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April Olrich Profile
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Photo gallery |
| (Edith April Oelrichs) |
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| 17 July 31 | is born in Zanzibar, East Africa, to an English communication expert in the British diplomatic service and his American wife. |
| c. 36 | moves with her parents to the Seychelles |
| c. 39 | the family moves to Buenos Aires, Argentina, at age 6 |
| ? | trains with ballet master Michel Borovsky at the Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires |
| c. 45 | joins Col. De Basil’s “Original Ballet Russe” at age 12, soon becoming a soloist, and tours South America |
| 27 December 46 | visits the States for the first time with her mother, arriving in New York from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, aboard the Pocone and tours with the Ballet Russe |
| 47 | studies in New York and Paris |
| 49 | joins Sadler’s Wells Ballet in London, soon becoming a soloist |
| September 55 | she and fellow dancer Richard Tone promote a current London revue |
| October 57 | starts touring the States for J. Arthur Rank, promoting The Battle of the River Plate, a.k.a. Pursuit of the Graf Spee |
| 20 November 57 | tours the US aircraft carrier USS Boxer |
| November 57 | will star in the upcoming British Honeymoon |
| December 57 | columnist Earl Wilson tells that “Brigitte Bardot of France and April Olrich of Uruguay were This Year’s Pretty Bodies...” |
| Late February 58 | her 22,300-mile tour on behalf of The Battle of the River Plate ends in New York |
| June 58 | attends the gala premiere of Frank Sinatra’s King of Kings in Monte Carlo. In her party are the Howard Keels, the Michael Wildings, and Delphi Lawrence. |
| 60 | is the victim in the "Murder in Montmarte" episode of BBC's "Maigret" |
| 63 | receives rave reviews as Fatima in a revival of The Boys from Syracuse at London’s Drury Lane Theatre |
| 64 | joins the South African show Wait a Minim! as comedienne/danseuse at the Fortune Theatre, in London |
| 7 March 66 | debuts on Broadway in Wait a Minim! |
| 8 June 66 | is awarded the Whitbread Anglo-American Theatre Award for Outstanding Musical Performance; the awards ceremony is held in the Hotel Piccadilly in New York City. Eddie Bracken presents the award to her in the company of Henry Fonda, Vivienne Leigh and Sir John Gielgud. |
| October 66 | her show Wait a Minim! still draws crowds in New York |
| Mid-January - 3 February 68 | is on stage at the Huntington Hartford Theater, Los Angeles, in Wait a Minim! |
| 18 February 68 | marries her Wait a Minim! costar, actor Nigel Pegram, on top of Coit Tower, San Francisco. He’s 27; she’s 34. Pegram is a young Rhodesian out of Oxford University. |
| since 00 | presents “The April Olrich Award for Dynamic Performance” each year to a young dancer at The Royal Ballet School in London |
| 09 | the Pegrams reside in London |
| 15 April 14 | dies in London at age 82 after a long illness |
| 25 April 14 | her funeral service takes place at Putney Vale Cemetery and Crematorium, London |
| Sources: April Olrich & Nigel Pegram, Independent, The Salt Lake Tribune, Syracuse Herald-Journal, Delta Democrat-Times, The News, Chester Times, The Anderson Herald, Winnipeg Free Press, Van Nuys News, www.Ancestry.com, pro.Corbis.com | |
| Recommended Books: | |
| Links: Filmography The Royal Ballet School | |