17 Facts About Tamara Tchinarova

Tamara Tchinarova was a dance writer and author, as Tamara Finch, of a number of non-fiction books.

Tamara Tchinarova was the first wife of actor Peter Finch.

Tamara Tchinarova's maternal grandfather, Kristapor Chinaryan, was an Armenian landowner who survived the Hamidian massacres by the Ottoman Empire.

Tamara Tchinarova married a Ukrainian woman and eventually became prosperous, owning three vineyards, three houses and a hotel.

Tamara Tchinarova was practical, quick, receptive, generous, envied and loved.

Young Tamara Tchinarova made up her mind then to become a ballerina.

Tamara Tchinarova soon began her dance training with emigre ballerinas from the Imperial Russian Ballet.

Tamara Tchinarova describes him as "idealistic" and wanting to help build a new society.

Tamara Tchinarova's mother was resolutely Anti-Bolshevik and decided to stay on in Paris with Tamara Tchinarova and neither ever saw him again.

At age 10, Tamara Tchinarova began training in Paris with renowned ballet master Olga Preobrazhenskaya, formerly of the Imperial Russian Ballet.

Roma musicians accompanied the tour and Tamara Tchinarova learned complex gypsy dances, which she later used in Petrushka and other dances.

Tamara Tchinarova taught at the Frances Scully School of Dancing while her mother worked in a factory, stitching women's underwear progressing later to making ballet costumes.

In 1941 Tamara Tchinarova was asked to join the Kirsova Ballet founded by the Dane, Helene Kirsova, a former ballerina in de Basil's touring companies.

Tamara Tchinarova's devoted mother relocated to London, where she died in 1979.

Tamara Tchinarova developed a writing career contributing to a range of dance magazines, notably in the Dancing Times.

The couple separated in 1956, after Tamara Tchinarova discovered his affair with actress Vivien Leigh during filming in Los Angeles.

Tamara Tchinarova Finch continued living in London until 2004 when she retired, at age 87, to Spain to be with her family.