Photo Flash: Dick Van Dyke and Chita Rivera Attend PDS Gypsy Awards Luncheon

The Professional Dancers Society's (PDS) Gypsy Awards Luncheon honoring Leslie Caron and Dee Dee Wood and the late Marc Breaux was held on March 30, 2014 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. Broadway's Dick Van Dyke and Chita Rivera were in attendance, and you can check out a photo of them together below!

Discovered by Gene Kelly, Leslie Caron burst upon the screen in the Oscar winning film, AN AMERICAN IN PARIS. Ms. Caron's legendary film roles include GIGI, DADDY LONG LEGS and THE GLASS SLIPPER and among her numerous honors, she received an Emmy award for LAW & ORDER: SVU.

Dee Dee Wood and the late Marc Breaux are often referred to as one of "the most beloved team of dancer/choreographers in film and television history." Their numerous credits include: THE SOUND OF MUSIC, MARY POPPINS and CHITTY, CHITTY BANG BANG, among many others.

The Professional Dancers Society (PDS) is an affiliate of The Actors Fund of America. PDS is a non-profit corporation formed to serve the professional dancer, active and inactive and with The Actors Fund of America is achieving the long-needed goals of low income housing; plus retirement and nursing facilities for dancers on both coasts. Previous Gypsy Award winners include Carol Burnett, Rita Moreno, Ben Vereen, Dick Van Dyke, Angela Lansbury, Carl Reiner, Ann-Margret, Florence Henderson, Mary Tyler Moore, Chita Rivera and Julie Andrews.

French ballet dancer Leslie Caron was discovered by the legendary MGM star Gene Kelly during his search for a co-star in the Oscar-winning An American in Paris (1951). Leslie's gamine looks and pixie-like appeal would be ideal for Cinderella-type rags-to-riches stories, and Hollywood made fine use of it in hits such as Gigi (which won multiple Academy Awards and for which Leslie herself was nominated for a Golden Globe), Daddy Long Legs and The Glass Slipper. Combined with her fluid dancing skills, she became one of the top international musical artists of the 1950s, while her triple-threat talents as a singer, dancer and actress sustained her long after musical film's "Golden Age" had passed. She continues to work internationally on stage, screen and television, winning (or being nominated) not only Oscars, but British Academy Film Awards, Tonys, Emmys and Golden Globes. She has also received a number of Lifetime Achievement Awards for her contributions to both film and dance; and in 2008, Leslie published her memoirs, "Thank Heaven," later translated to French as "Une Francaise à Hollywood".

Photo Credit: Nathan Sternfeld

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