Sir Robert Murray Helpmann CBE was an Australian ballet dancer, actor, director, and choreographer.
56 Facts About Robert Helpmann
2.
Robert Helpmann became one of the company's leading men, partnering Alicia Markova and later Margot Fonteyn.
3.
When Frederick Ashton, the company's chief choreographer, was called up for military service in the Second World War Helpmann took over from him while continuing as a principal dancer.
4.
Robert Helpmann, from the outset of his career was an actor as well as a dancer, and in the 1940s he turned increasingly to acting in plays, at the Old Vic and in the West End.
5.
Robert Helpmann became co-director of the Australian Ballet, in 1965, for whom he created several new ballets.
6.
Robert Helpmann became sole director in 1975 but disagreements with the company's board led to his dismissal a year later.
7.
Robert Helpmann directed for Australian Opera and acted in stage plays into the 1980s.
8.
Robert Helpmann died in Sydney and was given a state funeral in St Andrew's Cathedral.
9.
Robert Helpmann is commemorated in the Robert Helpmann Awards for Australian performing arts, established in his honour in 2001.
10.
Robert Helpmann was born in Mount Gambier, South Australia, the eldest of the three children of James Murray Helpman, a stock and station agent and auctioneer, and his wife, Mary, nee Gardiner.
11.
Robert Helpmann was trained by Alexis Dolinoff, her leading male dancer.
12.
Robert Helpmann then joined the theatrical producers J C Williamson Ltd, as principal dancer for musicals, revues, and pantomimes, beginning with Franz Lehar's Frasquita in 1927.
13.
Robert Helpmann later appeared in Katinka, The Merry Widow, The New Moon, Queen High, This Year of Grace and Tip-Toes, appearing with stars such as Gladys Moncrieff, Marie Burke and Maisie Gay.
14.
Robert Helpmann cites Melbourne eccentric, beautician, radio broadcaster, actor and dancer Stephanie Deste as one of the influences over his dancing and acting career.
15.
Robert Helpmann encouraged him to pursue a career in Britain, and provided him with an introduction to Ninette de Valois, director of the Vic-Wells Ballet.
16.
Robert Helpmann left Australia in 1932, and did not return until 1955.
17.
The Times commented that of the soloists Robert Helpmann "had the greatest opportunities, and made fine use of them".
18.
Robert Helpmann co-starred with Markova in Swan Lake, danced in operas, and appeared at the Open Air Theatre, Regent's Park.
19.
The ballets that Robert Helpmann created for the wartime company were Comus, The Birds, Miracle in the Gorbals, and a version of Hamlet set to Tchaikovsky's music.
20.
Robert Helpmann returned to Hamlet in 1944 in the title role of the original play, with the Old Vic company.
21.
Robert Helpmann invited de Valois and her company to base themselves there to complement the new opera company he was setting up.
22.
In 1947, together with Benthall, Robert Helpmann took over the artistic direction of the Duchess Theatre in the West End of London.
23.
Robert Helpmann joined the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre Company at Stratford-upon-Avon for the 1948 season, playing the title role in King John, Shylock in The Merchant of Venice and alternating with Paul Scofield in a new production of Hamlet.
24.
Robert Helpmann played Octavius Caesar in the first and Apollodorus in the second.
25.
Robert Helpmann appeared in another Shaw play the following year, as the male lead, the Doctor, opposite Katharine Hepburn as Epifania, in The Millionairess.
26.
Between these plays Robert Helpmann acted in the Powell and Pressburger film The Tales of Hoffmann, conducted by Sir Thomas Beecham and choreographed by Ashton.
27.
Robert Helpmann played all four of the villains in the various stories within the opera, his singing voice dubbed by the Welsh bass Bruce Dargavel.
28.
On Coronation night in June 1953 Robert Helpmann returned to Covent Garden as a guest artist to dance Prince Siegfried in Swan Lake.
29.
In May 1955 Robert Helpmann returned to Australia, leading a tour of the country by the Old Vic company, with Hepburn as a guest artist.
30.
Robert Helpmann played Petruchio in The Taming of the Shrew, Angelo in Measure for Measure and Shylock.
31.
Robert Helpmann joined the company as an actor later in the year, playing Shylock, Launce in The Two Gentlemen of Verona, Saturnius in Titus Andronicus and the title role in Richard III.
32.
Robert Helpmann's vitality revived the spirits of the company, and the play continued its run into the following year.
33.
At the start of the 1960s Robert Helpmann worked mostly in non-ballet theatre, forgoing the opportunity to create the role of the Widow Simone in Ashton's La fille mal gardee in favour of directing Vivien Leigh and Mary Ure in Jean Giraudoux's play Duel of Angels on Broadway.
34.
Robert Helpmann supervised a new production of Swan Lake for the company, with important new choreographic contributions from Ashton.
35.
Robert Helpmann was keen to promote Australian talent, and recruited Sidney Nolan to design the costumes and scenery and Malcolm Williamson to compose the score.
36.
Back in London, Robert Helpmann directed and choreographed the first British production of Lerner and Loewe's musical Camelot in 1964.
37.
Robert Helpmann had been approached by its authors to play Merlin in the original Broadway production, but nothing came of the suggestion.
38.
In 1968 Robert Helpmann was appointed artistic director designate of the Adelaide Festival of 1970, and spent much time seeking out the performers for it.
39.
In 1972 Robert Helpmann succeeded in getting Ashton to join him for a production by the Australian Ballet, but despite Robert Helpmann's urging, Ashton never created a new work for the company, although he restaged his La fille mal gardee for them.
40.
Robert Helpmann's biographer Elizabeth Salter comments that 1974 was "a year of disaster" for both directors of the Australian Ballet.
41.
Robert Helpmann commissioned scores from two Australian composers in succession, but finding neither satisfactory he turned at the last minute to Sibelius's First Symphony.
42.
Robert Helpmann was outspoken about the inadequacy of the company's budget, and refused to cut costs, on the grounds that doing do would be artistically and technically damaging.
43.
Robert Helpmann made it publicly clear that he felt the board had become "dominated by money-men who had no experience or understanding of artistic matters".
44.
In 1977 Peter Wright, director of the Sadler's Wells Royal Ballet, invited Robert Helpmann to appear with the company in two of his old starring roles: the Red King in Checkmate and Dr Coppelius in Coppelia.
45.
In 1981 Robert Helpmann staged another revival of his ballet Hamlet, this time featuring Anthony Dowell.
46.
In Sydney, Robert Helpmann directed and choreographed Handel's opera Alcina, and in the US he directed Lilli Palmer in a one-woman show about Sarah Bernhardt, Sarah in America.
47.
Robert Helpmann then made his last British appearance in an acting role, playing Cardinal Pirelli in a revival of Sandy Wilson's Valmouth at the Chichester Festival.
48.
In 1983 Robert Helpmann directed Gounod's opera Romeo et Juliette in Sydney, and later in the year appeared there as the elderly Bosie in Justin Fleming's play about Oscar Wilde, The Cobra, with Mark Lee as Bosie's young self.
49.
Robert Helpmann died of emphysema in Sydney on 28 September 1986.
50.
Robert Helpmann demonstrated to the world the diversity of this nation's talents and capabilities.
51.
In 1954 Robert Helpmann was appointed to the Royal Order of the Polar Star and in 1957 he was created a Knight of the Cedar.
52.
Robert Helpmann was appointed CBE in 1964, named as Australian of the Year for 1965, and was created a Knight Bachelor in 1968.
53.
The Robert Helpmann Academy in South Australia was named in his honour; it is a partnership of the major visual and performing arts education and training institutions in South Australia offering award courses for people seeking professional careers in the arts.
54.
The Robert Helpmann Awards were instituted 2001, and recognise distinguished artistic achievement and excellence in Australia's live performing arts sectors.
55.
The Sir Robert Helpmann Theatre is named after him at his birthplace in Mount Gambier.
56.
Onstage, Robert Helpmann has been commemorated in the play LyreBird, by Tyler Coppin.