Gower Champion

Gower Champion was an American theatre director, choreographer, and dancer.

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He was born in Geneva, Illinois on June 21, 1919 (some sources state June 22, 1920) and raised in Los Angeles, California, where he took dancing lessons from an early age. At the age of fifteen, he and a friend, Jeanne Tyler, toured nightclubs as "Gower and Jeanne, America's Youngest Dance Team".

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During the late '30s and early '40s, Champion worked on Broadway as a solo dancer and choreographer. After serving in the U.S. Coast Guard during World War II, Champion met Marjorie Belcher (aka Marge Champion), who became his new partner, and the two were married in 1947. Throughout the 1950s, they performed on a number of television variety shows, and in 1957, they starred in their own short-lived CBS sitcom, The Marge and Gower Champion Show, which was based on their actual career experiences. During this period, they also made several film musicals, including the 1951 remake of Show Boat (with Howard Keel and Kathryn Grayson), the autobiographical Everything I Have is Yours (1952), Give a Girl a Break (1953), and Three for the Show (1955).

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In 1948, Champion had begun to direct as well, and he won his first Tony Award for his staging of Lend an Ear, the show that introduced Carol Channing to New York theater audiences. From then on he was involved in an eclectic mixture of both smash hits (Hello, Dolly!) and dismal flops (A Broadway Musical, which closed after one performance). A complete list of his productions appears below. In addition to his several Tonys, he was the recipient of the New York Critics Award and the Donaldson Award.

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Champion never lived to enjoy one of his most successful runs. In 1980, he choreographed and directed a stage adaptation of the movie classic, 42nd Street. During the show's tryout in Washington, D.C., he learned that he had a rare form of blood cancer, and after the curtain call on opening night - August 25, 1980 - producer David Merrick stunned the cast and the audience by announcing, with Merrick's particularly oddball form of self-promotion, that Gower Champion had died that afternoon at the age of 60 or 61.

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Champion was one of several notable graduates of Fairfax High School, West Hollywood, California. (see )

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American: :This page disambiguates the many uses of American. For an article about those various uses, please see Use of the word American....

Theatre director: A theatre director is a principal in the theatre field who oversees and orchestrates the mounting of a play by unifying various endeavors and aspects of production. The director's function is to ensure the quality and completeness of a theatrical product. The director works with the key individuals ...

Choreographer: REDIRECT choreography...

Gower Champion related Images and Photos (experimental)

Champion	UFC 75: CHAMPION VS. CHAMPION DVD	Champion, Muhammad Ali Poster	LEGO Champion Game
Four Champion Chow-Chows	The Gower Family	U.S. Champion Hockey Team c.1980	Bugatti: Le Champion Du Monde
Champion Golfer Harry Vardon Photograph	Champion Bareback Rider: James Robinson c.1882	NHL Mark Messier: Leader, Champion, and Legend (DVD)	Richard Dix Champion 13