would go on to win for Guys and Dolls, Can-Can, Li'l Abner and Destry Rides Again.

Onscreen, Kidd was seen in It's Always Fair Weather and Smile, but it was his show stopping production numbers in The Band Wagon and, most especially, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, that brought him the most notice. His other film credits include the film version of Guys and Dolls, plus Hello, Dolly! and Star! In 1997, he received an Honorary Oscar for "his services in the art of the dance in the art of the screen".

Links via Imdb.com and LATimes.com.

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