MovieChat Forums > Limelight (1952) Discussion > CLAIR BLOOM'S DANCING

CLAIR BLOOM'S DANCING

posted 17 years ago by smurky
10 replies | jump to latest

I never heard that Clair Bloom was a ballet dancer as well as a great actress....was she ?? Is she doing her own ballet dancing here, or is it a stunt dancer like in "Flashdance" ??

[–] sweetok2 17 years ago

Hayden Mellissa (born Mildred Herman, April 25, 1923, Toronto; died August 9, 2006, Winston-Salem, North Carolina) was a well-known Canadian ballerina who spent most of her career with the New York City Ballet.

Hayden grew up in Toronto. In the early 1940s, she moved to New York City to join the ballet corps at Radio City Music Hall. From 1945-47, she was a member of the American Ballet Theater; she joined the New York City Ballet shortly after its founding in 1948. She performed there many times with noted dancer Jacques d'Amboise.

Hayden appeared frequently on television, especially The Kate Smith Show and The Ed Sullivan Show. In 1952 she performed as the dance double for Claire Bloom in the film Limelight.

from Wikipedia

[–] smurky 17 years ago

Thankyou so much, Sweetok2, I appreciate this information !

[–] mrplankton 17 years ago

thx kindly sweetok2 and smurky i was curious whether clare bloom did her own dancing in this film as well

cheers

[–] cmashieldscapting 13 years ago

This was what I thought by the credits but thanks for confirming it.

[–] aa56 12 years ago

Um, I believe you mean Melissa Hayden.

[–] Julia-Caesaris 12 years ago

Its rather obvious that the dancer in the audition scene isn't her. Plus it would be very hard to believe an actress dancing that well, after all you have to study hard everyday to maintain that kinda form.

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These are for you McNulty

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[–] dana_086 12 years ago

I always wondered about that. Was it just me finding it a bit unrealistic that Tereza was so good a ballerina after so many months of inactivity?
"We've got lumps of it round the back."

[–] Blobsie 12 years ago

It must be Claire Bloom dancing the first little pirouette (before the audition proper) because its so abysmal! However as an actress she's superb. Chaplin obviously wasn't too worried about getting it all perfect - the three street musicians are obviously neither playing nor musicians !

[–] udippel 9 years ago

Look, I don't want to sound arrogant, really.
But this is clearly credited at the end of the movie, including role and name.

[–] rmontro 8 years ago

Chaplin obviously wasn't too worried about getting it all perfect - the three street musicians are obviously neither playing nor musicians!

In the comedy bit with Chaplin and Keaton, Chaplin is quite a bit off with his bowing of the violin in several places. And I don't even think it was a functional piano, when Keaton hits the white key to help Chaplin tune, the black key moves right along with it. Must have gotten a junk piano since they were going to trash it anyway.

Still love that scene. It's more about his wild facial expressions when playing the violin IMO.