Gower Champion
Actor
Biography
Gower Carlyle Champion (June 22, 1919 – August 25, 1980) was an American actor, theatre director, choreographer, and dancer.
Champion was born on June 22, 1919, in Geneva, Illinois, as the son of John W. Champion and Beatrice Carlisle. He was raised in Los Angeles, California, where he graduated from Fairfax High School. He studied dance from an early age and, at the age of fifteen, toured nightclubs with friend Jeanne Tyler billed as "Gower and Jeanne, America's Youngest Dance Team". In 1939, "Gower and Jeanne" danced to the music of Larry Clinton and his Orchestra in a Warner Brothers & Vitaphone film short-subject, "The Dipsy Doodler" (released in 1940).
Filmography
Show Boat
as Frank Schultz 1951
That's Entertainment, Part II
as (archive footage) 1976
Till the Clouds Roll By
as Dance Specialty 1946
Words and Music
as Specialty Dancer (uncredited) 1948
Give a Girl a Break
as Ted Sturgis 1953
Rhapsody in Blue
as Tap Dancer at Remick's (uncredited) 1945
Lovely to Look At
as Jerry Ralby 1952
Jupiter's Darling
as Varius 1955
Three for the Show
as Vernon Lowndes 1955
Everything I Have Is Yours
as Chuck Hubbard 1952
42nd Street: From Book to Screen to Stage
as Self (archive footage) 2006
Mr. Music
as Gower Champion 1950
The All-Star Christmas Show
as Self 1958