HOLLYWOOD -- Vera-Ellen, the dimpled Kewpie doll entertainer who danced with Bing Crosby, Fred Astaire, Gene Kelly, Danny Kaye, Ray Bolger and Donald O'Connor is the golden age of movie musicials, died of cancer. She was 55.
The star of such motion picture classics as 'On the Town,' 'Words and Music' and 'White Christmas' died Sunday night at UCLA Medical Center, a hospital spokeswoman said Tuesday. A memorial service is planned next Tuesday.
Born Vera Ellen Rhoe in Cincinnati, Ohio, Vera-Ellen began her climb to fame at 13 as a winner of Major Bowes Original Amateur Hour in New York. She toured with a Bowes troupe and the Ted Lewis Band and worked as a member of the Rockettes at New York City's Radio City Music Hall.
The slender blonde performer then made it to Broadway and appeared in a number of productions including 'Very Warm for May' in 1939, 'Higher and Higher' in 1940, 'Panama Hattie' and her breakthrough performance in 'A Connectict Yankee' in 1943.
Vera-Ellen came to Hollywood under contract to Sam Goldwyn in 1945 to star with Kaye in 'Wonderman,' followed by 'The Kid from Brooklyn,' again with Kaye.
Perhaps her most memorable performance was in the 1948 'Words and Music,' in which she and Kelly starred in the sultry 'Slaughter on Tenth Avenue' number.
Vera-Ellen's last film was 'Let's Be Happy' with Tony Martin in 1957.
For the past 24 years she has lived in retirement in her Hollywood Hills home. She was married and divorced twice, first to dancer Robert Hightower and to businessman Victor Rothschild, who she divorced in 1968.
There were no surviving family members.
