Frederic Franklin

Frederic Franklin was born in Liverpool on June 13, 1914, and became one of the twentieth century's most durable carriers of classical ballet repertory. He began professional work in 1931 in Paris, performing in music-hall productions alongside Josephine Baker and Mistinguett before returning to Britain, where he danced in theatrical settings and with the Markova–Dolin organization. In 1938, Léonide Massine recruited him to the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo, where he rose to prominence as a principal dancer and, from 1944, as ballet master. Over his years with the company, Franklin danced more than forty-five leading roles created by choreographers including Massine, George Balanchine, Michel Fokine, Bronislava Nijinska, Frederick Ashton, Agnes de Mille, Ruth Page, and Valerie Bettis. He originated the Champion Roper in Agnes de Mille's *Rodeo* in 1942 and appeared in Balanchine's *Danses Concertantes*. His most celebrated partnership was with Alexandra Danilova; their stage work together lasted from the mid-1940s until her 1957 retirement, with documented appearances at Jacob's Pillow in 1946, 1948, and 1952. Their 1948 film of *Gaîté Parisienne* preserves their buoyant dramatic exchange and the attentive partnering that made them memorable.

When the Ballet Russe organization weakened in the 1950s, Franklin co-founded the Slavenska–Franklin Ballet with Mia Slavenska, which presented Valerie Bettis's ballet adaptation of *A Streetcar Named Desire*, with Franklin dancing Stanley. He then entered a second career in company leadership, co-directing the Washington Ballet and helping to found and direct the National Ballet of Washington. His work crossed major American institutions: he served as an adviser to Dance Theatre of Harlem, led Cincinnati Ballet, and staged repertory for companies across the country. His particular value lay in his embodied memory of twentieth-century ballets. In 2002, he reconstructed episodes from Frederick Ashton's 1939 *Devil's Holiday*, work that depended on dancers, coaches, designers, archives, and company resources alongside his own recollection.

Franklin remained active into his nineties, performing character and mime roles with American Ballet Theatre—including Friar Laurence in *Romeo and Juliet* and Madge in *La Sylphide*—while continuing to coach and tell the history of the repertory through interviews. He appeared in the 2005 documentary *Ballets Russes* and was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 2004. He died in New York on May 4, 2013, at ninety-eight.