Sir Robert Helpmann (1909 - 1986)
Australian ballet dancer, choreographer, actor, and director,
who played a major role in the early years of the Sadler's
Wells Ballet and is credited with bringing classical ballet to his
native land.
He was knighted in 1968.
When Anna Pavlova toured Australia and New Zealand in 1923, Helpmann joined
her company and then spent five years touring Australia with J. C. Williamson's
troupe. In 1933 he came to England and joined the Vic-Wells (later the Sadler's
Wells) Ballet; the same year he was given his first major role, as Satan
in de Valois's Job. He became the company's principal dancer in 1934
and partnered Alicia Markova in The Haunted Ballroom. The following
year marked the start of a long partnership between Helpmann and the new
prima ballerina, Margot Fonteyn, with whom he danced a large classical repertoire.
Helpmann's dramatic ability was used to great effect in such ballets as
Checkmate (1937), The Prospect Before Us (1940), and the immensely
popular Cinderella (1948), which was choreographed by Frederick Ashton
and featured Helpmann as one of the ugly sisters. Helpmann also began to
choreograph ballets himself and achieved great success in Comus (1942),
Hamlet (1942), and Miracle in the Gorbals (1944). He also
appeared in the ballet films The Red Shoes (1948) and Tales of
Hoffmann (1951).
In 1950 Helpmann resigned from the Sadler's Wells Ballet, although he still
appeared as a guest artist. He continued to work as a choreographer, dancer,
director, and actor, appearing as Oberon in A Midsummer Night's Dream
, in which he played opposite Vivien Leigh, and in the title role in
Hamlet. In 1963 Helpmann became a co-director of the Australian Ballet
with Dame Peggy Van Praagh (1910-90) and produced such works as Display
, based on Australian legend, and Yugen, based on Japanese legend.
In 1976, after the success of his The Merry Widow (1975), he retired.
Who's Who in the Twentieth Century: Oxford University Press, © Market
House Books Ltd 1999
