Darcel Leonard-Wynne (born June 13, 1951, in

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...

), sometimes credited as simply Darcel, is an African-American

dance Dance is a performing art form consisting of sequences of movement, either improvised or purposefully selected. This movement has aesthetic and often symbolic value. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoir ...

choreographer Choreography is the art or practice of designing sequences of movements of physical bodies (or their depictions) in which motion or form or both are specified. ''Choreography'' may also refer to the design itself. A choreographer is one who cr ...

author An author is the writer of a book, article, play, mostly written work. A broader definition of the word "author" states: "''An author is "the person who originated or gave existence to anything" and whose authorship determines responsibility f ...

and producer, best known for heading the "Solid Gold Dancers" on the syndicated 1980s

music Music is generally defined as the art of arranging sound to create some combination of form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise expressive content. Exact definitions of music vary considerably around the world, though it is an aspect ...

series '' Solid Gold''.

Early life and career

Darcel was born into a steelworking family. She started dancing at the age of 3 and then continued her dancing lessons in Los Angeles when her family moved there in the 1960s. There, she performed at first at a local variety show, and later joined ''

Carol Burnett Show ''The Carol Burnett Show'' is an American variety/sketch comedy television show that originally ran on CBS from September 11, 1967, to March 29, 1978, for 279 episodes, and again with nine episodes in fall 1991. It starred Carol Burnett, Harvey ...

'' and ''

Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In ''Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In'' (often simply referred to as ''Laugh-In'') is an American sketch comedy television program that ran for 140 episodes from January 22, 1968, to March 12, 1973, on the NBC television network, hosted by comedians Da ...

''. Darcel danced and toured with

The Temptations The Temptations are an American vocal group from Detroit, Michigan, who released a series of successful singles and albums with Motown Records during the 1960s and 1970s. The group's work with producer Norman Whitfield, beginning with the Top ...

as well as with

Pearl Bailey Pearl Mae Bailey (March 29, 1918 – August 17, 1990) was an American actress, singer and author. After appearing in vaudeville, she made her Broadway debut in '' St. Louis Woman'' in 1946. She received a Special Tony Award for the title role i ...

in '' Hello, Dolly!''. As her popularity grew, so did her exposure in the entertainment world and she soon appeared in the films '' Xanadu'', ''

Funny Lady ''Funny Lady'' is a 1975 American biographical musical comedy-drama film and the sequel to the 1968 film '' Funny Girl''. The film stars Barbra Streisand, James Caan, Omar Sharif, Roddy McDowall and Ben Vereen. Herbert Ross, who helmed the musi ...

'', ''

Jesus Christ Superstar ''Jesus Christ Superstar'' is a sung-through rock opera with music by Andrew Lloyd Webber and lyrics by Tim Rice. Loosely based on the Gospels' accounts of the Passion, the work interprets the psychology of Jesus and other characters, with ...

'', '' Night Shift'', '' The Girl, the Gold Watch & Dynamite'', ''

The Last Married Couple in America ''The Last Married Couple in America'' is a 1980 comedy film released in the US. It was directed by Gilbert Cates, whose most successful film ''Oh, God! Book II'', was released in the same year. The film starred George Segal and Natalie Wood a ...

'', ''

Scrooged ''Scrooged'' is a 1988 American Christmas fantasy comedy film directed by Richard Donner and written by Mitch Glazer and Michael O'Donoghue. Based on the 1843 novella '' A Christmas Carol'' by Charles Dickens, ''Scrooged'' is a modern retelling ...

'', '' Funny Girl''. Darcel was also featured in the

Kool & the Gang Kool & the Gang is an American R&B/soul/funk band formed in Jersey City, New Jersey, in 1964 by brothers Robert "Kool" Bell and Ronald Bell, with Dennis "Dee Tee" Thomas, Robert "Spike" Mickens, Charles Smith, George Brown, and Ricky West. T ...

video for their single "Fresh". Some of Darcel’s television credits include ''The

Sammy Davis Jr. Samuel George Davis Jr. (December 8, 1925 – May 16, 1990) was an American singer, dancer, actor, comedian, film producer and television director. At age three, Davis began his career in vaudeville with his father Sammy Davis Sr. and the ...

Show'', ''NBC Follies'', ''

Redd Foxx John Elroy Sanford (December 9, 1922 – October 11, 1991), better known by his stage name Redd Foxx, was an American stand-up comedian and actor. Foxx gained success with his raunchy nightclub act before and during the civil rights movement. ...

Show'', ''

Leslie Uggams Leslie Marian Uggams (born May 25, 1943) is an American actress and singer. Beginning her career as a child in the early 1950s, Uggams is recognized for portraying Kizzy Reynolds in the television miniseries ''Roots'' (1977), earning Golden Glob ...

Show'', ''

The Pearl Bailey Show ''The Pearl Bailey Show'' is an American variety show that aired on American Broadcasting Company, ABC Saturdays 8:30–9:30 P.M. from January 1971 to May 1971. A Cooper-Finkel Company production in association with the Pearl Bailey Production Cor ...

'', ''

The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour ''The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour'' was an American variety show that starred American pop singers Sonny Bono and Cher, who were married to each other at the time. The show ran on CBS in the United States, and premiered in August 1971. The show was ...

''.

Solid Gold

Darcel made her first national appearance on the hit television series '' Solid Gold.'' Darcel's first appearance on ''Solid Gold'' was during the two-hour ''Solid Gold '79''., Darcel was one of eight dancers who appeared on the special. Due to the high ratings of ''Solid Gold '79'', the show became a weekly series in late summer 1980. Darcel along with three other dancers (Alexander Cole, Deborah Jenssen, and Paula Beyers) who were on ''Solid Gold '79'' joined ''Solid Gold'' once the weekly series started. Another dancer, Gayle Crofoot who was also in ''Solid Gold '79'', appeared on ''Solid Gold'' in late 1982. Darcel appeared on the series first four seasons from 1980 to 1984, after which she left the show for a traveling Christian ministry with her husband,

Glenn Leonard Glenn Carl Leonard (born June 11, 1947 in Washington, D.C.) is an American R&B and soul singer best remembered for serving as the first tenor/secondary lead singer of the Motown quintet The Temptations from 1975 to 1983, and for the last 15 ye ...

of the R&B soul group

. During the second season of ''Solid Gold'' Darcel received more exposure than the other seven dancers as she was featured dancing solo once or twice during the Top 10 countdown. She returned to Solid Gold during the later part of Season 5 in the summer of 1985. In Season 6 her role on the series enlarged from principal dancer to part-time master of ceremonies, in which she had many speaking parts, including regularly announcing the Top 10 countdown. (Darcel was the first celebrity to do

David Letterman David Michael Letterman (born April 12, 1947) is an American television host, comedian, writer and producer. He hosted late night television talk shows for 33 years, beginning with the February 1, 1982 debut of ''Late Night with David Letterman' ...

’s very popular Top 10 countdown on the ''

Late Show with David Letterman The ''Late Show with David Letterman'' is an American late-night talk show hosted by David Letterman on CBS, the first iteration of the The Late Show (franchise), ''Late Show'' franchise. The show debuted on August 30, 1993, and was produced by ...

.'')

Personal life

She is married to

, formerly of

. She has three grown children. Darcel lives in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

, where she teaches dance and choreography to mature women; she's coined as her "Seasoned Beauties." She is also active on social media though Facebook and Instagram. Darcel has written an

autobiography An autobiography, sometimes informally called an autobio, is a self-written account of one's own life. It is a form of biography. Definition The word "autobiography" was first used deprecatingly by William Taylor in 1797 in the English peri ...

: ''Darcel: Solid Gold''. The book reveals a gamut of topics in the dancers life: her rise to fame, trials and tribulations of fame, marriage and abuse, behind the scenes of ''Solid'' Gold; her struggle to establish dance as a ministry in the black church and her return to

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood, ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Leonard Wynne, Darcel 1951 births Living people Dancers from Pennsylvania African-American female dancers African-American television personalities Television personalities from Pittsburgh 21st-century African-American people 21st-century African-American women 20th-century African-American people 20th-century African-American women