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Petite, saucy redheaded star of Broadway musicals during their golden age in the 1950s, 60s and 70s. A child tap dancer and daughter of a Hollywood studio gaffer, Verdon took a stab at a variety of careers--from dance instruction to reviewing the nightclub scene for The Hollywood Reporter where she first saw the legendary jazz choreographer Jack Cole's work in the late 1940s. She worked both as his assistant choreographer and principal dancer before making her adult film debut in a small part in the "Popo the Puppet" number with Danny Kaye in "On the Riviera", followed by a bit as a slave girl in "David and Bathsheba" (both 1951)....
Full Bio , Awards & Milestones

Filmography

Broadway: The Golden Age - ( Herself / 2004 / Released / )
Bruno - ( Barbara Weetman / 2000 / Released / )
Marvin's Room - ( Ruth / 1997 / Released / Shochiku Films Inc )
Alice (Paramount) - ( Alice's Mother / 1990 / Released / Warner Bros. Pictures Distribution )
Cocoon: the Return - ( Bess McCarthy / 1988 / Released / )
Nadine - ( Vera / 1987 / Released / )
Cocoon - ( Bess McCarthy / 1985 / Released / )
Cocoon - ( Music(- special music and dance coordinator) / 1985 / Released / )
The Cotton Club - ( Tish Dwyer / 1984 / Released / K-Tel Video )
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band - ( / 1978 / Released / Universal )
Damn Yankees - ( Lola / 1958 / Released / )
Damn Yankees - ( Song Performer / 1958 / Released / )
TV Credits
Walking Across Egypt ( 2001 / Released ): Actor
Shirley MacLaine: This Time Around ( 2000 / Released ): Actor
Bob Fosse: Dancing on the Edge ( 1999 / Released ): Actor
Ray Walston: No Antennae, Please ( 1999 / Released ): Actor
Best Friends For Life ( 1998 / Released ): Actor
The Music of Kander and Ebb: Razzle Dazzle ( 1997 / Released ): Actor
In Cold Blood ( 1996 / Released ): Actor
Promised Land ( 1996 / Released ): Actor
Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All ( 1994 / Released ): Actor
The 48th Annual Tony Awards ( 1994 / Released ): Actor
The Cosby Mysteries ( 1994 / Released ): Actor
Key West ( 1993 / Released ): Actor
The Very Best of The Ed Sullivan Show -- II ( 1991 / Released ): Actor
Bob Fosse: Steam Heat ( 1990 / Released ): Narrator
Sanford Meisner: The Theater's Best Kept Secret ( 1990 / Released ): Actor
Wolf Trap Salutes Victor Borge: An 80th Birthday Celebration ( 1990 / Released ): Actor
The 43rd Annual Tony Awards ( 1989 / Released ): Actor
The 41st Annual Tony Awards ( 1987 / Released ): Actor
The Night of 100 Stars II ( 1985 / Released ): Actor
The 38th Annual Tony Awards ( 1984 / Released ): Actor
The Jerk, Too ( 1984 / Released ): Actor
Legs ( 1983 / Released ): Actor
Parade of Stars ( 1983 / Released ): Actor
Strippers ( 1983 / Released ): Narrator
Ed Sullivan's Broadway ( 1973 / Released ): Actor
M*A*S*H ( 1972 / Released ): Actor
Dear John ( Released ): Actor
Homicide: Life on the Street ( Released ): Actor
Touched By an Angel ( Released ): Actor
Walker, Texas Ranger ( Released ): Actor
Full Biography (Back to top)

Petite, saucy redheaded star of Broadway musicals during their golden age in the 1950s, 60s and 70s. A child tap dancer and daughter of a Hollywood studio gaffer, Verdon took a stab at a variety of careers--from dance instruction to reviewing the nightclub scene for The Hollywood Reporter where she first saw the legendary jazz choreographer Jack Cole's work in the late 1940s. She worked both as his assistant choreographer and principal dancer before making her adult film debut in a small part in the "Popo the Puppet" number with Danny Kaye in "On the Riviera", followed by a bit as a slave girl in "David and Bathsheba" (both 1951). Verdon became an overnight Broadway sensation as a show-stopping featured dancer in Cole Porter's "Can Can" (1953); it was her work with her choreographer and later her husband Bob Fosse, however, that made her a four-time Tony winning Broadway legend. Beginning with the seductive witch Lola of "Damn Yankees", the couple fashioned an onstage persona for Verdon that combined the disparate elements of an alluring vamp--whether prostitute or hardened murderer--with an inner sweetness and a heartbreaking vulnerability. Highlighting Verdon's unique talents--her peerless dance technique, sexy figure and fragile, wistful, slightly hoarse voice, Fosse and Verdon created a string of memorable tough gals in "New Girl in Town", "Redhead", "Sweet Charity" and "Chicago" before Verdon voluntarily retired from active dancing in the mid-1970s. Although legally separated from Fosse, she continued to work with him as an assistant choreographer and dance supervisor on his "Dancin'" (1978) and the 1987 revival of "Sweet Charity", during rehearsals of which he died in Washington with Verdon at his side.

With the exception of the faithful 1958 film adaptation of "Damn Yankees" (the only chance she got to recreate a stage role on film), Verdon's film career has book-ended her Broadway stardom; she returned to films in the 1980s as a warm, mature and spunky character performer in such films as "The Cotton Club" (1984), "Cocoon" (1985) and its 1988 sequel, "Nadine" (1987), Woody Allen's "Alice" (1990) and "Marvin's Room" (1996). In the latter, she was the dotty aunt of Meryl Streep and Diane Keaton.


Profession(s):
Actor, singer, dancer, choreographer, Hollywood columnist, dance teacher to Hollywood stars
Sometimes Credited As:
Gwenyth Evelyn Verdon
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Family
daughter:Nicole Providence Fosse (widowed when her husband was killed by a drunk driver; had three children)
father:Joseph William Verdon (worked at MGM Studios; British)
husband:James Henaghan (married in 1942; divorced in June 1947)
husband:Bob Fosse (married on April 3, 1960; separated in 1971 but remained friends and co-workers until his death from a heart attack in 1987)
mother:Gertrude Verdon (British)
Awards (Back to top)
National Medal of Arts 1998
Outer Critics Circle Award Outstanding Performance "Sweet Charity" 1967
Silver Bowl Award 1961
Tony Actress (Musical) "Redhead" 1959
Tony Actress (Musical) "New Girl In Town" 1958
Tony Actress (Musical) "Damn Yankees" 1956
Donaldson Award Supporting Actress "Can-Can" 1954
Tony Actress, Featured or Supporting (Musical) "Can-Can" 1954
Theatre World Award 1953

Milestones (Back to top)
1998 Oversaw the award-winning stage production "Fosse: A Celebration in Song and Dance"
1996 Appeared in "Marvin's Room"
1990 Played Mia Farrow's mother in Woody Allen's "Alcie"
1984 Starred in TV pilot, "Community Center"
1983 TV-movie debut, "Legs"
1978 Was ballet mistress on Fosse's "Dancin'"
1975 Last performance in a Broadway musical, "Chicago"
1972 Non-musical Broadway debut in "Children! Children!"
1958 First co-starring film role in "Damn Yankees", recreating stage role of Lola
1953 Breakthrough Broadway dance role in Michael Kidd's production of Cole Porter's "Can Can"
1951 Appeared as a dancer in films "On the Riviera", "David and Bathsheba", "Meet Me After the Show"
1950 Broadway performing debut in the revue "Alive and Kicking", dancing with Jack Cole
1948 Assistant choreographer (with George Martin) to Jack Cole on first Broadway musical, "Magdalena"
1947 Cast by Cole in first Broadway show, Comden and Green's "Bonanza Bound"; show closed in Philadelphia after one week
1943 Film debut in "Presenting Lily Mars"
1940 Musical comedy debut as a dancer in Los Angeles Civic Light Opera Company revival of "Show Boat"
Began appearing with mother in a dance act at age four
By age six billed as "The Fastest Tapper in the World" and performed at Loew's State Theater on Broadway
Wrote nightclub reviews for the Hollywood Reporter in the mid-1940s
After divorce from James Henaghan became assistant to choreographer Jack Cole
Worked in Hollywood teaching movement to stars such as Lana Turner, Mitzi Gaynor, Jane Russell and Marilyn Monroe in the early 1950s

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