Isabel Mirrow Brown (June 9, 1928 – August 2014) was an American
ballerina
A ballet dancer ( it, ballerina fem.; ''ballerino'' masc.) is a person who practices the art of classical ballet. Both females and males can practice ballet; however, dancers have a strict hierarchy and strict gender roles. They rely on ye ...
. A
fictionalized version of her life was documented in the 1977 film ''
The Turning Point'', in which she was portrayed by
Shirley MacLaine, who was nominated for an
Academy Award
The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...
for her performance.
Personal life
She was born in New York City, United States, the daughter of Jewish-Russian immigrant parents Sonia and Alexander "Sasha" Mirrow (1893–1977).
She married dancer Kelly Kingman Brown (1928–1981) and had four children, dancers
Leslie Browne and Elizabeth, and sons Kelly Brown II, a film producer, and Ethan Brown, who was a soloist dancer with
ABT until 2004. Kelly Brown was from Mississippi and started dancing at a young age, his mother Sue was a dance instructor. He later moved to Chicago to train at the Stone-Camryn School of Ballet. He then moved to New York City to dance with ABT, where he met Isabel. At ABT he worked with
Agnes de Mille.
Her husband, Kelly Brown, also was a featured dancer in several Hollywood musical films, including ''
Seven Brides for Seven Brothers
''Seven Brides for Seven Brothers'' is a 1954 American musical film, directed by Stanley Donen, with music by Gene de Paul, lyrics by Johnny Mercer, and choreography by Michael Kidd. The screenplay, by Albert Hackett, Frances Goodrich, and Do ...
'', ''
Daddy Long Legs'', ''
The Girl Most Likely
''The Girl Most Likely'' (1958) is a musical and comedy film about a young woman who becomes engaged to three men at the same time. The film, a remake of ''Tom, Dick and Harry'' (1941), was directed by Mitchell Leisen, and stars Jane Powell, C ...
'', and ''
Oklahoma!
''Oklahoma!'' is the first musical written by the duo of Rodgers and Hammerstein. The musical is based on Lynn Riggs' 1931 play, ''Green Grow the Lilacs''. Set in farm country outside the town of Claremore, Indian Territory, in 1906, it tell ...
''. On Broadway he was the dance captain for ''
I Can Get It for You Wholesale
''I Can Get It for You Wholesale'' is a musical, produced by David Merrick, music and lyrics by Harold Rome, and book by Jerome Weidman, based on his 1937 novel of the same title. It marked the Broadway debut of 19-year-old Barbra Streisand ...
'' which starred
Barbra Streisand
Barbara Joan "Barbra" Streisand (; born April 24, 1942) is an American singer, actress and director. With a career spanning over six decades, she has achieved success in multiple fields of entertainment, and is among the few performers awar ...
. Nora Kaye, Arthur Laurents, and Herbert Ross also worked on that show and would later collaborate on ''
The Turning Point''.
In the 1960s after Kelly and Isabel had aged out of being principal dancers, they moved to
Phoenix, Arizona
Phoenix ( ; nv, Hoozdo; es, Fénix or , yuf-x-wal, Banyà:nyuwá) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Arizona, with 1,608,139 residents as of 2020. It is the fifth-most populous city in the United States, and the on ...
to operate a dance studio. When their daughters auditioned for
School of American Ballet in New York, Leslie was chosen, and her sister Elizabeth a year later. The move to Arizona caused a strain in the marriage when Isabel became homesick for her native New York. They divorced a year later and Isabel moved back to New York to watch over her daughters who had begun training there.
Career
Mirrow was a principal dancer with the
American Ballet Theatre in New York City from 1947 until 1953. Some of her peers she danced with during this time include
Svetlana Beriosova
Svetlana Nikolayevna Beriosova (russian: Светла́на Никола́евна Берёзова; 24 September 1932 – 10 November 1998), also spelled Beriozova or Beryozova, was a Lithuanian-British prima ballerina who danced with The Royal B ...
,
Tamara Toumanova
Tamara Toumanova ( ka, თამარა თუმანოვა; 2 March 1919 – 29 May 1996) was a Georgian-American prima ballerina and actress. A child of exiles in Paris after the Russian Revolution of 1917, she made her debut at the ag ...
, and
Irina Baronova
Irina Mikhailovna Baronova FRAD (; 13 March 1919 – 28 June 2008) was a Russian ballerina and actress who was one of the Baby Ballerinas of the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo, discovered by George Balanchine in Paris in the 1930s. She created ...
.
In 1945, she danced in the Broadway musical ''
The Day Before Spring
''The Day Before Spring'' is a musical with a book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner and music by Frederick Loewe.
Productions
The 1945 touring production closed in Chicago after three days due to a crippling coal strike. The show then opened at t ...
''. She later became a dance mentor for many aspiring dancers and worked with
Finis Jhung's Ballet Company.
''The Turning Point''
Mirrow was childhood friends with the ballerina
Nora Kaye
Nora Kaye-Ross (January 17, 1920 – February 28, 1987) was an American prima-ballerina known for her ability to perform dramatic roles. Called the ''Duse of Dance'' after the acclaimed actress Eleonora Duse, she also worked in films as a chore ...
. Their parents had immigrated from Russia to New York City at the same time and lived in the same brownstone apartment building. Kaye was later married to film director
Herbert Ross
Herbert David Ross (May 13, 1927 – October 9, 2001) was an American actor, choreographer, director and producer who worked predominantly in theater and film. He was nominated for two Academy Awards and a Tony Award.
He is known for directing ...
. Nora Kaye was the godmother of the Brown's eldest daughter Leslie, born in 1957.
In the 1970s, a script by
Arthur Laurents
Arthur Laurents (July 14, 1917 – May 5, 2011) was an American playwright, theatre director, film producer and screenwriter.
After writing scripts for radio shows after college and then training films for the U.S. Army during World War II ...
was developed based on the Brown Family. Shirley Maclaine was cast to play Isabel and originally, the dancer
Gelsey Kirkland
Gelsey Kirkland (born December 29, 1952) is an American ballerina. She received early ballet training at the School of American Ballet. Kirkland joined the New York City Ballet in 1968 at age 15, at the invitation of George Balanchine. She was ...
was cast to play Leslie. Kirkland dropped out of the film due to substance abuse problems, and Ross cast Leslie believing she would be able to portray a fictionalized version of herself in the film.
The film was directed by
Herbert Ross
Herbert David Ross (May 13, 1927 – October 9, 2001) was an American actor, choreographer, director and producer who worked predominantly in theater and film. He was nominated for two Academy Awards and a Tony Award.
He is known for directing ...
and produced by Ross and Kaye. Released in 1977, ''
The Turning Point'' was nominated for eleven
Academy Awards
The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...
, including Best Picture. Her daughter
Leslie Browne (at age 20) was nominated for the
Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress and
Shirley MacLaine was nominated for playing Leslie's mother. The family name was changed to "Rodgers" for the film. Her daughter
Leslie Browne had added an "e" to her name for her stage name, believing it sounded more feminine after being mistaken as male in a playbill.
Her other daughter, Elizabeth (Brown) Healy (born 1959), was portrayed in the film by
Lisa Lucas with her name changed to "Janina."
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Brown, Isabel Mirrow
1928 births
2014 deaths
American ballerinas
Prima ballerinas
Dancers from New York (state)
21st-century American women
20th-century American ballet dancers