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,
she starred with the Folies Bergere for nine years, traveling all over
the world. She then conquered Broadway in the 1980s, winning both Tony
and Drama Desk awards for her flashy role in the musical "Nine", based
on
Federico Fellini's art-house film
8½ (1963). She
earned a Tony Award nomination several years later with an equally
flashy role in the musical "Grand Hotel".
The entertainer, beloved for
her delightful mangling of the English language, has appeared in
concert at Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center, and has vamped and camped
with the best of them in her acclaimed cabaret shows and niteries from
here to Timbuktu. These include the semi-autobiographical shows "On the
Boulevard" and "Back On the Boulvards."
She continued to go strong at age 70+ showing time and time again that she was a
one-of-a-kind diva who knows no limit. In December 2010, she appeared with
Kaye Ballard and
Donna McKechnie in the musical revue "From Broadway with Love," and in early 2012, she joined Ballard once again, along with
Lee Roy Reams in a second revue "Doin' It for Love." Never married, she died a few years later of colon cancer in her beloved New York on June 29, 2018.
4 Days in France(2016)as Judith Joubert
How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days(2003)as Mrs. DeLauer
L'idole(2002)as Nicole
Mistinguett, la dernière revue(2001)
Numéro un(1975)
Gala de l'union(1959)
Le Luron du dimanche(1973)
Broadway: Beyond the Golden Age(2021)as Self
Broadway: The Next Generation(2017)as Self
42nd Street: River to River(2009)as Self
20h10 pétantes(2003)as Self
Broadway: The Golden Age, by the Legends Who Were There(2003)as Self
Rembob'Ina(2018)as Self
