Agnes George de Mille (1905 - 1993)

Born 18 Sep 1905 in Manhattan, New York City, New York, United States

Ancestors

Wife of Walter Foy Prude — married 14 Jun 1943 in Los Angeles, California, United States

Died 7 Oct 1993 at age 88 in New York, New York, United States

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Biography

Agnes de Mille is Notable.

Agnes de Mille was an American dancer and award-winning choreographer who used American folk dances and themes in her work.

Born in Manhattan, New York City, 18 Sep 1905^[1], Agnes spent her youth in Hollywood, California, where her father William de Mille worked as a screenwriter and film director. Her mother, Anna_Angela_George was the daughter of the economist Henry George and her uncle was film director Cecil B. DeMille. On her father's side, Agnes was the granddaughter of playwrights Henry Churchill de Mille and Matilda Beatrice deMille.

She had a love for acting and originally wanted to be an actress, but was told that she was "not pretty enough", so she turned her attention to dance. After graduating from UCLA with an English degree, she moved to London to study dance in 1933 with Dame Marie Rambert, eventually joining Rambert's company, The Ballet Club, later Ballet Rambert, and Antony Tudor's London Ballet. One of de Mille's earliest jobs, thanks to her father's connections, was choreographing the Cecil B. DeMille film "Cleopatra" (1934).

In 1942 she created her first major ballet, Rodeo, for the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo. In addition to creating works for the New York City Ballet, she also choreographed Broadway musicals, notably Oklahoma!, films and TV programs. De Mille went on to choreograph over a dozen other musicals, most notably "Bloomer Girl" (1944), "Carousel" (1945), "Allegro" (1947, Director as well as choreographer), "Brigadoon" (1947, for which she was co-recipient of the inaugural Tony Award for Best Choreography), "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes" (1949), "Paint Your Wagon" (1951), "The Girl in Pink Tights" (1954), "Goldilocks" (1957), and "110 in the Shade" (1963). During his presidency, John F. Kennedy appointed de Mille as a member of the National Advisory Committee on the Arts, the predecessor to the National Endowment for the Arts, of which she was also appointed to by president L.B. Johnson after its activation. . On June 14, 1943, she married artists' manager Walter Prude in Los Angeles. They had one child, Jonathan, born in 1946.

In May, 1975, Agnes suffered a stroke which paralyzed the right side of her body. She was hospitalized for 3 ½ months and two operations were required to remove blood clots. Through determined effort she regained some of her gross motor movements. After suffering that near-fatal stroke in 1975, she went on to write many books: Reprieve (which outlined the experience), Who Was Henry George?, America Dances, Portrait Gallery, and Martha: The Life and Work of Martha Graham.(1991) She also wrote Dance in America, and Russian Journals, Dance to the Piper (1952) was translated into five languages, To a Young Dancer (1962), The Book of the Dance (1963), Lizzie Borden: A Dance of Death (1968), Speak to Me, Dance with Me (1973), and two autobiographies, And Promenade Home (1958) and Where the Wings Grow (1977).

In 1973, de Mille founded the Agnes de Mille Dance Theatre, which she later revived as Heritage Dance Theatre.

De Mille was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame in 1973. De Mille's many other awards include the Tony Award for Best Choreography (1947, for Brigadoon), the Handel Medallion for achievement in the arts (1976), an honor from the Kennedy Center (1980), an Emmy for her work in The Indomitable de Mille (1980), Drama Desk Special Award (1986) and, in 1986, she was awarded the National Medal of Arts. De Mille also has received seven honorary degrees from various colleges and universities.

She died in 1993 of a second stroke in her Greenwich Village apartment. Her ashes were interred beside her husband Walter's at Merriewold, her favorite summer colony in Sullivan County, N.Y, in the presence of family members- Jonathan and wife Rosemary, their sons, and niece Judith Donelan.

In May 2004, the US Postal Service issued a stamp in her honor ^[2].

Sources

1. ↑ "New York, New York City Births, 1846-1909," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:2W4T-BMQ : 11 February 2018), Agnes George De Mille, 18 Sep 1905; citing Manhattan, New York, New York, United States, reference cn 45103 New York Municipal Archives, New York; FHL microfilm 1,984,759.
2. ↑ Smithsonian National Postal Museum https://postalmuseum.si.edu/exhibition/women-on-stamps-part-4-theatre-and-dance-revolutionary-dancers/agnes-de-mille

• "New York, New York City Births, 1846-1909," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:2W4T-BMQ : 11 February 2018), Agnes George De Mille, 18 Sep 1905; citing Manhattan, New York, New York, United States, reference cn 45103 New York Municipal Archives, New York; FHL microfilm 1,984,759.

• "United States Census, 1910", database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M5ZD-SD1 : Wed Jul 19 09:24:00 UTC 2023), Entry for William De Mille and Anna De Mille, 1910.

• "United States Census, 1940", database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:KQT6-T4G : Sun Jul 30 22:13:12 UTC 2023), Entry for Agnes Demille, 1940.

• Washington Post https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/style/longterm/books/chap1/broadwaythegoldenyears.htm)

• Wikipedia contributors, "Agnes de Mille," Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Agnes_de_Mille&oldid=765416830 (accessed March 25, 2017).

• Easton, Carol (2000). No Intermissions: The Life of Agnes de Mille. Da Capo Press. pp. 111–115. ISBN 0-306-80975-3.

• Encyclopedia Brittanica (https://www.britannica.com/biography/Agnes-de-Mille Encyclopedia Britannica)

• "California, County Marriages, 1850-1952," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:K82F-R94 : 28 November 2014), Walter Prude and Agnes George De Mille, 14 Jun 1943; citing Los Angeles, California, United States, county courthouses, California; FHL microfilm 2,135,281.

• "Agnes DeMille Dances – Biography". agnesdemilledances.com

• Jack Anderson (October 8, 1993). "Agnes de Mille, 88, Dance Visionary, Is Dead". The New York Times.

• 15 Inducted into Theater Hall of Fame". Toledo Blade. January 17, 1974.

• "National Medal of Arts – NEA". arts.gov.

• Excerpts from No Intermissions, The Life of Agnes de Mille: Carol Easton, Little Brown and Company, Boston: 1996 pg 419

• NY Times obituary (https://www.nytimes.com/1993/10/08/obituaries/agnes-de-mille-88-dance-visionary-is-dead.html)

See Also:

• Wikipedia: Agnes_de Mille
• Wikidata: Item Q394670, en:Wikipedia
• Agnes is mentioned in the book 'BOOSEY & HAWKES: THE PUBLISHING STORY' written by Helen Wallace.'Boosey & Hawkes, the Publishing Story' by Helen Wallace-1