From his obituary in the NY Times, July 4, 2000
Harold Nicholas, the younger member of the dazzling tap-dancing Nicholas Brothers, died yesterday in Manhattan. He was 79 and lived in New York City….
The careers of Mr. Nicholas and his brother, Fayard, began in their childhood. Harold Nicholas continued to perform as a singer and raconteur into the 1990’s as a guest artist with companies including Lynn Dally’s Jazz Tap Ensemble, with which the brothers were to have appeared in a tribute this week in Los Angeles.
They danced in vaudeville, on Broadway, in nightclubs and on television. But it was their dancing in movie musicals that brought them the most acclaim and made them internationally famous.
Harold Nicholas appeared in more than 50 films, from 1932 to 1989, including ”The Big Broadcast of 1936” (1935), ”Down Argentine Way” (1940), ”Tin Pan Alley” (1940), ”Sun Valley Serenade” (1941) and ”Stormy Weather” (1943). The brothers’ gifts were epitomized in ”Stormy Weather,” an all-black 20th Century Fox musical, in which they seemed to explode on the screen in their trademark fast footwork and astonishing leaps and splits. Their ”Jumpin’ Jive” dance in that film, Fred Astaire told them, was the greatest movie musical number he had ever seen.
Credit Type | Production | Season |
---|---|---|
Actor | Waltz of the Stork Boogie | 1984-85 Season |