Lucille Bremer | |
|---|---|
 Bremer in 1939 | |
| Born | February 21, 1917 Amsterdam, New York, U.S. |
| Died | April 16, 1996 (aged 79) La Jolla, California, U.S. |
| Occupation(s) | Actress, dancer |
| Years active | 1933–1948 |
| Spouse | Abelardo Louis Rodriguez (m. 1948;div. 1963) |
| Children | 4 |
Lucille Bremer (February 21, 1917 – April 16, 1996) was an American film actress and dancer.
Bremer was born in Amsterdam, New York, but soon moved to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where she studied ballet. At age 12, she danced with the Philadelphia Opera Company. [1]
Once in New York, she danced in various specialty acts, most notably in the 1939 New York World's Fair "American Jubilee". She auditioned and began her career as a Rockette at Radio City Music Hall in New York City, at age 16. [1] She was voted as "most likely to succeed" by her Rockette peers. [2] She was also known as "5th from the right" in the Rockettes line up. Bremer also auditioned as a dancer for various Broadway shows, along with fellow stars Vera-Ellen and June Allyson, appearing as a 'Pony Girl' in the Broadway musical Panama Hattie and also in Lady in the Dark . [3]
Bremer's first attempt at a career in films was unsuccessful. She said of her screen test with Warner Bros.: "It was so bad I realized why nothing had happened." [2] She returned to dancing, performing at the Copacabana nightclub in New York City and the Club Versailles, where she was spotted by Arthur Freed, a producer at Metro Goldwyn Mayer. [2] She was listed among six "Samba Sirens" for the Copacabana Revue's in the summer of 1942 outing in Saratoga Springs, New York, [4] and as a singer-dancer as a Hotel Commodore "Commodorable" in 1943. [5]
Freed took her to Hollywood, where her screen test impressed Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer mogul Louis B. Mayer. She was offered a contract with Goldwyn Studios, but ultimately decided to sign with MGM so that she could showcase her dancing ability. An accomplished dancer, she was considered to display potential as a dramatic actress. She studied acting at MGM with the great acting coach Lillian Burns, and was groomed for stardom as an important member of the legendary Freed Unit. [6]
Bremer made her screen debut to excellent notices in director Vincente Minnelli's smash hit Technicolor musical Meet Me in St. Louis (1944) as Rose Smith, Judy Garland's older sister, and followed this with a starring role opposite Fred Astaire in the musical fable Yolanda and the Thief (1945). Despite sumptuous production values and a staff of high-priced talent behind the scenes (directed again by Vincente Minnelli from a story by Ludwig Bemelmans, with an original score by Harry Warren and producer/songwriter Arthur Freed, and choreographed by Fred Astaire and Eugene Loring), it was a box-office failure. The film's ambitious surrealist fantasy theme was not popular with wartime audiences, and Bremer, a newcomer in her first starring role, took most of the blame. Her career never recovered. She followed this disappointment with featured dance performances, once again with Astaire and directed by Minnelli, in two memorable sequences in the successful musical revue Ziegfeld Follies [7] (released in 1946, but Bremer's numbers were filmed in 1945, before filming Yolanda and the Thief [8] ). Her last major film musical was the lavish Jerome Kern biopic Till the Clouds Roll By (1946), in which Bremer had some good dramatic scenes and dances with Van Johnson. After this, MGM began to lose interest in promoting her. After a minor dramatic film with MGM, Dark Delusion (1947), she was loaned to Eagle-Lion in 1948 for her final three films. Bremer played her last starring role in the film noir Behind Locked Doors (1948).
One of her last films was alongside Mexican movie star Arturo de Córdova in Adventures of Casanova (1948).
Reportedly disappointed with her Hollywood career, she elected not to renew her contract and left the film industry. She had met and fallen in love with the son of the former president of Mexico, Abelardo Luis Rodriguez, [9] who bore the same name as his father. She and "Rod" Rodriguez were married at Catalina Island in August 1948. She moved with him to Baja California Sur, Mexico, at the beginning of the Golden Age of Baja and started the private resort Rancho Las Cruces as well as the original Palmilla Hotel and the Hacienda Hotel. With her contacts in Hollywood and her husband Rod's influence, they drew people from Hollywood who sought to enjoy this newly found paradise. She and her husband were also business partners with Desi Arnaz, Lucille Ball, and Bing Crosby.
After her divorce (in 1963), Bremer settled in La Jolla, California, where she owned a children's clothing boutique. She continued to travel between La Jolla, California, and Baja California Mexico.
Bremer died in 1996 from a heart attack at age 79. [10]
| Year | Title | Role |
|---|---|---|
| 1942 | Penny Arcade (short film) | Woman |
| 1944 | This Love of Mine (short film) | Dancer |
| Meet Me in St. Louis | Rose Smith | |
| 1945 | Yolanda and the Thief | Yolanda |
| 1946 | Ziegfeld Follies | Princess ("This Heart of Mine") / Moy Ling ("Limehouse Blues") |
| Till the Clouds Roll By | Sally Hessler | |
| 1947 | Dark Delusion | Cynthia Grace |
| 1948 | Adventures of Casanova | Lady Bianca |
| Ruthless | Christa Mansfield | |
| Behind Locked Doors | Kathy Lawrence | |
Eugene Curran Kelly was an American dancer, actor, singer, director and choreographer. He was known for his energetic and athletic dancing style and sought to create a new form of American dance accessible to the general public, which he called "dance for the common man". He starred in, choreographed, and, with Stanley Donen, co-directed some of the most well-regarded musical films of the 1940s and 1950s.
Fred Astaire was an American dancer, actor, singer, musician, choreographer, and presenter, whose career in stage, film, and television spanned 76 years. He is widely regarded as the "greatest popular-music dancer of all time" He received an Honorary Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, three Emmy Awards, two Golden Globe Awards, and a Grammy Award.
The Band Wagon is a 1953 American musical romantic comedy film directed by Vincente Minnelli, starring Fred Astaire and Cyd Charisse. It tells the story of an aging musical star who hopes a Broadway show will revive his career. However, the play's director wants to make it a pretentious retelling of the Faust legend and brings in a prima ballerina who clashes with the star. Along with An American in Paris (1951) and Singin' in the Rain (1952), it is regarded as one of the finest Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer musicals, although it was a box-office disappointment on first release.
Meet Me in St. Louis is a 1944 American Christmas musical film made by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Divided into a series of seasonal vignettes, starting with Summer 1903, it relates the story of a year in the life of the Smith family in St. Louis leading up to the opening of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition in the spring of 1904. The film stars Judy Garland, Margaret O'Brien, Mary Astor, Lucille Bremer, Tom Drake, Leon Ames, Marjorie Main, June Lockhart and Joan Carroll. The film was adapted by Irving Brecher and Fred F. Finklehoffe from a series of short stories by Sally Benson originally published in The New Yorker magazine called "The Kensington Stories" and later in novel form as Meet Me in St. Louis. The film was directed by Vincente Minnelli, who met Garland on the set and later married her. Tony Award-winning designer Lemuel Ayers served as the film's art director.
Adolph Green was an American lyricist and playwright who, with long-time collaborator Betty Comden, penned the screenplays and songs for musicals on Broadway and in Hollywood. Although they were not a romantic couple, they shared a unique comic genius and sophisticated wit that enabled them to forge a six-decade-long partnership. They received numerous accolades including four Tony Awards and nominations for two Academy Awards and a Grammy Award. Green was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1980 and American Theatre Hall of Fame in 1981. Comden and Green received the Kennedy Center Honor in 1991.
Arthur Freed was an American lyricist and a Hollywood film producer. He won the Academy Award for Best Picture twice, in 1951 for An American in Paris and in 1958 for Gigi. Both films were musicals, and both were directed by Vincente Minnelli. In addition, he produced the film Singin' in the Rain, the soundtrack for which primarily consisted of songs he co-wrote earlier in his career.
Vincente Minnelli was an American stage director and film director. For a career spanning over half a century, he is best known for his sophisticated innovation and artistry in musical films. As of 2024, six of his films have been selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry.
Ann Miller was an American actress and dancer. She is best remembered for her work in the classical Hollywood cinema musicals of the 1940s and 1950s. Her early film work included roles in Room Service with the Marx Brothers and Frank Capra's You Can't Take It with You, both released in 1938. She later starred in the musical classics Easter Parade (1948), On the Town (1949) and Kiss Me Kate (1953). Her final film role was in Mulholland Drive (2001).
Stanley Donen was an American film director and choreographer. He received the Honorary Academy Award in 1998, and the Career Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival in 2004. Four of his films have been inducted into the National Film Registry at the Library of Congress.
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That's Entertainment! is a 1974 American compilation film released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer to celebrate the studio's 50th anniversary. The success of the retrospective prompted a 1976 sequel, the related 1985 film That's Dancing!, and a third installment in 1994.
The Harvey Girls is a 1946 Technicolor American musical film produced by Arthur Freed for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. It is based on the 1942 novel of the same name by Samuel Hopkins Adams, about Fred Harvey's Harvey House waitresses. Directed by George Sidney, the film stars Judy Garland and features John Hodiak, Ray Bolger, and Angela Lansbury, as well as Preston Foster, Virginia O'Brien, Kenny Baker, Marjorie Main and Chill Wills. Future star Cyd Charisse appears in her first speaking role on film.
Ziegfeld Follies is a 1945 American musical comedy film released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), primarily directed by Vincente Minnelli, with segments directed by Lemuel Ayers, Roy Del Ruth, Robert Lewis, and George Sidney, the film's original director before Minnelli took over. Other directors that are claimed to have made uncredited contributions to the film are Merrill Pye, Norman Taurog, and Charles Walters. It stars many MGM leading talents, including Fred Astaire, Lucille Ball, Lucille Bremer, Fanny Brice, Judy Garland, Kathryn Grayson, Lena Horne, Gene Kelly, James Melton, Victor Moore, William Powell, Red Skelton, and Esther Williams.
The Pirate is a 1948 American musical film produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. It stars Judy Garland and Gene Kelly with costars Walter Slezak, Gladys Cooper, Reginald Owen, The Nicholas Brothers, and George Zucco, with the music in the film written by Cole Porter.
George Bassman was an American composer and arranger.
Charles Powell Walters was an American Hollywood director and choreographer most noted for his work in MGM musicals and comedies from the 1940s to the 1960s.
Yolanda and the Thief is a 1945 American Technicolor MGM musical-comedy film set in a fictional Latin American country. It stars Fred Astaire, Lucille Bremer, Frank Morgan, and Mildred Natwick, with music by Harry Warren and lyrics by Arthur Freed. The film was directed by Vincente Minnelli and produced by Arthur Freed.
Till the Clouds Roll By is a 1946 American Technicolor musical film produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and a fictionalized biopic of composer Jerome Kern, portrayed by Robert Walker. Kern was involved with the production, but died before its completion. It was the first in a series of MGM biopics about Broadway composers.
Brigadoon is a 1954 American Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer musical film, made in CinemaScope and color by Ansco, based on the 1947 Broadway musical of the same name by Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe. The film was directed by Vincente Minnelli and stars Gene Kelly, Van Johnson, and Cyd Charisse. Brigadoon has been broadcast on American television and is available in VHS, DVD, and Blu-ray formats.
"Limehouse Blues" is a popular British song written by the London-based duo of Douglas Furber (lyrics) and Philip Braham (music).
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