Vera-Ellen: A Look at the Dancing Starlet From Your Favorite Midcentury Musicals
She danced with Gene Kelly *and* Fred Astaire!
Vera-Ellen may not be the best-known name of Hollywood’s Golden Age, but the dancer and actress was an essential part of classic Technicolor musicals like On the Town and White Christmas. The mononymous, multitalented star was known for her sunny screen presence and graceful dance moves, and watching her instantly transports you back to a simpler time, when movies were filled with vividly colored dance sequences and charming romances. Here’s a look at how the great Vera-Ellen became a fixture of some of the most beloved musicals of all time.
Vera-Ellen becomes a dancer
Born Vera-Ellen Rohe in 1921, the actress seemed destined for stardom, even down to her distinctive name. The name, hyphen and all, came to her mother in a dream. Vera-Ellen began dancing at 9 years old and proved quite precocious, becoming a professional dancer by her teenage years. In 1939, at 18, she made her stage debut in the Broadway musical Very Warm for May. She’d appear in four more Broadway productions in the early ’40s.
As a teen, Vera-Ellen became a Radio City Rockette, and was one of the youngest dancers in the famed troupe. Those high kicks and flashy costumes prepared her well for a career in Hollywood, and the fact that she was a dancer first would be an asset in making the transition from the stage to the screen.
Vera-Ellen the movie star
In 1943, Vera-Ellen had a fateful encounter with Hollywood bigwig Samuel Goldwyn, who saw her onstage and cast her in her first film, the 1945 musical comedy Wonder Man. She starred opposite Danny Kaye and Virginia Mayo, playing Kaye’s nightclub dancer fiancee. Like many actresses of the time, her singing voice was dubbed, but her dance moves were all her own.
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Vera-Ellen appeared with Kaye and Mayo again the next year, in The Kid From Brooklyn. She then acted in Three Little Girls in Blue and Carnival in Costa Rica. In 1948, she costarred in Words and Music, which boasted an A-list ensemble cast including Mickey Rooney, Judy Garland, Cyd Charisse, Gene Kelly and more.
Kelly and Vera-Ellen danced together in the sequence “Slaughter on Tenth Avenue” — an evocative ballet set in a seedy dance hall. Looking back on the dance, Vera-Ellen said, “I’ll never have a dance I loved more than ‘Slaughter on Tenth Avenue,’ I’ll never stop being grateful to Gene Kelly for giving me a chance at doing it with him,” The chemistry between the two stars jumped off the screen, and they’d be paired once again in On the Town a year later.
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On the Town, a jaunty tale of Navy sailors (played by Kelly, Frank Sinatra and Jules Munshin) enjoying a whirlwind shore leave in New York City, became one of Vera-Ellen’s signature films, and is a certified classic of the musical genre. Once again, Vera-Ellen and Kelly brought seriously impressive dance moves and fabulous compatibility to their roles.
The same year Vera-Ellen was in On the Town, she also appeared in the final Marx Brothers film, Love Happy. While Love Happy isn’t the most acclaimed Marx Brothers movie, it’s known for featuring a (very) brief appearance from a then-unknown Marilyn Monroe, and it provides another fun showcase for Vera-Ellen’s captivating dance moves.
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Vera-Ellen in the ’50s
Vera-Ellen’s star continued to rise in the ’50s. In 1950, she starred opposite none other than Fred Astaire in Three Little Words. They paired up again in The Belle of New York in 1952. Astaire had already been an icon of onscreen dance for 20 years at that point, and these two films aren’t as well-remembered as his many movies with Ginger Rogers. Still, Vera-Ellen held her own alongside the king of dance.
Vera-Ellen’s other early ’50s films included Happy Go Lovely (in which she played a chorus girl in Scotland), Call Me Madam (in which she played a princess) and Big Leaguer (her only non-musical film, in which she played the niece of a baseball team manager played by Edward G. Robinson).
Vera-Ellen’s next film, White Christmas, had far more staying power than her earlier ’50s roles. The 1954 musical, which featured Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye and Rosemary Clooney, was the biggest box office success of the year, and the combination of its Irving Berlin songs and festive, colorful atmosphere made it essential holiday viewing for many generations.
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Clooney and Vera-Ellen played sisters, and like many of her costars, Clooney was in awe of her talents. In an interview, she called Vera-Ellen one of the best dancers in the industry, and said that she couldn’t always keep up with her moves (although unlike Vera-Ellen, Clooney did her own singing for the film!)
Given the success of White Christmas, it seemed like Vera-Ellen would be in higher demand than ever, but she appeared in just one more film, the 1957 musical Let’s Be Happy. By this time, musicals were starting to wane in popularity, and at just 36, she retired from the film industry.
Vera-Ellen’s personal life
While Vera-Ellen always projected a cheerful energy onscreen, she dealt with some drama in her personal life. She briefly dated Rock Hudson in the ’50s, but this was a prefabricated relationship meant to hide the actor’s homosexuality. She also dealt with much pressure on her looks as a dancer, and was rumored to have an eating disorder.
From 1954 to 1966 she was married to Victor Rothschild, a wealthy oilman, and they had a daughter in 1963. Tragically, their child died at just three months old, and Vera-Ellen lived a private life outside of the spotlight until her passing at age 60 in 1981.
Vera-Ellen remains an underrated great of classic Hollywood. Her dance moves are unparalleled, and she charmed icons from Danny Kaye to Gene Kelly to Fred Astaire. Well over half a century after they were first released, her vibrant musicals can still get our toes tapping.
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