Dame Gillian Barbara Lynne (née Pyrke; 20 February 1926 – 1 July 2018) was an English ballerina, dancer,

choreographer Choreography is the art or practice of designing sequences of movements of physical bodies (or their depictions) in which motion or form or both are specified. ''Choreography'' may also refer to the design itself. A choreographer is one who c ...

, actress, and

theatre Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The perfor ...

-television director, noted for her theatre choreography associated with two of the longest-running shows in

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...

history, ''

Cats The cat (''Felis catus'') is a domestic species of small carnivorous mammal. It is the only domesticated species in the family Felidae and is commonly referred to as the domestic cat or house cat to distinguish it from the wild members o ...

'' and ''

The Phantom of the Opera ''The Phantom of the Opera'' (french: Le Fantôme de l'Opéra) is a novel by French author Gaston Leroux. It was first published as a serial in from 23 September 1909 to 8 January 1910, and was released in volume form in late March 1910 by Pier ...

''. At age 87, she was made a DBE (Dame Commander of the

Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established ...

) in the 2014 New Year Honours List. The New London Theatre, where the original West End production of ''Cats'' played, was officially renamed the Gillian Lynne Theatre in 2018. This made Lynne the first non-

royal Royal may refer to: People * Royal (name), a list of people with either the surname or given name * A member of a royal family Places United States * Royal, Arkansas, an unincorporated community * Royal, Illinois, a village * Royal, Iowa, a ...

woman to have a West End theatre named after her.

Early life and education

Gillian Barbara Pyrke was born in

Bromley Bromley is a large town in Greater London, England, within the London Borough of Bromley. It is south-east of Charing Cross, and had an estimated population of 87,889 as of 2011. Originally part of Kent, Bromley became a market town, c ...

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

, and was a precocious dance talent from an early age, teaming with her childhood friend

Beryl Grey Dame Beryl Elizabeth Grey (née Groom; 11 June 1927 – 10 December 2022) was a British ballet dancer. Early life Born in Highgate, London, she began dance classes at the age of four while attending Sherbourne Preparatory School, and by age e ...

while still at school, and dancing to blot out the tragedy of the violent death of her mother on 8 July 1939 in

Coventry Coventry ( or ) is a city in the West Midlands, England. It is on the River Sherbourne. Coventry has been a large settlement for centuries, although it was not founded and given its city status until the Middle Ages. The city is governed b ...

(as a result of a car crash along with Edward Turner's first wife), when Lynne was just 13 years old.Moorhead, Joanna
"'Mummy's still looking after me'"
''The Guardian'', 25 November 2011; accessed 17 March 2014. Lynne's gift for dancing was discovered by a doctor. She had been underperforming at school, so her mother took her to the doctor and explained about her fidgeting and lack of focus. After hearing everything her mother said, the doctor told Lynne that he needed to talk to her mother privately for a moment. He turned on the radio and walked out. He then encouraged her mother to look at Lynne, who was dancing to the radio. The doctor noted that she was a dancer, and encouraged Lynne's mother to take her to dance school.

Dancing career

Sadler's Wells Ballet

While dancing for Molly Lake's Company (the

Ballet Guild The Ballet Guild was a wartime English ballet company formed on May 10, 1941, by Deryck Lynham, the barrister Christmas Humphreys (who acted as chairman)Christmas Humphries. Both Sides of the Circle' (1978) London: Allen & Unwin , pp. 113-115 and ...

) at the People's Palace, Lynne was spotted by

Ninette de Valois Dame Ninette de Valois (born Edris Stannus; 6 June 1898 – 8 March 2001) was an Irish-born British dancer, teacher, choreographer, and director of classical ballet. Most notably, she danced professionally with Serge Diaghilev's Ballets Ru ...

and asked to join

Sadler's Wells Ballet The Royal Ballet is a British internationally renowned classical ballet company, based at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, London, England. The largest of the five major ballet companies in Great Britain, the Royal Ballet was founded i ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. With the opening of the

Royal Opera House The Royal Opera House (ROH) is an opera house and major performing arts venue in Covent Garden, central London. The large building is often referred to as simply Covent Garden, after a previous use of the site. It is the home of The Royal ...

after the War she received her first major solo in ''

Sleeping Beauty ''Sleeping Beauty'' (french: La belle au bois dormant, or ''The Beauty in the Sleeping Forest''; german: Dornröschen, or ''Little Briar Rose''), also titled in English as ''The Sleeping Beauty in the Woods'', is a fairy tale about a princess cu ...

'' on the night of her 20th birthday. She went on to become an admired dramatic ballerina in the soon to be renamed

Royal Ballet The Royal Ballet is a British internationally renowned classical ballet company, based at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, London, England. The largest of the five major ballet companies in Great Britain, the Royal Ballet was founded in ...

, renowned for her Black Queen in de Valois's ''

Checkmate Checkmate (often shortened to mate) is any game position in chess and other chess-like games in which a player's king is in check (threatened with ) and there is no possible escape. Checkmating the opponent wins the game. In chess, the king is ...

'', Queen of the Wilis in ''

Giselle ''Giselle'' (; ), originally titled ''Giselle, ou les Wilis'' (, ''Giselle, or The Wilis''), is a romantic ballet (" ballet-pantomime") in two acts with music by Adolphe Adam. Considered a masterwork in the classical ballet performance canon ...

'' and in roles created for her by

Frederick Ashton Sir Frederick William Mallandaine Ashton (17 September 190418 August 1988) was a British ballet dancer and choreographer. He also worked as a director and choreographer in opera, film and revue. Determined to be a dancer despite the opposit ...

and

Robert Helpmann Sir Robert Murray Helpmann CBE ( Helpman, 9 April 1909 – 28 September 1986) was an Australian ballet dancer, actor, director, and choreographer. After early work in Australia he moved to Britain in 1932, where he joined the Vic-Wells Ballet ( ...

West End, film and television

Leaving

in 1951 she was an instant success at the

London Palladium The London Palladium () is a Grade II* West End theatre located on Argyll Street, London, in the famous area of Soho. The theatre holds 2,286 seats. Of the roster of stars who have played there, many have televised performances. Between 1955 a ...

as the star dancer and subsequently in the West End in such roles as Claudine in '' Can-Can'' at the

Coliseum Theatre The London Coliseum (also known as the Coliseum Theatre) is a theatre in St Martin's Lane, Westminster, built as one of London's largest and most luxurious "family" variety theatres. Opened on 24 December 1904 as the London Coliseum Theatre ...

. She appeared in the film '' The Master of Ballantrae'' as Mariane, in which she was cast opposite

Errol Flynn Errol Leslie Thomson Flynn (20 June 1909 – 14 October 1959) was an Australian-American actor who achieved worldwide fame during the Classical Hollywood cinema, Golden Age of Hollywood. He was known for his romantic swashbuckler roles, freque ...

and directed by

William Keighley William Jackson Keighley (August 4, 1889 – June 24, 1984) was an American stage actor and Hollywood film director. Career After graduating from the Ludlum School of Dramatic Art, Keighley began acting at the age of 23. By the 1910s and 1920s ...

. She also appeared as both a dancer and actress on early British Television.

Choreography and direction

In her long career as a choreographer and director, Lynne worked on many productions including those from the

Royal Shakespeare Company The Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) is a major British theatre company, based in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England. The company employs over 1,000 staff and produces around 20 productions a year. The RSC plays regularly in London, St ...

and

English National Opera English National Opera (ENO) is an opera company based in London, resident at the London Coliseum in St Martin's Lane. It is one of the two principal opera companies in London, along with The Royal Opera. ENO's productions are sung in English ...

as well as many West End and Broadway shows. In 1970 she choreographed and directed the Nottingham Playhouse production of the musical, '' Love on the Dole''. Originally a novel by

Walter Greenwood Walter Greenwood (17 December 1903 – 13 September 1974) was an English novelist, best known for the socially influential novel ''Love on the Dole'' (1933). Early life Greenwood was born at 56 Ellor Street, his father's house and hairdres ...

, it was made into a musical starring

Eric Flynn Eric William Flynn (13 December 1939 – 4 March 2002) was a British actor. Early life Flynn was born on 13 December 1939 on Hainan Island, China, where his father was a customs officer for the Hong Kong government. After the outbreak of war a ...

and

Angela Richards Angela Richards (born 18 December 1944 in London) is an English actress. A graduate of RADA, she is also known for her body of work in musical theatre. Biography Theatre Richards has starred in several West End productions such as ''Robert a ...

. In 1975 she arrived in Australia to create

The Australian Ballet The Australian Ballet is the largest classical ballet company in Australia. It was founded by J. C. Williamson Theatres Ltd and the Australian Elizabethan Theatre Trust in 1962, with the English-born dancer, teacher, repetiteur and direc ...

's first work expressly commissioned for television, '' The Fool on the Hill''. She may be best known for her work on the

Andrew Lloyd Webber Andrew Lloyd Webber, Baron Lloyd-Webber (born 22 March 1948), is an English composer and impresario of musical theatre. Several of his musicals have run for more than a decade both in the West End and on Broadway. He has composed 21 musical ...

's musicals ''

'' (1981),''

'' (1986) and ''

Aspects of Love ''Aspects of Love'' is a musical with music and book by Andrew Lloyd Webber, and lyrics by Don Black and Charles Hart. It is based on the 1955 novella of the same name by David Garnett. The piece focuses on the romantic entanglements of actr ...

'' (1990). She was also a prolific television choreographer and director notably for ''

The Muppet Show ''The Muppet Show'' is a sketch comedy television series created by Jim Henson and featuring the Muppets. The series originated as two pilot episodes produced by Henson for ABC in 1974 and 1975. While neither episode was moved forward as ...

'' series and winning the 1987 BAFTA Huw Wheldon Award for her direction and choreography of ''A Simple Man'', which starred

Moira Shearer Moira Shearer King, Lady Kennedy (17 January 1926 – 31 January 2006), was an internationally renowned Scottish ballet dancer and actress. She was famous for her performances in Powell and Pressburger's '' The Red Shoes'' (1948) and '' The Ta ...

. She choreographed the Royal Shakespeare Company production of '' The Secret Garden'', which ran at Stratford in 2000 and then transferred to the West End, running at the Aldwych Theatre from February 2001 to June 2001. In 2002, Lynne choreographed the

Sherman Brothers The Sherman Brothers were an American songwriting duo that specialized in musical films, made up of Robert B. Sherman (December 19, 1925 – March 6, 2012) and Richard M. Sherman (born June 12, 1928). Together they received various accolades i ...

' stage musical ''

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang ''Chitty Chitty Bang Bang'' is a 1968 musical-fantasy film directed by Ken Hughes with a screenplay co-written by Roald Dahl and Hughes, loosely based on Ian Fleming's novel '' Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang: The Magical Car'' (1964). The film stars ...

'' (based on the

1968 film The year 1968 in film involved some significant events, with the release of Stanley Kubrick's '' 2001: A Space Odyssey'', as well as two highly successful musical films, '' Funny Girl'' and ''Oliver!'', the former earning Barbra Streisand the Ac ...

). It played in London, and later on Broadway in 2005, both times successfully. ''Chitty Chitty Bang Bang'' brought her back to the London Palladium after 50 years and she rehearsed cast changes for the show's National UK Tour. Lynne choreographed the 90-minute Las Vegas Production of ''

'' which opened in the Summer of 2006, directed ''I Want to Teach the World to Sing!'' Gala at

Her Majesty's Theatre Her Majesty's Theatre is a West End theatre situated on Haymarket in the City of Westminster, London. The present building was designed by Charles J. Phipps and was constructed in 1897 for actor-manager Herbert Beerbohm Tree, who established t ...

and musically staged ''

The Imaginary Invalid ''The Imaginary Invalid'', ''The Hypochondriac'', or ''The Would-Be Invalid'' (French title ''Le Malade imaginaire'', ) is a three- act '' comédie-ballet'' by the French playwright Molière with dance sequences and musical interludes (H.495, H.4 ...

'' for the

Shakespeare Theatre Company The Shakespeare Theatre Company is a regional theatre company located in Washington, D.C. The theatre company focuses primarily on plays from the Shakespeare canon, but its seasons include works by other classic playwrights such as Euripides, ...

in Washington, D.C. in 2008. In September 2009, she was in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

celebrating a ''Phantom of the Opera'' milestone at the Majestic Theatre. During this visit, she worked in a rehearsal with the company of the 2009–2010 international tour of ''Cats'', produced by Troika Entertainment. In October 2011, Lynne choreographed the 25th Anniversary production of '' The Phantom of the Opera at the Royal Albert Hall''. She was both choreographer and director for the musical ''

Dear World ''Dear World'' is a musical with a book by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee and music and lyrics by Jerry Herman. With its opening, Herman became the first composer-lyricist in history to have three productions running simultaneously on Broa ...

'', which played an engagement at The Charing Cross Theatre, London, in February and March 2013, and starred

Betty Buckley Betty Lynn Buckley (born July 3, 1947) is an American actress and singer. Buckley is the winner of a Tony Award, and was nominated for two Daytime Emmy Awards, two Grammy Awards, and an Olivier Award. In 2012, she was inducted into the American ...

. Her production company continues to produce television, film and stage productions.

Major stage credits

* ''

'' (1942–1944) – Soloist * ''

'' (1944–1951) – Leading Soloist * ''

'' (1951–1954) – Star Dancer * '' Can-Can'' (1954) – Claudine * ''New Cranks'' (1960) – Cast * ''

Rose Marie Rose Marie (born Rose Marie Mazzetta; August 15, 1923 – December 28, 2017) was an American actress, singer, comedian, and vaudeville performer with a career ultimately spanning nine decades, which included film, radio, records, theater, night ...

'' (1960) – Wanda * ''England Our England'' (1960–61) – Stager * ''

Puss in Boots "Puss in Boots" ( it, Il gatto con gli stivali) is an Italian fairy tale, later spread throughout the rest of Europe, about an anthropomorphic cat who uses trickery and deceit to gain power, wealth, and the hand of a princess in marriage for ...

'' (1962) – Queen of Catland * '' Collages'' (1963) – Conceived/Director/Choreographer/Performer * ''Round Leicester Square'' (1963) – Director * ''

The Roar of the Greasepaint—the Smell of the Crowd ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

'' (1965) – Choreographer * '' Pickwick'' (1965) – Musical Stager/Choreographer * '' The Matchgirls'' (1966) – Director/Choreographer * '' The Flying Dutchman'' (1966) – Choreographer * ''

Bluebeard "Bluebeard" (french: Barbe bleue, ) is a French folktale, the most famous surviving version of which was written by Charles Perrault and first published by Barbin in Paris in 1697 in '' Histoires ou contes du temps passé''. The tale tells the s ...

'' (1966) – Director/Choreographer * '' How Now Dow Jones'' (1967) – Choreographer * ''

The Midsummer Marriage ''The Midsummer Marriage'' is an opera in three acts, with music and libretto by Michael Tippett. The work's first performance was at Covent Garden, on 27 January 1955, conducted by John Pritchard. The reception of the opera was controversial, o ...

'' (1968) – Choreographer * '' The Trojans'' (1969) – Choreographer * ''Phil The Fluter'' (1969) – Musical Stager/Choreographer * '' Love on the Dole'' (1970) – Director/Choreographer * ''Tonight at 8.30'' (1970–71) – Director * ''

Ambassador An ambassador is an official envoy, especially a high-ranking diplomat who represents a state and is usually accredited to another sovereign state or to an international organization as the resident representative of their own government or s ...

'' (1971) – Musical Stager/Choreographer * ''Lillywhite Lies'' (1971) – Director * ''Liberty Ranch'' (1972) – Director/Choreographer * ''Once Upon A Time'' (1972) – Director/Choreographer * ''

The Card ''The Card'' is a comic novel written by Arnold Bennett in 1911 (entitled ''Denry the Audacious'' in the American edition). It was later made into a 1952 movie, starring Alec Guinness and Petula Clark. Like much of Bennett's best work, it i ...

'' (1973) – Musical Stager/Choreographer * ''Hans Christian Andersen'' (1974) – Musical Stager/Choreographer * ''

The Fool on the Hill (ballet) ''The Fool on the Hill'' is a ballet created by the British choreographer, Gillian Lynne. Television production In 1975 Gillian Lynne arrived in Australia to create The Australian Ballet's first work expressly commissioned for television ...

'' (1975) – Choreographer * ''

The Comedy of Errors ''The Comedy of Errors'' is one of William Shakespeare's early plays. It is his shortest and one of his most farcical comedies, with a major part of the humour coming from slapstick and mistaken identity, in addition to puns and word play. It ...

'' (1976) – Musical Stager * ''

A Midsummer Night's Dream ''A Midsummer Night's Dream'' is a comedy written by William Shakespeare 1595 or 1596. The play is set in Athens, and consists of several subplots that revolve around the marriage of Theseus and Hippolyta. One subplot involves a conflict a ...

'' (1977) – Co-director * ''

As You Like It ''As You Like It'' is a pastoral comedy by William Shakespeare believed to have been written in 1599 and first published in the First Folio in 1623. The play's first performance is uncertain, though a performance at Wilton House in 1603 h ...

'' (1977) – Musical Stager * '' The Way of the World'' (1978) – Choreographer * ''

My Fair Lady ''My Fair Lady'' is a musical based on George Bernard Shaw's 1913 play '' Pygmalion'', with a book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner and music by Frederick Loewe. The story concerns Eliza Doolittle, a Cockney flower girl who takes speech lessons ...

'' (1978) – Musical Stager/Choreographer * ''Thuis Best'' (1978) – Director/Choreographer * ''

Parsifal ''Parsifal'' ( WWV 111) is an opera or a music drama in three acts by the German composer Richard Wagner and his last composition. Wagner's own libretto for the work is loosely based on the 13th-century Middle High German epic poem ''Parzival ...

'' (1979) – Choreographer * '' Once in a Lifetime'' (1979) – Musical Stager/Choreographer * '' Songbook'' (1979) – Musical Stager * ''

Jeeves Takes Charge "Jeeves Takes Charge" is a short story by P. G. Wodehouse, and features the young gentleman Bertie Wooster and his valet Jeeves. The story was published in the ''Saturday Evening Post'' in the United States in November 1916, and in ''The Strand ...

'' (1980) – Director * ''

Tom Foolery ''Tomfoolery'' (or ''Tom Foolery'') is a musical revue based on the songs of American satirist Tom Lehrer. Devised and produced by Cameron Mackintosh, it premiered in London at the Criterion Theatre, directed by Gillian Lynne, on 5 June 1980, ...

'' (1980) – Director/Choreographer * ''To Those Born Later'' (1981) – Director * ''

'' (1981) – Associate Director/Choreographer * '' La Ronde'' (1982) – Additional Director * ''Alone Plus One'' (1982) – Director/Performer * '' The Rehearsal'' (1983) – Director * ''

'' (1986) – Musical Stager/Choreographer * ''

Cabaret Cabaret is a form of theatrical entertainment featuring music, song, dance, recitation, or drama. The performance venue might be a pub, a casino, a hotel, a restaurant, or a nightclub with a stage for performances. The audience, often dinin ...

'' (1986) – Director/Choreographer * ''

Faust Faust is the protagonist of a classic German legend based on the historical Johann Georg Faust ( 1480–1540). The erudite Faust is highly successful yet dissatisfied with his life, which leads him to make a pact with the Devil at a crossroa ...

'' (1990) – Choreographer * ''

'' (1990) – Choreographer * ''Dance for Life Gala'' (1991) – Director/Producer * ''

Valentine's Day Valentine's Day, also called Saint Valentine's Day or the Feast of Saint Valentine, is celebrated annually on February 14. It originated as a Christian feast day honoring one or two early Christian martyrs named Saint Valentine and, thr ...

'' (1991) – Director/Choreographer * '' Pickwick'' (1993) – Musical Stager/Choreographer * ''That's What Friends Are For!'' (1996) – Director * ''Avow'' (1996) – Director * ''What the World Needs Now'' (1998) – Director/Choreographer * '' Gigi'' (1999) – Director/Choreographer * '' Dick Wittington'' (1999) – Director/Choreographer (Sadler's Wells) * '' The Secret Garden'' (2000) – Musical Stager/Choreographer * ''

'' (2002 & 2005) – Musical Stager/Choreographer

Film credits

*'' The Master of Ballantrae'' (1953) – Actress/Choreographer *''

The Last Man to Hang? ''The Last Man to Hang?'' is a 1956 crime film directed by Terence Fisher. It stars Tom Conway and Elizabeth Sellars. The film was produced by John Gossage for Act Films Ltd. Plot Music critic Sir Roderick Strood is having an affair with a be ...

'' (1956) – Actress *''

Make Mine a Million ''Make Mine a Million'' is a 1959 British comedy film directed by Lance Comfort, starring Arthur Askey, Sid James, and Bernard Cribbins. The film parodies the stuffiness of the 1950s BBC and the effect of television advertising in the era. It w ...

'' (1959) – Actress *'' Wonderful Life'' (1963–64) – Musical Stager/Choreographer *'' Every Day's a Holiday'' (1965) – Musical Stager/Choreographer *'' Three Hats for Lisa'' (1964) – Musical Stager/Choreographer *'' Half a Sixpence'' (1967) – Musical Stager/Choreographer *'' Mister Ten Per Cent'' (1967) – Choreographer *''

200 Motels ''200 Motels'' is a 1971 surrealist musical film written and directed by Frank Zappa and Tony Palmer, and featuring music by Zappa. An international co-production of United States and the United Kingdom, the film stars the Mothers of Invention, T ...

'' (1971) – Musical Stager *'' Mr. Love'' (1972) – Stager/Choreographer *''

Man of La Mancha ''Man of La Mancha'' is a 1965 musical with a book by Dale Wasserman, music by Mitch Leigh, and lyrics by Joe Darion. It is adapted from Wasserman's non-musical 1959 teleplay '' I, Don Quixote'', which was in turn inspired by Miguel de Cerva ...

'' (1972) – Choreographer *''

Under Milk Wood ''Under Milk Wood'' is a 1954 radio drama by Welsh poet Dylan Thomas, commissioned by the BBC and later adapted for the stage. A film version, ''Under Milk Wood'' directed by Andrew Sinclair, was released in 1972, and another adaptation of ...

'' (1972) – Musical Stager/Choreographer *''

The Old Curiosity Shop ''The Old Curiosity Shop'' is one of two novels (the other being ''Barnaby Rudge'') which Charles Dickens published along with short stories in his weekly serial ''Master Humphrey's Clock'', from 1840 to 1841. It was so popular that New York r ...

'' (1974) – Musical Stager *'' Yentl'' (1982) – Musical Stager *''

Alice in Wonderland ''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'' (commonly ''Alice in Wonderland'') is an 1865 English novel by Lewis Carroll. It details the story of a young girl named Alice who falls through a rabbit hole into a fantasy world of anthropomorphic creatur ...

'' (1985) – Choreographer *''

European Vacation ''National Lampoon's European Vacation'' is a 1985 American comedy film directed by Amy Heckerling and written by Robert Klane. The second film in National Lampoon's ''Vacation'' film series, it stars Chevy Chase, Beverly D'Angelo, Dana Hill, ...

'' (1985) – Musical Stager/Choreographer *''

'' (1997) – Musical Stager/Choreographer

Personal life

Lynne married her second husband, actor/singer

Peter Land Peter Land (born 9 July 1953) is a New Zealand actor and singer known for his classical acting with the Royal National Theatre and the Royal Shakespeare Company as well as appearances in many musicals. Biography Early life Born Peter Oliver ...

in 1980. The first volume of her autobiography, ''A Dancer in Wartime'' was published on 3 November 2011 in the UK by Chatto & Windus. Lynne died on 1 July 2018 at a London hospital from

pneumonia Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severit ...

, aged 92.

Awards, honours and nominations

She has won, and been nominated for, numerous awards for her work. She has received the Silver Order of Merit, Golden Rose of Montreux Award, BAFTA, Molière Award and The Queen Elizabeth II Coronation Award by the

Royal Academy of Dance "Health and happiness" , predecessor = , successor = , formation = 1920 , extinction = , type = NGO , status = Registered charity , purpose = Examination board – dance education and training , headquarters = 36 Battersea SquareSW11 3 ...

(2001). She received a Special Award at the 2013

Olivier Awards The Laurence Olivier Awards, or simply the Olivier Awards, are presented annually by the Society of London Theatre to recognise excellence in professional theatre in London at an annual ceremony in the capital. The awards were originally known a ...

. She was appointed

Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established ...

(CBE) in the 1997 Birthday Honours and

Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established ...

(DBE) in the 2014 New Year Honours for services to dance and musical theatre. Lynne was nominated for the

Tony Award The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Broadway Theatre, more commonly known as the Tony Award, recognizes excellence in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual c ...

twice for Choreography, for ''Cats'' and ''The Phantom of the Opera'', and for the

Drama Desk Award The Drama Desk Award is an annual prize recognizing excellence in New York theatre. First bestowed in 1955 as the Vernon Rice Award, the prize initially honored Off-Broadway productions, as well as Off-off-Broadway, and those in the vicinity. F ...

for ''Cats.'' She received the

Olivier Award The Laurence Olivier Awards, or simply the Olivier Awards, are presented annually by the Society of London Theatre to recognise excellence in professional theatre in London at an annual ceremony in the capital. The awards were originally known a ...

in 1981, for Outstanding Achievement of the Year in Musicals, for ''Cats''. In 2018, The New London Theatre was renamed the Gillian Lynne Theatre, making it the first theatre in the

West End of London The West End of London (commonly referred to as the West End) is a district of Central London, west of the City of London and north of the River Thames, in which many of the city's major tourist attractions, shops, businesses, government build ...

to be named after a non-royal woman.

References

External links

''London Gazette'' notice of damehood
london-gazette.co.uk; accessed 22 March 2014. *
Gillian Lynne profile
imdb.com; accessed 17 March 2014. * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Lynne, Gillian 1926 births 2018 deaths English ballerinas English television directors Dames Commander of the Order of the British Empire English choreographers Dancers of The Royal Ballet Northern Ballet Theatre People from Bromley British women television directors Deaths from pneumonia in England