Robert Helpmann
Sir Robert Murray Helpmann, CBE was an Australian ballet dancer, actor, director and choreographer. After early work in Australia he moved to Britain in 1932, where he joined the Vic-Wells Ballet under its creator, Ninette de Valois. In 1965 Helpmann became co-director of the Australian Ballet, for whom he created several new ballets. He became sole director in 1975 but disagreements with the company’s board led to his dismissal a year later.
About Robert Helpmann in brief
Sir Robert Murray Helpmann, CBE was an Australian ballet dancer, actor, director and choreographer. After early work in Australia he moved to Britain in 1932, where he joined the Vic-Wells Ballet under its creator, Ninette de Valois. In 1965 Helpmann became co-director of the Australian Ballet, for whom he created several new ballets. He became sole director in 1975 but disagreements with the company’s board led to his dismissal a year later. He directed for Australian Opera and acted in stage plays into the 1980s. Although primarily a stage artist, he appeared in fifteen films between 1942 and 1984, including The Red Shoes, The Tales of Hoffmann and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. Helpmann is commemorated in the Helpmann Awards for Australian performing arts, established in his honour in 2001. He was born in Mount Gambier, South Australia, the eldest of the three children of James Murray Helpman, a stock and station agent and auctioneer, and his wife, Mary, née Gardiner. Mary Helpman had a passion for the theatre, and her enthusiasm was passed on to all three of her children. He cites Melbourne eccentric, beautician, radio broadcaster, actor and dancer Stephanie Deste as one of the influences over his dancing and acting career. In 1934 deois created a new ballet, The Haunted Ballroom, with Helpmann and Alicia Markova in the leading roles. In 1935 he danced the principal role in Atler’s Wells, another new ballet by Atler, The Progress of Rake and The Rake’s Progress.
In 1936 he was leading dancer in the revue Stop Stop Press, with music by Irving Berlin. He also appeared in Katinka, The Merry Widow, The New Moon, Queen High, This Year of Grace and Tip-Toes, appearing with stars such as Gladys Moncrieff, Marie Burke and Maisie Gay. In the 1940s he turned increasingly to acting in plays, at the Old Vic and in the West End. Most of his roles were in Shakespeare plays but he also appeared in works by Shaw, Coward, Sartre and others. The English actress Margaret Rawlings, who was touring Australia, was impressed by Helpmann. She encouraged him to pursue a career in Britain, and provided him with an introduction to Ninette De Valois, who accepted him into her company. He died in Sydney and was given a state funeral in St Andrew’s Cathedral. His biographer Kathrine Sorley Walker writes, \”His vitality and bravura presentation of dances stopped various shows\”. His younger brother Max and their sister Sheila both made their careers their own on stage, television and screen. He impressed her – she later wrote \”Everything about him proclaims the artist born\” – although she noted not only his strengths but also his weaknesses: “academically technically weak, lacking in concentration, too fond of a good time and too busy having a more foreign surname”
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