Tamara Toumanova

At 77 years old, Tamara Toumanova physical status not available right now. We will update Tamara Toumanova's height, weight, eye color, hair color, build, and measurements.

Toumanova was the daughter of Yevgenia (or Eugenia) Dmitrievna Toumanishvili, who was half-Georgian-Armenian on her father's side, and half-Georgian on her mother's side. Her father was Dmitri Toumanov, originally of Georgian Toumanishvili family; her mother was Yelizaveta Chkheidze.

At the time of her daughter's birth, Yevgenia was married to Konstantin Zakharov (a Russian). Both Tamara and her mother used the surname Khassidovitch (Yevgenia's second husband was Vladimir Khassidovitch (akas: Vladimir Khassidovitch-Boretsky/Vladimir Khazidovich-Boretsky) for most of their lives following the end of Yevgenia's first marriage, including on their paperwork for naturalization as citizens of the United States.

After moving to Paris, Toumanova was given piano lessons and studied ballet with Olga Preobrajenska, whom she described as her "first and only permanent teacher" and an "immortal friend".

At the age of six, Toumanova was invited by the ballerina Anna Pavlova to perform in one of her gala concerts in 1925. Toumanova danced a polka choreographed by Preobrajenska. Tamara was 10 years old when she made her debut at the Paris Opera as a child étoile in the ballet L'Éventail de Jeanne (for which 10 French composers wrote the music). [1]

In 1931, when Toumanova was 12 years old, George Balanchine saw her in ballet class and engaged her for de Basil's Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo, along with Irina Baronova (aged 12) and Tatiana Riabouchinska (aged 14). The three girls were an immediate success, and writer Arnold Haskell dubbed them the "baby ballerinas".

Toumanova became recognised as a young prodigy of immense talent. She came to be called "The Black Pearl of the Russian Ballet", because, as ballet critic A. V. Coton wrote, "she was the loveliest creature in the history of the ballet", with black silky hair, deep brown eyes and pale almond skin. Toumanova was considered the most glamorous of the trio. Throughout her dynamic career, her mother was her devoted companion, nursemaid, dresser, agent and manager – she was always at the helm.

Balanchine created the role of the "Young Girl" for Toumanova in his ballet Cotillon and had her star in his Concurrence and Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme. Léonide Massine worked closely with Toumanova in the creation of many of his ballets. She played the part of the Top in his Jeux d'Enfants. Balanchine created a role for her in his Le Palais de Cristal (since re-titled Symphony in C) in 1947 at the Paris Opera.

In 1936, while Toumanova was performing ballet in Chicago, an 18-year-old boy named Burr Tillstrom came to see her perform. Following the ballet, Burr went backstage to meet her. As they talked, Toumanova and Tillstrom became friends. Some time later, Tillstrom showed her a favorite puppet he had made and she, surprised by his revelation, exclaimed "Kukla" (Russian for "puppet"). Burr Tillstrom went on to create a very early (1947) television show for children, titled Kukla, Fran and Ollie.

Toumanova appeared in six Hollywood films between 1944 and 1970, always playing dancers. She made her feature film debut in 1944, in Days of Glory, playing a Russian dancer being saved from the invading Germans in 1941 by Soviet partisan leader Gregory Peck (who also made his debut in that film).

In 1953, she played Russian prima ballerina Anna Pavlova in Tonight We Sing, and in 1954, she appeared in the biographical musical Deep in My Heart as the French dancer Gaby Deslys. In 1956, she performed a dance scene with Gene Kelly in Invitation to the Dance. In 1966, she played the odious, unnamed lead ballerina in Alfred Hitchcock's political thriller Torn Curtain. In 1970, she played Russian ballerina Madame Petrova in Billy Wilder's The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes.

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