Liliane Montevecchi

Vivid, show-stopping French entertainer Liliane (Dina) Montevecchi was born in Paris on October 13, 1932, and first put on ballet shoes at the age of 8. Nine years later, having entered the Conservatoire for two years of training and working with various companies, she would become a prima ballerina in Roland Petit's ballet company. Hollywood took a sudden interest in her in the early 1950s, along with other foreign-born ballet dancers such as Leslie Caron, Zizi Jeanmaire, and Moira Shearer. Signed to a contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, she began appearing in their musicals. Studying at the Actor's Studio at one point, such cinematic ventures as The Glass Slipper (1955) and Daddy Long Legs (1955) (both starring Caron), plus Moonfleet (1955), Meet Me in Las Vegas (1956), The Sad Sack (1957), Me and the Colonel (1958), and the Elvis Presley vehicle King Creole (1958) came and went without much fanfare for Liliane. It was the live stage that would raise her to legendary status. First,