Onna White
Born (1922-03-24 ) March 24, 1922Died April 8, 2005(2005-04-08) (aged 83) Occupation(s) Choreographer and dancer Spouse Larry Douglas (1948–1959) Children Two
Onna White (March 24, 1922 – April 8, 2005) was a Canadian choreographer and dancer, nominated for eight
Tony Awards .
[1]
Early life and career
Born in
Inverness , Nova Scotia, White began taking dance lessons at the age of twelve, and eventually her studies took her to the
San Francisco Ballet , where she danced in the first full-length U.S. production of
The Nutcracker .
[2]
Her first
Broadway performance was in
Finian's Rainbow in 1947. Her next Broadway assignment was in Hold It! (1948), where she had progressed to dance captain. By 1950, in the long-running Broadway production of
Guys and Dolls , she both performed and assisted the choreographer,
Michael Kidd , beginning an association that lasted through
Silk Stockings various productions until, in 1956, she choreographed her first Broadway show,
Carmen Jones . She choreographed both the Broadway (1957) and screen (1962) versions of
The Music Man . Other Broadway shows included
Take Me Along (1959),
Irma La Douce (1960),
I Had a Ball (1964),
Half a Sixpence (1965),
Mame (1966, and the '
film version in 1974),
1776 (musical) (1969 and the
film version in 1972),
Gigi (1973) and
I Love My Wife (1977), among others.
[3]
Personal life
She married actor Larry Douglas in 1948, who was an understudy to Robert Preston in The Music Man ; they divorced in 1959.
[4] They had two children: Jeanne and Stuart. In 1964, Douglas married
Susan Luckey , who played the role of Zaneeta in the film of The Music Man .
Awards
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences voted White an
Academy Honorary Award for
Oliver! (1968), one of the rare occasions that the Academy recognized choreography in film. Other recipients include
Gene Kelly for "career achievements",
Jerome Robbins for "choreographic achievement on film",
Michael Kidd (White's mentor) for "services to the art of dance in the art of the screen" and
Stanley Donen for "body of work".
Fred Astaire 's was much earlier, and was for his body of work.
White's Oscar is the only one that states the name of a film, i.e. "To Onna White for her outstanding choreography achievement for
Oliver! " [
citation needed ]
Theater credits
Choreographed films
Tony Award nominations
1958 Best Choreography for The Music Man
1959 Best Choreography for Whoop-Up
1960 Best Choreography for Take Me Along
1961 Best Choreography for Irma La Douce
1965 Best Choreography for Half a Sixpence
1966 Best Choreography for Mame
1968 Best Choreography for Illya Darling
1977 Best Choreography for I Love My Wife
References
^
"Onna White, 83, Choreographer Who Won Oscar for 'Oliver!,' Dies" . The New York Times . Associated Press. April 11, 2005.
ISSN
0362-4331 . Retrieved December 26, 2021 .
^
[1]
Archived March 30, 2009, at the
Wayback Machine .
San Francisco Ballet .
^
"Onna White" , Internet Broadway Database, accessed September 19, 2023
^
Kilgallen, Dorothy (March 9, 1959).
"Voice of Broadway" . Republican and Herald . p. 4. Retrieved November 26, 2022 – via
Newspapers.com .
External links
1928–1950
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