AKA Milton Greenwald

Born: 12-Aug-1915
Birthplace: Brooklyn, NY
Died: 23-Dec-2007
Location of death: Los Angeles, CA
Cause of death: Cancer - unspecified
Remains: Buried, Hollywood Forever Cemetery, Hollywood, CA

Gender: Male
Religion: Jewish
Race or Ethnicity: White
Sexual orientation: Straight
Occupation: Choreographer, Dancer, Theater Director
Party Affiliation: Democratic

Nationality: United States
Executive summary: Award-winning choreographer

Choreographer Michael Kidd won five Tony Awards staging a succession of Broadway's greatest hits from the 1940s to the '90s. His plays included Finian's Rainbow starring Royal Dano, Guys and Dolls with Robert Alda, Can-Can with Hans Conried and Gwen Verdon, Li'l Abner with Stubby Kaye and Charlotte Rae, Destry Rides Again with Andy Griffith, The Music Man with Dick Van Dyke, and The Goodbye Girl with Martin Short and Bernadette Peters. For Hollywood, he staged Seven Brides for Seven Brothers with Howard Keel and Russ Tamblyn and Hello, Dolly with Barbra Streisand. He taught Marlon Brando to dance for the film adaptation of Guys and Dolls, and helped Fred Astaire fashion the dazzling dance sequences for Vincente Minnelli's The Band Wagon.

Prior to Kidd's work as a choreographer he was a ballet and Broadway dancer, and before being drawn to the stage he studied chemical engineering in college. He took a starring role in the 1975 movie comedy Smile with Bruce Dern and Barbara Feldon, and in perhaps his best-known movie appearance, he performed a boisterous dance wearing garbage can lids on his feet in It's Always Fair Weather, alongside Gene Kelly and Dan Dailey. In 1996 he was awarded an honorary Oscar for "services to the art of the dance in the art of the cinema".

Father: Abraham Greenwald (barber)
Mother: Lillian Greenwald
Brother: Phil Greenwald (booking agent)
Wife: Mary Heater (dancer, m. 30-Jun-1940, div., two daughters)
Daughter: Kristine
Daughter: Susan
Wife: Shelah Hackett (dancer, m. 1969, one daughter, one son)
Daughter: Amy
Son: Michael

    High School: New Utrecht High School, Brooklyn, NY
    University: Chemical Engineering, City College of New York (dropped out)
    University: School of American Ballet

    Tony Best Choreography (1947) for Finian's Rainbow
    Tony Best Choreography (1951) for Guys and Dolls
    Tony Best Choreography (1954) for Can-Can
    Tony Best Choreography (1957) for Li'l Abner
    Tony Best Choreography (1947) for Destry Rides Again
    Oscar (honorary) 1997 for services to the art of dance

    FILMOGRAPHY AS DIRECTOR
    Merry Andrew (20-Mar-1958)

    FILMOGRAPHY AS ACTOR
    Skin Deep (3-Mar-1989) · Dr. Westford
    Movie Movie (Nov-1978)
    Smile (8-Oct-1975) · Tommy
    It's Always Fair Weather (1-Sep-1955) · Angie Valentine

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