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Tommy Rall
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Tommy Rall | |
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| Birth name | Thomas Rall |
| Born | December 27, 1929 Kansas City, Missouri, USA |
Thomas "Tommy" Rall (born December 27, 1929), is an American ballet dancer, tap dancer and acrobatic dancer who was a prominent featured player in 1950s musical comedies.
Rall was born in Kansas City, Missouri and raised in Seattle, Washington. As a child he had a crossed eye which made it hard for him to read books, so his mother enrolled him in dancing classes. In his early years he performed a dance and acrobatic vaudeville act in Seattle theaters, and attempted small acting roles.
His family moved to Los Angeles in the 1940s, and Rall began to appear in small movie rolls. His first film appearance was a short MGM film called Vendetta. He began taking tap dancing lessons and became a member of the jitterbugging Jivin’ Jacks and Jills at Universal Studios.
Rall joined Donald O'Connor, Peggy Ryan and Shirley Mills in several light wartime Andrews Sisters vehicles including Give Out Sisters, Get Hep to Love and others. He was “dancing peasant” in the films The North Star and Song of Russia.
Rall took ballet lessons and danced in classical and Broadway stages (Milk and Honey, Call Me Madam, abd Cry for Us All). But he is best known for his acrobatic dancing in several classic musical films of the 1950s, including Kiss Me, Kate, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, Merry Andrew, and My Sister Eileen.
Rall's film career waned as movie musicals went into decline. He had a role in the movie Funny Girl where he appeared as the Prince in a spoof of the ballet Swan Lake. On Broadway he danced to considerable acclaim as "Johnny" in Marc Blitzstein and Joseph Stein's 1959 musical, Juno (based on Sean O'Casey's play Juno and the Paycock).
Rall was briefly married to his Juno co-star, Monte Amundsen, and is now married to Karel Shimoff.
- Tommy Rall at IMDb
- Tommy Rall - Internet Broadway Database
- Tommy Rall website
