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Gower Champion

Not counting the years he danced as a boy, Gower Champion was a distinguished and influential dancer, director, and choreographer in the American musical theatre for 41 years, from 1939 to 1980.  Born in Geneva, Illinois, on June 22, 1919, Gower was the son of Beatrice Carlisle and John W. Champion, an advertising executive.  Gower was named after his uncle, Gower N. Carlisle, using his grandmother’s maiden surname, Sbella Gower. Beatrice Carlisle was a descendent of Alfred L. Carlisle, a well-known Fox Valley realtor and one-time Kane County deputy sheriff.  

When Beatrice and John divorced, she moved to California with the couple’s two sons, Gower and his brother, John, who was two years older.  There she resettled near her sister and other relatives and made a living as a dressmaker.  According to columnist Hedda Hopper, the Champions’ Hollywood home was originally built by Ronald Reagan. When not in school or delivering newspapers, Gower could be found singing for 50 cents and his dinner at the Pig’n Whistle, a popular family restauran

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Gower Champion Biography

Date of Birth:
Jun 22, 1921Birth Place:
Geneva, Illinois, USA

Biography

Legendary dancer and choreographer who found performing fame as a team with his then-wife, Marge Champion, and later went on to become one of Broadway's most renowned directors and choreographers, as well as an occasional film director. Gower Champion was raised in Hollywood. He won a dance contest while a junior in high school and with his dance partner, Jeanne Tyler, quit school and went on the road. Their performance at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel led to featured dancing roles in several Broadway musicals, beginning with "Streets of Paris" in 1939, and also including "Count Me In" (1941). During World War II, Champion was in the Coast Guard, and toured with a show called "Tars and Spars," along with another serviceman, Sid Caesar. When Champion returned to New York after the war, he found that Tyler had married and no longer wanted to dance professionally. He wrote to his former dance teacher, Ernest Belcher, asking for suggestions. Belcher suggested his daughter, then pe
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Gower Champion

“I use dancing to embellish, extend or enlarge upon an existing emotion.” –Gower Champion

When considering notable dance teams throughout film history, it is easy to come up with Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers as a perfect example of one. However, the teaming of Marge and Gower Champion is also a fantastic pairing and has been documented well in several classic films.

Gower was born in Geneva, Illinois, to Beatrice Carlisle and advertising executive John Champion. His mother was a descendant of Alfred Carlisle, a well-known Fox Valley realtor and Kane County deputy sheriff.

When Gower was two years old, his parents divorced. Beatrice took Gower and his older brother, John, to California, where she worked as a dressmaker. Aside from attending school and working as a newspaper delivery boy, Gower also sang for his supper at Pig’n Whistle, next door to Grauman’s Egyptian Theater.

Gower studied dance at an early age and by 15, he was touring nightclubs with his friend Jeannie Tyler. The duo was billed “Gower and Jeanne, America&#

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