Australians in Hollywood : Biographical Notes

Sir Robert Helpmann
Sir Robert Helpmann (1909-1986) began dancing with the Australian Ballet at age 11. When the Russian ballerina Anna Pavlova toured Australia in 1926, Helpmann joined her company to play bit parts. In 1933 he moved to England and became principal dancer at Sadler's Wells – a role he retained until 1950. In the same period he began acting with the Old Vic and other companies. On film he was in Laurence Olivier's Henry V (1944) before appearing in and choreographing the lavish British musical The Red Shoes (1948), which exerted a strong influence on the big Hollywood musicals of the 1950s. Helpmann's other British films included Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968) and Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1972). For Hollywood studios he made The Iron Petticoat (1956) and 55 Days at Peking (1963). In 1965 he returned to Australia as co-director of the Australian Ballet, and to appear in such Australian films as Patrick (1978) and The Mango Tree (1977).

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