Gwen Verdon - A Life on Stage and Screen

by Peter Shelley

McFarland & Company (series)

American dancer, singer and actress Gwen Verdon (1925-2000) won four Tony awards for her work on Broadway and also appeared in films and on television. Stricken with rickets as a child, Verdon overcame severe leg deformity through ballet training, making her film debut at 11 as a solo ballerina in the musical The King Steps Out (1936). Her theater credits include Can-Can (1953-1955), Damn Yankees (1955-1956), Redhead (1959-1960), New Girl in Town (1957-1958), Sweet Charity (1966-1967) and Chicago (1975-1977). When not dancing on stage or screen, she coached other actors, such as Jane Russell, Lana Turner, Betty Grable, Marilyn Monroe and Shirley MacLaine. This first full-length biography of Verdon covers her life and career, her individual performances and her collaborations with choreographers Jack Cole and Bob Fosse, her husband.