Onna White

2025-06-10T14:25:48Z

109.255.165.109: /* Early life and career */

{{Short description|Canadian choreographer and dancer (1922-2005)}}
{{more citations needed|date=October 2013}}
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{{Infobox person
| name = Onna White
| image = 
| alt =
| caption =
| birth_name =
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1922|3|24}}
| birth_place = [[Inverness, Nova Scotia|Inverness]], [[Nova Scotia]], Canada
| death_date = {{Death date and age|2005|4|8|1922|3|24}}
| death_place =
| death_cause =
| resting_place =
| resting_place_coordinates = 
| alma_mater =
| occupation = Choreographer and dancer
| spouse = Larry Douglas (1948–1959)
| children = Two
| parents =
| relatives =
}}
'''Onna White''' (March 24, 1922 – April 8, 2005) was a Canadian choreographer and dancer, nominated for eight [[Tony Award]]s.<ref>{{Cite news|agency=Associated Press|date=2005-04-11|title=Onna White, 83, Choreographer Who Won Oscar for 'Oliver!,' Dies| work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/11/arts/dance/onna-white-83-choreographer-who-won-oscar-for-oliver-dies.html|access-date=2021-12-26|issn=0362-4331}}</ref>

==Early life and career==
Born in [[Inverness, Nova Scotia|Inverness]], Nova Scotia, White began taking dance lessons at the age of twelve, and eventually her studies took her to the [[San Francisco Ballet]], where she danced in the first full-length U.S. production of ''[[The Nutcracker]]''.<ref>[http://www.sfballet.org/about/history.asp] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090330042207/http://www.sfballet.org/about/history.asp|date=March 30, 2009}}. [[San Francisco Ballet]].</ref>

Her first [[Broadway theatre|Broadway]] performance was in ''[[Finian's Rainbow]]'' in 1947. Her next Broadway assignment was in ''Hold It!'' (1948), where she had progressed to dance captain. By 1950, in the long-running Broadway production of ''[[Guys and Dolls (musical)|Guys and Dolls]]'', she both performed and assisted the choreographer, [[Michael Kidd]], beginning an association that lasted through ''[[Silk Stockings]]'' various productions until, in 1956, she choreographed her first Broadway show, ''[[Carmen Jones]]''. She choreographed both the Broadway (1957) and screen (1962) versions of ''[[The Music Man]]''. Other Broadway shows included ''[[Take Me Along]]'' (1959), ''[[Irma La Douce ]]'' (1960), ''[[I Had a Ball]]'' (1964), ''[[Half a Sixpence]]'' (1965), ''[[Mame (musical)|Mame]]'' (1966, and the [[Mame (film)|film version]] in 1974), ''[[1776 (musical)|1776]]'' (1969 and the [[1776 (film)|film version]] in 1972), ''[[Gigi (musical)|Gigi]]'' (1973) and ''[[I Love My Wife]]'' (1977), among others.<ref>[https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-cast-staff/onna-white-16489#broadway "Onna White"], Internet Broadway Database, accessed September 19, 2023</ref>

==Personal life==
She married actor Larry Douglas in 1948, who was an understudy to Robert Preston in ''The Music Man''; they divorced in 1959.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Kilgallen |first=Dorothy |author-link=Dorothy Kilgallen |date=1959-03-09 |title=Voice of Broadway |pages=4 |work=Republican and Herald |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/113673535/voice-of-broadway/ |access-date=2022-11-26|via=[[Newspapers.com]]}}</ref> They had two children: Jeanne and Stuart. In 1964, Douglas married [[Susan Luckey]], who played the role of Zaneeta in the film of ''The Music Man''.

==Awards==
[[The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences]] voted White an [[Academy Honorary Award]] for ''[[Oliver! (film)|Oliver!]]'' (1968), one of the rare occasions that the Academy recognized choreography in film.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Onna White Receives an Honorary Award: 1969 Oscars |url=https://www.oscars.org/videos-photos/41st-oscars-highlights?fid=14416 |website=[[Oscars.org]]}}</ref> Other recipients include [[Gene Kelly]] for "career achievements", [[Jerome Robbins]] for "choreographic achievement on film", [[Michael Kidd]] (White's mentor) for "services to the art of dance in the art of the screen" and [[Stanley Donen]] for "body of work". [[Fred Astaire]]'s was much earlier, and was for his body of work.

White's Oscar is the only one that states the name of a film, i.e. "To Onna White for her outstanding choreography achievement for ''[[Oliver!]]''" {{Citation needed|date=April 2011}}

==Theater credits==
{{div col|colwidth=30em}}
*1947 ''[[Finian's Rainbow]]'' (performer)
*1949 ''[[Regina (Blitzstein)|Regina]]'' (performer)
*1950 ''[[Guys and Dolls]]'' (performer)
*1950 ''Arms and the Girl'' (performer)
*1955 ''[[Silk Stockings]]'' (performer)
*1956 ''[[Carmen Jones]]'' (choreography)
*1957 ''[[The Music Man]]'' (choreography)
*1958 ''[[Whoop-Up]]'' (choreography)
*1959 ''[[Take Me Along]]'' (choreography)
*1960 ''[[Irma La Douce (musical)|Irma La Douce]]'' (choreography)
*1961 ''[[Let It Ride (musical)|Let It Ride]]'' (choreography)
*1964 ''[[I Had a Ball]]'' (choreography)
*1965 ''[[Half a Sixpence]]'' (choreography)
*1966 ''[[Mame (musical)|Mame]]'' (choreography)
*1967 ''[[Illya Darling]]'' (choreography)
*1969 ''[[1776 (musical)|1776]]'' (musical staging)
*1970 ''[[Gantry (musical)|Gantry]]'' (direction and choreography)
*1971 ''[[70, Girls, 70]]'' (choreography)
*1974 ''[[Gigi (musical)|Gigi]]'' (choreography)
*1974 ''[[Billy (musical)|Billy]]'' (choreography)
*1975 ''[[Goodtime Charley]]'' (choreography)
*1979 ''[[I Love My Wife]]'' (musical staging)
*1978 ''[[Working (musical)|Working]]'' (dance and musical staging)
{{div col end}}

==Choreographed films==
{{div col|colwidth=30em}}
*''[[The Music Man (1962 film)|The Music Man]]'' (1962)
*''[[Bye Bye Birdie (1963 film)|Bye Bye Birdie]]'' (1963)
*''[[Oliver! (film)|Oliver!]]'' (1968)
*''[[1776 (film)|1776]]'' (1972)
*''[[The Great Waltz (1972 film)|The Great Waltz]]'' (1972)
*''[[Mame (film)|Mame]]'' (1974)
*''[[Pete's Dragon (1977 film)|Pete's Dragon]]'' (1977)
{{div col end}}

==Tony Award nominations==
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*1958 Best Choreography for ''The Music Man''
*1959 Best Choreography for ''Whoop-Up''
*1960 Best Choreography for ''Take Me Along''
*1961 Best Choreography for ''Irma La Douce''
*1965 Best Choreography for ''Half a Sixpence''
*1966 Best Choreography for ''Mame''
*1968 Best Choreography for ''Illya Darling''
*1977 Best Choreography for ''I Love My Wife''
{{div col end}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
*{{IBDB name}}
*{{IMDb name|0925284}}
{{Academy Honorary Award}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:White, Onna}}
[[Category:Place of death missing]]
[[Category:1922 births]]
[[Category:2005 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century Canadian actresses]]
[[Category:21st-century Canadian actresses]]
[[Category:Academy Honorary Award recipients]]
[[Category:Actresses from New York City]]
[[Category:Actresses from Nova Scotia]]
[[Category:Broadway theatre producers]]
[[Category:Canadian choreographers]]
[[Category:Canadian expatriate actresses in the United States]]
[[Category:Canadian female dancers]]
[[Category:Canadian musical theatre actresses]]
[[Category:Canadian musical theatre directors]]
[[Category:Film choreographers]]
[[Category:People from Inverness County, Nova Scotia]]
[[Category:San Francisco Ballet dancers]]
[[Category:20th-century Canadian women singers]]
[[Category:Canadian women choreographers]]
[[Category:Musical theatre choreographers]]

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Onna White