Marge Champion

Marge Champion was a great dancer.

She worked for Disney when she was young. She was a model for Snow White. Artists watched her moves to draw the film. She also helped draw the Blue Fairy.

Marge danced in many movies and shows. She even had her own show on TV. She worked with her husband, Gower. They were a famous dance team.

Marge loved to dance for a long time. She was still dancing at age 90! She lived to be 101 years old. She was a true star.

Marge Champion was a famous dancer and actress.

She started dancing as a young child. Her father taught her how to move with care. He taught her to keep her body in the right place. These lessons helped her have a very long career.

Marge did special work for Disney. At age 14, she was a dance model. Artists watched her to draw characters for films. She helped draw Snow White. She also modeled for the Blue Fairy in Pinocchio. She even helped with a hippo in Fantasia.

Later, Marge became a star in movies and on stage. She married a dancer named Gower Champion. They were a famous dance team. They performed in many musicals together. They even had their own TV show in 1957.

Marge worked in many ways. She was a coach for actors. She also made dances for church services. She won an Emmy Award for her work. Marge loved her craft. She was still dancing when she was 90 years old. She lived to be 101.

Marge Champion was a talented American dancer and actress.

She lived a very long and busy life. Her career spanned many different kinds of art. She worked in movies, on stage, and on television. People admired her for her skill and her dedication. She was even still dancing when she was 90 years old.

Marge learned to dance from her father, Ernest Belcher. He was a dance director who taught many famous stars. Marge studied with him from the age of five. He taught her to move with great care. She learned to keep her body in the right place. He also taught her to pay attention to small details. These strict lessons helped her stay healthy for her long career. She even became a ballet instructor at age twelve.

At age 14, Marge did very special work for Disney. She was a live-action dance model for animators. They watched her moves to make characters look real. She helped create the movements for Snow White in 1937. She also modeled for the Blue Fairy in Pinocchio in 1940. She even helped with the hippo in the film Fantasia. For one scene in Snow White, she wore a baggy coat. This allowed her to model for two dwarfs at once.

Marge also became a famous star in musical films. She married a dancer named Gower Champion in 1947. They became a famous dance team together. They performed in many MGM musicals during the 1940s and 1950s. Some of their movies were Show Boat and Everything I Have Is Yours.

In 1957, they even had their own television show. The show featured many song and dance numbers. They were very popular on the screen.

Later in life, Marge used her skills in new ways. She created dances for church services. She also worked as a movement coach for television. She won an Emmy Award for her choreography.

In 2007, she received the Disney Legends Award. She was also put into the National Museum of Dance Hall of Fame. Marge was born in Los Angeles in 1919. She lived to be 101 years old.

Marge Champion was a prominent American dancer, actress, and choreographer. Her career spanned nearly a century of performing arts. She made significant contributions to animation, musical films, Broadway, and television.

Champion was known for her technical precision and her ability to adapt to many different artistic roles. Her work helped bridge the gap between live-action movement and animated characters. She remains a notable figure in the history of 20th-century entertainment.

Champion's foundation in dance began with her father, Ernest Belcher. He was a respected dance director who taught many famous performers. Marge studied exclusively under his instruction from age five until she moved to New York. Her father emphasized a strict and careful progression of physical activity. He taught her the importance of correct body alignment and precise placement. He also focused on the totality of dynamics and phrasing in movement. These technical principles supported her health and enabled a very long professional career.

One of Champion's most unique roles was as a live-action reference model for Walt Disney Studios. In 1933, at age fourteen, she auditioned to help animators create realistic movement. She provided the physical movements for Snow White in the 1937 film *Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs*. To assist with a specific scene, she wore a baggy overcoat to model for two dwarfs simultaneously. She also modeled for the Blue Fairy in *Pinocchio* (1940) and Hyacinth Hippo in the *Fantasia* ballet parody. She even provided modeling for Mr. Stork in *Dumbo*.

After her work with Disney, Champion transitioned into a successful career as a film star. She married fellow dancer Gower Champion in 1947. The couple became a celebrated dance team in MGM musicals throughout the 1940s and 1950s. They appeared together in films such as *Till the Clouds Roll By* (1946) and *Show Boat* (1951).

In 1957, they starred in their own television situation comedy, *The Marge and Gower Champion Show*. This program featured various song and dance numbers performed by the pair.

Champion also maintained a steady presence on the Broadway stage. She made her New York debut in the production *What's Up* in 1943. She performed in several plays and musicals, including *Dark of the Moon* (1945) and *Beggar's Holiday* (1946). Even as she aged, she continued to perform on Broadway. In 2001, at the age of 81, she appeared in a revival of the musical *Follies*. This demonstrated her lifelong dedication to the stage despite the physical demands of dancing.

In her later years, Champion expanded her expertise into choreography and coaching. She created creative choreography for religious liturgy at Bel Aire Presbyterian Church. She also served as a dialogue and movement coach for the 1978 miniseries *The Awakening Land*.

Her choreographic skill earned her an Emmy Award for her work on *Queen of the Stardust Ballroom*. She also worked as a dance supervisor and assistant on various film and stage projects. Her ability to teach movement became a central part of her professional identity.

Champion's legacy is recognized by several major arts organizations. In 2007, she received the Disney Legends Award for her early contributions to animation. She was also inducted into the National Museum of Dance's Hall of Fame in 2009. In 2013, she received the Douglas Watt Lifetime Achievement Award. Champion lived to the age of 101, passing away in Los Angeles in 2020. Her life serves as a record of the evolution of American dance and film.