Fayard Antonio Nicholas (October 20, 1914 – January 24, 2006) was an American choreographer, dancer and actor. He, along with his brother Harold, made up the Nicholas Brothers tap-dance duo who starred in the MGM musicals An All-Colored Vaudeville Show (1935), Stormy Weather (1943), The Pirate (1948), The Five Heartbeats (1991) and Hard Four (2007). Fayard along with his brother Harold also starred in the 20th Century-Fox musicals "Down Argentine Way" (1940), "Sun Valley Serenade" (1941), and "Orchestra Wives" (1942). Fayard Nicholas was a member of the Bahá'í Faith.Fayard was inducted into the National Museum of Dance C.V. Whitney Hall of Fame in 2001, along with his brother Harold Nicholas.
Kennedy Center Honors, Tony Award for Best Choreography, Grammy Hall of Fame
Movies
Hard Four, Night at the Golden Eagle, The Pirate, Orchestra Wives, Pie, Pie Blackbird, A Century of Black Cinema, Barber Shop Blues
Star Sign
Libra
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Quote
1
Our father said, 'When you're dancing, don't look at your feet, look at the audience. You're not entertaining yourself, you're entertaining the audience.'
2
One day at the Standard Theater in Philadelphia, I looked onstage and I thought, 'They're having fun up there; I'd like to do something like that.' We worked up an act called 'The Nicholas Kids,' and did it in the living room.
3
My brother and I used our whole bodies, our hands, our personalities and everything. We tried to make it classic. We called our type of dancing classical tap and we just hoped the audience liked it.
4
We can't do those routines any more; we don't want to, and I'll tell you why -- it hurts!
5
When we were doing routines, it was like a love affair.
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Fact
1
The Nicholas Brothers were inducted into the International Tap Dance Hall of Fame in 2002 (inaugural class).
2
Former brother-in-law of Dorothy Dandridge. His ex-wife, Geraldine Pate, was her best friend.
3
The brothers broke down racial barriers throughout their career. As child performers at Harlem's Cotton Club they were the only entertainers in the all African-American cast allowed to mingle with patrons.
Self-taught, Fayard learned how to dance watching vaudeville shows while their parents played in the orchestra pit. He then would teach the routines to his younger brother. Fayard was considered the gregarious one of the duo; Harold was more withdrawn and introspective.
6
Compliments followed them wherever they went. Dancer extraordinaire Fred Astaire once called The Nicholas Brothers' "Jumpin' Jive" dance sequence in the film Stormy Weather (1943) the greatest movie musical number he had ever seen. Famed choreographer George Balanchine called their acrobatic movement ballet, despite their lack of formal training. Tapper Gregory Hines once said that if a film were ever made about the Nicholas Brothers, the dance numbers would have to be computer-generated because nobody could duplicate them. Ballet star Mikhail Baryshnikov once called them the most amazing dancers he had ever seen in his life.
7
Fayard's two granddaughters call themselves the Nicholas Sisters and perform the brothers' old steps on the road.
8
Continued to tap dance and spoke frequently at dance festivals around the world until suffering a stroke in November of 2005.
9
Dancing for nine U.S. presidents throughout the course of their careers, the brothers were awarded Kennedy Center Honors in 1991.