Five-time Tony Award winner and Honorary Academy Award winning choreographer Michael Kidd passed away on December 23 in Los Angeles from cancer. Kidd was 92, as reported by the New York Times.
Biography.com notes that while in high school, he attended a performance by a modern dance group that inspired him to take dance lessons. Although he went on to City College of New York and studied chemical engineering, by the end of his third year he dropped out to dedicate himself entirely to dance. He attended the School of American Ballet and made his stage debut in the chorus of Max Reinhardt's production of The Eternal Road (1937). He toured for three years with Ballet Caravan (1937–40) and began to dance leading parts with the Dance Players (1941–2) and the Ballet Theatre (1942–7). His first original ballet, On Stage!, premiered in 1945, and this led to his becoming choreographer of the Broadway musical, Finian's Rainbow (1947).
From then on he enjoyed a series of successes as choreographer for such stage musicals as Love Life (1948), Guys and Dolls (1950), and Can-Can (1953), eventually earning five Tony Awards for his dynamic and inventive dances. He also choreographed such films as Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954).
He broadened his scope to acting and dancing in the film It's Always Fair Weather (1955), directing the Danny Kaye comedy film, Merry Andrew (1958), and producing and staging as well as choreographing the musical L'il Abner (1956).
In later years he composed the choreography for the films Star (1968) and Hello, Dolly! (1969).
