Marc Platt(1913-2014)
- Actor
- Additional Crew
- Soundtrack
One of Hollywood's more high-flying dancers on film, dimpled, robust,
fair-haired Marc Platt provided fancy footwork to a handful of "Golden
Era" musicals but truly impressed in one vigorous 1950s classic.
Born to a musical family on December 2, 1913 in Pasadena, California as
Marcel Emile Gaston LePlat, he was the only child of a French-born
concert violinist and a soprano singer. After years on the road, the
family finally settled in Seattle, Washington. Following his father's
death, his mother found a job at the Mary Ann Wells' dancing school
while young Marc earned his keep running errands at the dance school.
He eventually became a dance student at the school and trained with
Wells for eight years who saw great potential in Marc.
It was Wells who arranged an audition for Marc with the Ballet Russe de
Monte Carlo when the touring company arrived in Seattle. The artistic
director Léonide Massine accepted him at
$150 a week and changed his name to Marc Platoff in order to maintain
the deception that the company was Russian. A highlight was his dancing
as the Spirit of Creation in Massine's legendary piece "Seventh
Symphony". Platt also choreographed during his time there, one piece
being Ghost Town (1939), which was set to music by
Richard Rodgers. While there he
met and married (in 1942) dancer Eleanor Marra. They had one son before
divorcing in 1947. Ted Le Plat, born in
1944, became a musician as well as a daytime soap and prime-time TV
actor.
Anxious to try New York, Marc left the ballet company in 1942 and moved
to the Big Apple where he changed his marquee name to the more
Americanized "Marc Platt" and pursued musical parts. Following minor
roles in the short run musicals "The Lady Comes Across" (January, 1942)
with Joe E. Lewis,
Mischa Auer and
Gower Champion and "Beat the Band"
(October-December, 1942) starring
Joan Caulfield, Marc and
Kathryn Sergava found themselves cast in
a landmark musical, the Rodgers and Hammerstein rural classic
"Oklahoma!" Choreographer Agnes de Mille
showcased them in the ground-breaking extended dream sequence roles of
(Dream) Curly and (Dream) Laurey. Platt stayed with the show for a year
but finally left after Columbia Pictures signed him to a film contract.
Aside from a couple of short musical films, he made his movie feature
debut with a featured role as Tommy in
Tonight and Every Night (1945)
starring Rita Hayworth. From there he
appeared in the Sid Caesar vehicle
Tars and Spars (1946) and back
with Rita Hayworth in
Down to Earth (1947). Columbia
tried Marc out as a leading man in one of their second-string musicals
When a Girl's Beautiful (1947)
opposite Adele Jergens and
Patricia Barry but did not make a
great impression. Featured again in the non-musical adventure
The Swordsman (1948) starring
Ellen Drew and
Larry Parks and the Italian drama
Addio Mimí! (1949) based on Puccini's "La Boheme," Marc's film career
dissipated.
After appearing on occasional TV variety shows such as "The Ed Sullivan
Show" and "The Colgate Comedy Hour" and following a single return to
Broadway in the musical "Maggie" (1953, Platt returned to film again
after a five-year absence but when he finally did, he made a superb
impression as one of Howard Keel's uncouth
but vigorously agile woodsman brothers (Daniel) in MGM's
Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954).
The film still stands as one of the most impressive dancing pieces of
the "Golden Age" of musicals. He followed this with a minor dancing
role (it was James Mitchell who
played Dream Curly here) in the film version of
Oklahoma! (1955).
When the musical film lost favor in the late 1950's, Marc finished off
the decade focusing on straight dramatic roles on TV with roles in such
rugged series as "Sky King," "Wyatt Earp" and "Dante". By the 1960s
Marc had taken off his dance shoes and turned director of the ballet
company at New York's Radio City Music Hall. He and his second wife,
Jean Goodall, whom he married back in 1951 and had two children (Donna,
Michael), also ran a dance studio of their own. Following this they
left New York and moved to Fort Myers, Florida where they set up a new
dance school.
Marc moved to Northern California to be near family following his
wife's death in 1994 and occasionally appeared at the Marin Dance
Theatre in San Rafael. One of his last performances was a non-dancing
part in "Sophie and the Enchanted Toyshop" at age 89. In 2000, Marc was
presented with the Nijinsky Award at the Ballets Russe's Reunion. He
appeared in the 2005 documentary
Ballets Russes (2005). Platt died
at the age of 100 at a hospice in San Rafael from complications of
pneumonia. He was survived by his three children.
fair-haired Marc Platt provided fancy footwork to a handful of "Golden
Era" musicals but truly impressed in one vigorous 1950s classic.
Born to a musical family on December 2, 1913 in Pasadena, California as
Marcel Emile Gaston LePlat, he was the only child of a French-born
concert violinist and a soprano singer. After years on the road, the
family finally settled in Seattle, Washington. Following his father's
death, his mother found a job at the Mary Ann Wells' dancing school
while young Marc earned his keep running errands at the dance school.
He eventually became a dance student at the school and trained with
Wells for eight years who saw great potential in Marc.
It was Wells who arranged an audition for Marc with the Ballet Russe de
Monte Carlo when the touring company arrived in Seattle. The artistic
director Léonide Massine accepted him at
$150 a week and changed his name to Marc Platoff in order to maintain
the deception that the company was Russian. A highlight was his dancing
as the Spirit of Creation in Massine's legendary piece "Seventh
Symphony". Platt also choreographed during his time there, one piece
being Ghost Town (1939), which was set to music by
Richard Rodgers. While there he
met and married (in 1942) dancer Eleanor Marra. They had one son before
divorcing in 1947. Ted Le Plat, born in
1944, became a musician as well as a daytime soap and prime-time TV
actor.
Anxious to try New York, Marc left the ballet company in 1942 and moved
to the Big Apple where he changed his marquee name to the more
Americanized "Marc Platt" and pursued musical parts. Following minor
roles in the short run musicals "The Lady Comes Across" (January, 1942)
with Joe E. Lewis,
Mischa Auer and
Gower Champion and "Beat the Band"
(October-December, 1942) starring
Joan Caulfield, Marc and
Kathryn Sergava found themselves cast in
a landmark musical, the Rodgers and Hammerstein rural classic
"Oklahoma!" Choreographer Agnes de Mille
showcased them in the ground-breaking extended dream sequence roles of
(Dream) Curly and (Dream) Laurey. Platt stayed with the show for a year
but finally left after Columbia Pictures signed him to a film contract.
Aside from a couple of short musical films, he made his movie feature
debut with a featured role as Tommy in
Tonight and Every Night (1945)
starring Rita Hayworth. From there he
appeared in the Sid Caesar vehicle
Tars and Spars (1946) and back
with Rita Hayworth in
Down to Earth (1947). Columbia
tried Marc out as a leading man in one of their second-string musicals
When a Girl's Beautiful (1947)
opposite Adele Jergens and
Patricia Barry but did not make a
great impression. Featured again in the non-musical adventure
The Swordsman (1948) starring
Ellen Drew and
Larry Parks and the Italian drama
Addio Mimí! (1949) based on Puccini's "La Boheme," Marc's film career
dissipated.
After appearing on occasional TV variety shows such as "The Ed Sullivan
Show" and "The Colgate Comedy Hour" and following a single return to
Broadway in the musical "Maggie" (1953, Platt returned to film again
after a five-year absence but when he finally did, he made a superb
impression as one of Howard Keel's uncouth
but vigorously agile woodsman brothers (Daniel) in MGM's
Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954).
The film still stands as one of the most impressive dancing pieces of
the "Golden Age" of musicals. He followed this with a minor dancing
role (it was James Mitchell who
played Dream Curly here) in the film version of
Oklahoma! (1955).
When the musical film lost favor in the late 1950's, Marc finished off
the decade focusing on straight dramatic roles on TV with roles in such
rugged series as "Sky King," "Wyatt Earp" and "Dante". By the 1960s
Marc had taken off his dance shoes and turned director of the ballet
company at New York's Radio City Music Hall. He and his second wife,
Jean Goodall, whom he married back in 1951 and had two children (Donna,
Michael), also ran a dance studio of their own. Following this they
left New York and moved to Fort Myers, Florida where they set up a new
dance school.
Marc moved to Northern California to be near family following his
wife's death in 1994 and occasionally appeared at the Marin Dance
Theatre in San Rafael. One of his last performances was a non-dancing
part in "Sophie and the Enchanted Toyshop" at age 89. In 2000, Marc was
presented with the Nijinsky Award at the Ballets Russe's Reunion. He
appeared in the 2005 documentary
Ballets Russes (2005). Platt died
at the age of 100 at a hospice in San Rafael from complications of
pneumonia. He was survived by his three children.