1. Tamara Toumanova was a Russian-born Georgian-American prima ballerina and actress.
18 Facts About Tamara Toumanova
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Tamara Toumanova became known internationally as one of the Baby Ballerinas of the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo after being discovered by her fellow emigre, balletmaster and choreographer George Balanchine.
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Tamara Toumanova became a naturalized United States citizen in 1943 in Los Angeles, California.
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Tamara Toumanova was the daughter of Yevgenia Dmitrievna Toumanishvili, who was half-Georgian-Armenian on her father's side, and half-Georgian on her mother's side.
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Tamara Toumanova's father was Dmitri Toumanov, originally of Georgian Toumanishvili family; her mother was Yelizaveta Chkheidze.
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At the age of six, Tamara Toumanova was invited by the ballerina Anna Pavlova to perform in one of her gala concerts in 1925.
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Tamara Toumanova was 10 years old when she made her debut at the Paris Opera as a child etoile in the ballet L'Eventail de Jeanne.
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In 1931, when Tamara Toumanova was 12 years old, George Balanchine saw her in ballet class and engaged her for de Basil's Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo, along with Irina Baronova and Tatiana Riabouchinska.
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Tamara Toumanova became recognised as a young prodigy of immense talent.
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Tamara Toumanova played the part of the Top in his Jeux d'Enfants.
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In 1936, while Tamara Toumanova was performing ballet in Chicago, an 18-year-old boy named Burr Tillstrom came to see her perform.
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Tamara Toumanova appeared in six Hollywood films between 1944 and 1970, always playing dancers.
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Tamara Toumanova made her feature film debut in 1944, in Days of Glory, playing a Russian dancer being saved from the invading Germans in 1941 by Soviet partisan leader Gregory Peck.
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Tamara Toumanova was 18 months old before the family reunited.
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In 1944, Tamara Toumanova married Casey Robinson, whom she met as the producer and screenwriter of Days of Glory, her first film.
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Tamara Toumanova died in Santa Monica, California, on 29 May 1996, aged 77, from undisclosed causes.
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Tamara Toumanova's funeral was a high mass at the Russian Orthodox Holy Virgin Mary Cathedral, Los Angeles.
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Tamara Toumanova was buried next to her mother Princess Eugenie in Hollywood, Hollywood Forever Cemetery.