Gwen Verdon

Born: 1925-01-13

Gwyneth Evelyn "Gwen" Verdon was an American actress and dancer. She won four Tony Awards for her musical comedy performances, and served as an uncredited choreographer's assistant and specialty dance coach for theater and film. With flaming red hair and a quaver in her voice, Verdon was a critically acclaimed performer on Broadway from the 1950s-70s. Having originated many roles in musicals she is also strongly identified with her second husband, director–choreographer Bob Fosse, remembered as the dancer–collaborator–muse for whom he choreographed much of his work and as the guardian of his legacy after his death. By the time she was six, she was already dancing on stage. She went on to study multiple dance forms, ranging from tap, jazz, ballroom and flamenco to Balinese. In 1942, Verdon’s parents asked her to marry family friend and tabloid reporter James Henaghan after he got her pregnant at 17, and she quit her dancing career to raise their child. After her divorce, she entrusted her son Jimmy to the care of her parents. Early on, Verdon found a job as assistant to choreographer Jack Cole. During her five-year employment with Cole, she took small roles in movie musicals as a "specialty dancer" She also taught dance to stars such as Jane Russell, Fernando Lamas, and Lana Turner. Verdon started out on Broadway as a "gypsy," going from one chorus line to another. Her breakthrough role finally came as second female lead in Cole Porter's musical Can-Can. Verdon's biggest success was George Abbott's Damn Yankees. Verdon won another Tony and went to Hollywood to repeat her role in the 1958 movie version Damn Yankees. Verdon won another Tony for her performance in the musical, New Girl in Town, and won her fourth Tony for Redhead. Verdon and Fosse continued to collaborate on projects such as musicals Chicago and Dancin', as well as All That Jazz. After originating the role of Roxie opposite Chita Rivera's Velma Kelly in Chicago, Verdon focused on film acting, playing character roles in movies such as The Cotton Club, Cocoon and its sequel. She continued to teach dance and musical theater and to act. She received three Emmy Award nominations for appearances on Magnum, P.I., Dream On, and Homicide: Life on the Street. Verdon appeared in Alice and Marvin's Room). In 1999, Verdon served as artistic consultant on a Broadway musical designed to showcase examples of classic Fosse choreography, called Fosse. which won a Tony Award for best musical. Verdon appeared in the movie Walking Across Egypt, as well as Bruno. Verdon received a total of four Tonys, for best featured actress for Can-Can and best leading actress for Damn Yankees, New Girl in Town, and Redhead. She also won a Grammy Award for the cast recording of Redhead. Verdon was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame in 1981, and in 1998, she was awarded the National Medal of Arts.


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Cocoon

as Bess McCarthy
Released: 1985-06-21

When a group of trespassing seniors swim in a pool containing alien cocoons, they find...

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Marvin's Room

as Ruth Wakefield
Released: 1996-12-18

A leukemia patient attempts to end a 20-year feud with her sister to get her bone marrow.

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Alice

as Alice's Mother
Released: 1990-12-25

Alice Tate, mother of two, with a marriage of 16 years, finds herself falling for a handsome sax...

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Cocoon: The Return

as Bess McCarthy
Released: 1988-09-13

The reinvigorated elderly group that left Earth comes back to visit their relatives. Will they...

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The Cotton Club

as Tish Dwyer
Released: 1984-12-14

Harlem's legendary Cotton Club becomes a hotbed of passion and violence as the lives and loves...

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Nadine

as Vera
Released: 1987-08-07

Hairdresser Nadine Hightower wants to retrieve the risqué photos she once posed for, but when...

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Broadway: The Golden Age, by the Legends Who Were There

as Self
Released: 2003-04-03

Broadway: The Golden Age is the most important, ambitious and comprehensive film ever made about...

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David and Bathsheba

as Specialty Dancer (uncredited)
Released: 1951-08-10

King David enters into an adulterous affair with the beautiful Bathsheba, which has tragic...

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The Merry Widow

as Specialty Can-Can Dancer (uncredited)
Released: 1952-09-05

Marshovia, a small European kingdom, is on the brink of bankruptcy but the country may be saved...

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Damn Yankees

as Lola
Released: 1958-09-26

Film adaptation of the George Abbott Broadway musical about a Washington Senators fan who makes...

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Night of 100 Stars II

as Self
Released: 1985-03-10

This special is the second "Night of 100 Stars" to benefit The Actors Fund of America. Edited...

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That's Dancing!

as Lola (archive footage)
Released: 1985-01-18

A documentary film about dancing on the screen, from it's orgins after the invention of the...

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Bob Fosse: Steam Heat

as Herself - Narrator
Released: 1990-02-23

A documentary profile of director/choreographer Bob Fosse. Includes clips from his films and...

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Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band

as Our Guests at Heartland
Released: 1978-07-24

A small town band makes it big, but loses track of their roots, as they get caught up into the...

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Merely Marvelous: The Dancing Genius of Gwen Verdon

as Self (archive footage)
Released: 2019-08-03

Merely Marvelous is a celebration of the art and life of Broadway's greatest dancing star, Gwen...

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Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All

as Etta Pell
Released: 1994-05-01

Lucy married at the turn of the last century, when she was fifteen and her husband was fifty. If...

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On the Riviera

as Specialty Dancer (uncredited)
Released: 1951-04-20

In this fast-paced remake of the Maurice Chevalier vehicle Folies Bergère, talented Danny Kaye...

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That's Entertainment, Part II

as (archive footage)
Released: 1976-05-16

Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire present more golden moments from the MGM film library, this time...

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Gentlemen Marry Brunettes

as Specialty Dancer (uncredited)
Released: 1955-10-29

Two Broadway showgirls, who are also sisters, are sick and tired of New York as well as not...

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The I Don't Care Girl

as Specialty Dancer
Released: 1953-01-14

This semi-film within a film opens in the office of producer George Jessel, who never saw a...

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Broadway's Lost Treasures

as Roxie Hart (segment "Chicago")
Released: 2003-08-10

The golden age of the annual Tony Awards ceremony lasted from 1967 to 1986 — the period during...

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Bruno

as Mrs. Drago
Released: 2000-04-16

The story of a unique young boy genius, Bruno, whose expression of his own individuality leads...

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Dreamboat

as Girl in Commercial (uncredited)
Released: 1952-07-26

Thornton Sayre, a respected college professor - secretly formerly a silent films romantic action...

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Walking Across Egypt

as Alora
Released: 1999-01-01

An elderly widow befriends an orphaned juvenile delinquent.

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The King Steps Out

as Specialty Ballerina (uncredited)
Released: 1936-05-27

Princess is destined to marry the Emperor, until her sister steps in.

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Meet Me After the Show

as Gwen Verdon / Sappho, Dancer in No Talent Joe (uncredited)
Released: 1951-08-15

A Broadway star devises a scheme to win back her husband when she suspects he's being unfaithful.

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Liza with a Z

as Audience
Released: 1972-09-10

Liza Minnelli stars in a television concert directed and choreographed by Bob Fosse. She...

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Broadway's Lost Treasures III: The Best of The Tony Awards

as Lola (segment "Damn Yankees") (archive footage)
Released: 2005-08-07

Broadway royalty and Tony-winners Tommy Tune, Carol Channing, Robert Goulet, and Harvey...

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Blonde from Brooklyn

as Girl in Nightclub (uncredited)
Released: 1945-06-21

A brash young singer and an unemployed "jukebox girl" hire an elderly Confederate "colonel" to...

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Chita Rivera: A Lot Of Livin' To Do

as Self (archive footage)
Released: 2015-11-06

A retrospective of Chita Rivera's film, television and stage career, including interviews with...

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Legs

as Maureen Comly
Released: 1983-05-02

Three ambitious young women risk it all when they compete for a chance to dance with the Radio...

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The Music of Kander & Ebb: Razzle Dazzle

as Self
Released: 1997-12-03

A profile of composing team John Kander and Fred Ebb, who have written many Broadway musicals....

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The Deadly Visitor

as Mrs. Moffat
Released: 1973-07-03

A writer who takes a room in a boarding house finds himself haunted by a menacing invisible...

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The Farmer Takes a Wife

as Abigail (uncredited)
Released: 1953-06-12

Erie Canal, N.Y., 1850: Molly Larkins, cook on Jotham Klore's canal boat, has a love-hate...

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Best Friends for Life

as Edith Cooper
Released: 1998-01-18

Sarah and Harriet have been best friends since childhood. They married at the same time, had...

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American Dance Machine Presents a Celebration of Broadway Dance

as Herself - Host
Released: 1983-06-23

Dance routines from some of Broadway's greatest musicals (including The Boyfriend, Carousel,...

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Magnum, P.I.

as uncredited
First aired: 1980-12-11

A private investigator who works when he wants, lives in a beachfront estate in Hawaii, drives a...

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M*A*S*H

as Brandy Doyle
First aired: 1972-09-17

The 4077th Mobile Army Surgical Hospital is stuck in the middle of the Korean war. With little...

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The Dick Cavett Show

as Self - Guest
First aired: 1968-06-06

The Dick Cavett Show has been the title of several talk shows hosted by Dick Cavett on various...

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The Mike Douglas Show

as Self - Co-Host
First aired: 1961-12-11

The Mike Douglas Show is an American daytime television talk show hosted by Mike Douglas that...

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The Mike Douglas Show

as Self
First aired: 1961-12-11

The Mike Douglas Show is an American daytime television talk show hosted by Mike Douglas that...

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What's My Line?

as Self - Mystery Guest
First aired: 1950-02-02

Four panelists must determine guests' occupations - and, in the case of famous guests, while...

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Tony Awards

as Self - Presenter
First aired: 1956-04-01

The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award,...

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Tony Awards

as Self - Performer
First aired: 1956-04-01

The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award,...

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Walker, Texas Ranger

as Maisie Whitman
First aired: 1993-04-21

Modern-day Texas Ranger, Cordell Walker's independent crime-solving methods have their roots in...

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Touched by an Angel

as Lorraine McCully
First aired: 1994-09-21

Monica, an angel, is tasked with bringing guidance and messages from God to various people who...

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The Equalizer

as Kelly Sterling
First aired: 1985-09-18

Robert McCall is a former agent of a secret government agency who is now running his own private...

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The Merv Griffin Show

as Self
First aired: 1962-10-01

The Merv Griffin Show is an American television talk show, starring Merv Griffin. The series ran...

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Homicide: Life on the Street

as uncredited
First aired: 1993-01-31

An American police procedural chronicling the work of a fictional version of the Baltimore...

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Fame

as uncredited
First aired: 1982-01-07

An American television series originally produced between 1982 and 1987. The show is based on...

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Hotel

as uncredited
First aired: 1982-08-21

Hotel is an American prime time drama series which aired on ABC from September 21, 1983 to May...

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The Carol Burnett Show

as Self - Guest
First aired: 1967-09-11

The Carol Burnett Show is an American variety/sketch comedy television show starring Carol...

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Dear John

as Yvonne
First aired: 1988-10-06

Dear John starred Judd Hirsch as easygoing Drake Prep high school teacher John Lacey who is...

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The Ed Sullivan Show

as Self - Singer / Dancer
First aired: 1948-06-20

The Ed Sullivan Show is an American TV variety show that originally ran on CBS from Sunday June...

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Dream On

as Kitty Brewer
First aired: 1990-07-08

The family life, romantic life, and career of Martin Tupper, a divorced New York City book...

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The Colgate Comedy Hour

as Self
First aired: 1950-09-10

The Colgate Comedy Hour is an American comedy-musical variety series that aired live on the NBC...

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The Dinah Shore Chevy Show

as Self
First aired: 1956-10-05

The Dinah Shore Chevy Show is an American variety series hosted by Dinah Shore, and broadcast on...

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The Danny Kaye Show

as Self
First aired: 1963-09-25

The Danny Kaye Show is an American variety show hosted by Danny Kaye that aired on CBS from 1963...

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All is Forgiven

as Bonita Harrell
First aired: 1986-03-20

Paula Russell is the producer of a soap opera called All is Forgiven who just married a donut...

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In Cold Blood

as Sadie Truitt
First aired: 1996-11-24

At the end of the 1950s, in a more innocent America, the brutal, meaningless slaying of a...

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Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All

as Etta Pell
First aired: 1994-05-01

Lucy married at the turn of the last century, when she was fifteen and her husband was fifty. If...

TV Show page