About Vera Zorina
Eva Brigitta Hartwig (January 2, 1917 – April 9, 2003), known professionally as Vera Zorina, was a German-Norwegian ballerina, theatre and film actress, and choreographer, chiefly remembered for her films choreographed by her husband George Balanchine. They include the Slaughter on Tenth Avenue sequence from On Your Toes, The Goldwyn Follies, I Was an Adventuress with Erich Von Stroheim and Peter Lorre, Louisiana Purchase with Bob Hope, and dancing to "That Old Black Magic" in Paramount Pictures' Star Spangled Rhythm. == Background == Zorina was born in Berlin, Germany. Her father Fritz Hartwig was a German lapsed Roman Catholic, and her mother Abigail Johanne Wimpelmann (known as Billie Hartwig) was Norwegian and Lutheran. Both were professional singers. Zorina was brought up in Kristiansund, a small coastal town between Trondheim and Molde, where she debuted as a dancer at the local theatre, Festiviteten. She received her education at the Lyceum for Girls in Berlin and was trained in dance by Olga Preobrajenska and Nicholas Legat. == Career == At age 12, she was presented to Max Reinhardt, who cast her in A Midsummer Night's Dream (1929) and Tales of Hoffmann (1931). A performance at London's Gaiety Theatre won her an invitation to join the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo in 1933, at which time she was obliged to adopt the stage name of Vera Zorina. The company wanted only Russian names.
Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.