Ted Shawn(1891-1972)
- Actor
- Additional Crew
Often called "The Father of American Dance", Ted Shawn was born in
1891. In his early 20s he was dancing professionally in Los Angeles. He
teamed with Norma Gould, and in 1913 they
starred in a series of short films for Thomas Edison, including
Dances of the Ages (1913). In
1914 he met and married dance star
Ruth St. Denis. They became a huge hit on
the theater circuit and started the famous Denishawn Dance School in
Los Angeles. Among their pupils were movie stars
Lillian Gish and
Louise Glaum.
D.W. Griffith hired Shawn and St.
Denis to choreograph and appear in his famous scene from
Intolerance (1916),
the dance on the steps before the huge city gates of Babylon. Shawn
also appeared in Cecil B. DeMille's
Don't Change Your Husband (1919)
as a faun in a fantasy scene with
Gloria Swanson and famously kissed her
for 28 seconds. During the 1920s Shawn and St. Denis toured the US with
their extravagant Denishawn dance company, which included
Louise Brooks. They were a huge
hit on tour, on Broadway, in recitals, and even in vaudeville. The act
broke up in the 1930s, however, and Shawn started the nation's first
dance company for men. Out of the Denishawn schools came star dancers
like Martha Graham,
Charles Weidman and Doris
Humphreys. Shawn also appeared in a number of documentaries on dance as
well as TV shows of the 1950s. He founded the famous Jacob's Pillow
Dance Center in Massachusetts in 1932 which, as of this writing, is
still going strong. At his peak in the 1920s, Shawn rivaled
Rudolph Valentino,
Ramon Novarro, and
John Gilbert as a male sex symbol,
based largely on his exotic dances and skimpy costumes
Ted Shawn died in 1972.
Ted Shawn died in 1972.