Tilly Losch

Tilly Losch, an Austrian dancer, choreographer, actress and painter, built her career largely in Britain and the United States. Born in Vienna, she trained at the Vienna Opera from childhood, gave her first performance there in 1913, joined the corps de ballet in 1918 and became a soloist with the backing of Heinrich Kroeller and Richard Strauss. She danced in new ballets, took modern dance lessons with Grete Wiesenthal and Mary Wigman, and worked with Max Reinhardt on a 1924 Berlin staging of A Midsummer Night's Dream and on Salzburg Festival productions. After resigning from the Vienna Opera in 1927 she performed and choreographed in London and New York, where she appeared in The Band Wagon with Fred and Adele Astaire in 1931. Stage success carried her into Hollywood films including The Garden of Allah (1936), The Good Earth (1937) and Duel in the Sun (1946), and she kept dancing, choreographing and acting, including on Broadway.