- Vilma Ebsen
Vilma Ebsen (
February 1 1911 –March 12 2007 ) was an Americanmusical theatre and film actress best known for dancing in Broadway shows andMGM musicals in the 1930s with her more famous brother,Buddy Ebsen .Ebsen was born in
Belleville, Illinois . During her childhood, her family relocated to Florida. She learned to dance at her father's dance studio inOrlando, Florida in the 1920s. Vilma and Buddy Ebsen moved to New York in 1928, where they formed avaudeville act. One of their first appearances together was inEddie Cantor 'sZiegfeld production, "Whoopee".When "Whoopee" closed after a year and a half, Vilma and Buddy Ebsen took their act to Atlantic City, where they caught the eye of celebrity columnist
Walter Winchell . A one-paragraph rave in Winchell's column lifted the Ebsens from obscurity.Vilma and Buddy Ebsen performed their dance act on Broadway, as well as around the United States in vaudeville theatres and supper clubs throughout the early 1930s. Some of the Broadway productions they starred in were "Flying Colors" (1932) and "Ziegfeld Follies of 1934". They came to Hollywood in 1935, where Vilma Ebsen starred in one film, playing Sally Burke in "
Broadway Melody of 1936 " (1935). [cite web | title=Filmography from "Internet Movie Database" | url=http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0248281/]After the success of "Broadway Melody of 1936", the studio decided to separate the Ebsens. Vilma Ebsen was not interested in accepting
Louis B. Mayer 's offer to make her "the next Myrna Loy" and moved back to New York with her husband, composer and bandleader Robert Emmett "Bobby" Dolan, whom she had married onJune 24 1933 . Back in New York, she appeared in one more Broadway musical comedy, "Between the Devil", with British dancing starsJack Buchanan ,Evelyn Laye , andAdele Dixon . This show ran fromDecember 22 1937 untilMarch 12 1938 .She then retired from show business to become a full-time homemaker. She and Dolan moved to
Pacific Palisades, California in 1941. They had one child, a son named Robert, but later divorced in January 1948. In 1948, she married tennis player Stanley Briggs. They also had a son, Michael.cite web | title=Vilma Ebsen, 96, Stage Partner and Sister of Buddy Ebsen, Dies | publisher=Associated Press | date=March 26, 2007 | url=http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/26/arts/26ebsen.html?ex=1332561600&en=dcc4712c59d0bfda&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss]Later, she opened a dance school in Pacific Palisades with her sister, Helga, partially funded by their brother. She died at the age of 96 in
Thousand Oaks, California .References
External links
*imdb name|0248281
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