About Doris Eaton Travis
Doris Eaton Travis (March 14, 1904 – May 11, 2010) was an American dancer, stage and film actress, dance instructor, owner and manager, writer, and rancher, who was the last surviving Ziegfeld Girl, a troupe of acclaimed chorus girls who performed as members in the Broadway theatrical revues of the Ziegfeld Follies. She began performing onstage as a young child, and along with her siblings, she was one of The Seven Little Eatons, an extended family of show-business performers. She made her Broadway debut in stage production at age 13, and a year later she was cast as a member of the famed Ziegfeld Follies—the youngest ever cast in the show. She continued to perform in stage productions and silent films in the 1920s and early 1930s. When her career in stage and screen declined, Travis started a second career as a dance instructor for the Arthur Murray Studios and was a local television personality in Detroit. Her association with Arthur Murray lasted for three decades, during which time she rose through the ranks to own and manage a chain of nearly twenty schools. After retiring from her career with Arthur Murray, she managed a horse ranch with her husband and returned to school, eventually earning several degrees. Travis was featured in several books and documentaries about the Ziegfeld Follies years, and her other stage endeavours. Travis also returned to the stage as a featured performer in benefit performances. She died at the age of 106 in 2010, a month after her last performance. She was awarded an honorary doctorate from Oakland University in 2004 at the age of 100. When the show closed, Doris and her brother Charles, who had followed his four siblings into show business, resumed their work with Poli and appeared together in their first Broadway show, Mother Carey's Chickens at the Cort Theatre. One of her pupils, inventor and engineer Paul Travis, became her husband after an 11-year courtship.
Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.