MIAMI, May 18 (UPI) -- June Taylor Lerner, creator of the June Taylor Dancers of the Jackie Gleason Show in the 1950s and 1960s, has died in Miami at the age of 86.
Lerner died of natural causes Sunday at the Miami Heart Institute, The Miami Herald reported Tuesday.
The Gleason show began in 1952 in New York and moved to Miami Beach in the mid-60s.
Lerner won an Emmy in 1954 for television choreography.
"During the 1950s and 60s, all little girls wanted to grow up to be June Taylor Dancers," said her sister, Marilyn Gleason, 78, Gleason's widow and a former June Taylor dancer.
When the show went off the air in 1971, Lerner decided to remain in South Florida with her husband, Sol Lerner, an attorney.
Among the choreographers that Lerner tutored were Michael Bennett of "A Chorus Line," and Ron Field of "Cabaret" and Applause!"
In addition to her sister, Lerner is survived by a nephew, Craig Horwich.
