Artist:Gwen Verdon
Song:A Little Brains, A Little Talent
Album:Damn Yankees: An Original Cast Recording
Gwen Verdon was a vivacious musical performer best known for her work with her choreographer husband Bob Fosse and especially as Lola in the Broadway and film musical Damn Yankees. She was born Jan. 13, 1925 in Culver City, CA. to British immigrants. Her mother was in vaudeville and she was a dance teacher and her father was an electrician at MGM. At age 11, she did a solo ballet number in the 1936 film The King Steps Out. She got pregnant at age 17 and she married the father. After their 1945 divorce, Gwen returned to show business. She started out working with famed choreographer Jack Cole. Gwen taught dance to Jane Russell, Lana Turner, Marilyn Monroe and others. Then she moved to New York. She started out in chorus lines. Gwen's big break came when Michael Kidd cast her as the second female lead in Cole Porter's 1953 musical Can-Can. She was so good on opening night that she upstaged the female lead. After her role was reduced, Gwen left the show. But her reviews were so good, she was brought back and she won her first Tony. The producers of Damn Yankees decided they needed a dancer to play Lola. After Mitzi Gaynor and ballet dancer Zizi Jeanmarie turned the role down, Gwen was hired based on her Can-Can performance. And that's when she met Bob Fosse. They married in 1960. Gwen won another Tony and she also played Lola in the 1958 film of Damn Yankees. And I think that's where most fans have seen her. Gwen won Tonys for the shows New Girl in Town and Redhead. She also won a Grammy for Redhead. She started a family with Fosse and Gwen returned to the stage in the 1966 musical Sweet Charity choreographed by Fosse. She was nominated for a Tony. Gwen did not appear in the film version of Sweet Charity but she did help Fosse with the choreography. Though they separated in 1971, Gwen continued to work with Fosse on the 1975 musical Chicago, the 1978 musical Dancin' and Fosse's 1979 film All That Jazz. Gwen moved to Los Angeles in the 80s and did a lot of TV guest shots. She received Emmy nominations for Magnum P.I., Dream On and Homicide: Life in the Streets. Her most significant film appearances were in the 1985 film Cocoon and the 1996 film Marvin's Room. She was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame in 1981 and she was awarded the National Medal of Arts in 1998. Gwen Verdon died on Oct. 18, 2000 at age 75. The lights on Broadway were dimmed in tribute. Sony released the original cast recording of Damn Yankees on CD in 2011. here's Gwen Verdon performing A Little Brains, A Little Talent in the 1958 film Damn Yankees.
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