- Born
- Died
- Birth nameRobert Murray Helpman
- Nickname
- Sir Bobby
- Height5′ 11″ (1.80 m)
- Robert Murray Helpmann was born in Mount Gambier, Australia, as the eldest of three children born to stock and station agent James Murray Helpman and Mary Gardiner.
After the family moved to Adelaide in 1914, Helpmann was educated at Prince Alfred's College, but he soon left school at the age of 14 to focus on dance, specifically ballet. He was taught ballet by Nora Stewart. Helpmann first danced solo at the Theatre Royal in Adelaide in "The Ugly Duckling" in 1922. In 1926, he was trained by Alexis Dolinoff, the leading male dancer for Anna Pavlova, whom Helpmann soon became an apprentice for. The next year, in 1927, he joined J. C. Williamson Ltd. as their star dancer.
Helpmann went on to become the principal dancer at Sadlers Wells Ballet from 1933 to 1950. World renowned as a dancer and choreographer, amongst his other achievements he was the director of the Australian Ballet Company. He directed the world tour of Margot Fonteyn in 1963.
Towards the end of his life, Helpmann was living in Balmoral, a suburb of Mosman, in Sydney, Australia. On September 28, 1986, Helpmann died in the Royal North Shore Hospital in Sydney, at the age of 77, from emphysema, having been a lifelong smoker.
- IMDb mini biography by: Steve Crook <steve@brainstorm.co.uk>
- ParentsJames Murray HelpmannMary Helpmann
- RelativesSheila Helpmann(Sibling)Maxwell Gardiner Helpmann(Sibling)
- Frequently partnered with Margot Fonteyn and Moira Shearer
- Character dancer and choreographer
- Was nearly killed during the production of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968) when the carriage that he was driving spun out of control and turned over. Thanks to his dancer's reflexes, he was able to leap off of the moving wheel and land safely on his feet.
- He was awarded Knight of the Order of the North Star in Sweden in 1954.
- He first met Michael Benthall in 1938 and was his romantic partner for 36 years until Benthall's death on September 6, 1974.
- He was awarded Knight Bachelor of the Order of the British Empire in the 1968 Queen's New Years Honours List for his services to dance.
- He was awarded the CBE (Commander of the Order of the British Empire) in the 1964 Queen's Birthday Honours List for his services to ballet.
- If I told you, you would not know; you simply would have been told.
- Theatre remains the only thing I understand. It is in the community of the theatre that I have my being. In spite of jealousies and fears, emotional conflicts and human tensions; in spite of the penalty of success and the dread of failure; in spite of tears and feverish gaiety -- this is the only life I know. It is the life I love.
- The trouble with nude dancing is that not everything stops when the music does.
- "He wasn't a great actor. He wasn't a great dancer. But he was most certainly a great mime--the perfect bridge between the two." --Moira Shearer
- Ballet is like football. I don't understand a footballer's technique but I can see when he's playing brilliantly. People don't like ballet because they think they don't understand it. Actually they do. It's the most primitive form of appeal.
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