Michael J.R. Kirby (February 20, 1925 – May 25, 2002 in Laguna Niguel, CA) was a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

figure skater who competed in men's singles, and was also (for a short while) an

actor An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek term is (), li ...

. Later was an ice rink owner and skating coach.

Childhood and youth

As a child he suffered from

rheumatic fever Rheumatic fever (RF) is an inflammatory disease that can involve the heart, joints, skin, and brain. The disease typically develops two to four weeks after a streptococcal throat infection. Signs and symptoms include fever, multiple painful jo ...

and started ice-skating for physical therapy. When he turned 16, he became a Canadian national champion. He won the silver medal at the 1941 North American Championships and then won the gold medal at the

Canadian Figure Skating Championships The Canadian Figure Skating Championships (french: Championnats du Canada de patinage artistique) is a figure skating competition held annually to crown the national champions of Canada. It is organized by Skate Canada, the nation's figure skating ...

in 1942 before turning professional and joining the

Ice Follies The Ice Follies, formerly known as the Shipstads & Johnson Ice Follies, is a touring ice show featuring elaborate production numbers, similar in concept to Ice Capades. It was founded in 1936 by Eddie and Roy Shipstad, and Oscar Johnson. In later ...

in 1943. He also competed in fours with Therese McCarthy,

Virginia Wilson Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern United States, Southeastern regions of the United States, between the East Coast of the United Stat ...

, and Donald Gilchrist in 1941 and 1942.

Career

Acting

In the later 1940s, Kirby moved 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, ...

and signed a contract with

MGM Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded on April 17, 1924 a ...

. He appeared in several movies including ''

Keep Your Powder Dry ''Keep Your Powder Dry'' is a 1945 American drama film directed by Edward Buzzell and starring Lana Turner, Susan Peters, and Laraine Day. Its plot follows three women who join the Women's Army Corps during World War II. The screenplay was writ ...

'' (1945) with

Lana Turner Lana Turner ( ; born Julia Jean Turner; February 8, 1921June 29, 1995) was an American actress. Over the course of her nearly 50-year career, she achieved fame as both a pin-up model and a film actress, as well as for her highly publicized per ...

, and '' Summer Holiday'' (filmed in 1946, released in 1948) as

Mickey Rooney Mickey Rooney (born Joseph Yule Jr.; other pseudonym Mickey Maguire; September 23, 1920 – April 6, 2014) was an American actor. In a career spanning nine decades, he appeared in more than 300 films and was among the last surviving stars of the ...

's older brother. Kirby was skating in a West Los Angeles ice rink in 1947 when the manager asked him to skate with the rink's owner, Sonja Henie. He then skated with her, and she asked him to work with her in her film The Countess of Monte Crisco (1948). He also joined Sonja's Hollywood Ice Review, which went to Europe and England. He is quoted as saying "Skating, like swimming and languages, is best learned early," in a 1954 newspaper article.

Skating

Kirby relocated to

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

in the 1948 from

Newport Beach Newport Beach is a coastal city in South Orange County, California. Newport Beach is known for swimming and sandy beaches. Newport Harbor once supported maritime industries however today, it is used mostly for recreation. Balboa Island, Newport ...

and established a chain of instructional ice skating rinks. He opened his first ice skating studio in River Forest, in a former garage near Lake Street and Harlem Avenue. As a coach, his pupils included

Ronnie Robertson Ronald Frederick "Ronnie" Robertson (September 25, 1937 – February 4, 2000) was an American figure skater who was best known for his spinning ability. He won the silver medal at the 1956 Winter Olympics, became one of the youngest male fig ...

(who he also

outed Outing is the act of disclosing an LGBT person's sexual orientation or gender identity without that person's consent. It is often done for political reasons, either to instrumentalize homophobia in order to discredit political opponents or to com ...

in a book ''Figure Skating to Fancy Skating'', ) and

Dick Button Richard Totten Button (born July 18, 1929) is an American former figure skater and skating analyst. He is a two-time Olympic champion (1948, 1952) and five-time consecutive World champion (1948–1952). He is also the only non-European man to ha ...

. In 1959, he was a founder of the Ice Rink Section, Illinois Recreation Association (which later became the

Ice Skating Institute The Ice Skating Institute (formerly the Ice Skating Institute of America) is a trade association for ice rinks, and also an international governing body for recreational figure skating. It was founded in 1959 to proliferate the building of permanen ...

). He was the organization's first president. In 1962, he helped

Eunice Kennedy Shriver Eunice Mary Kennedy Shriver (July 10, 1921 – August 11, 2009) was an American philanthropist and a member of the Kennedy family. She was the founder of the Special Olympics, a sports organization for persons with physical and intellectual disa ...

with the

Special Olympics Special Olympics is the world's largest sports organization for children and adults with intellectual disabilities and physical disabilities, providing year-round training and activities to 5 million participants and Unified Sports partners in 1 ...

. Kirby left Chicago about 1972 to help

Ice Capades The Ice Capades were traveling entertainment shows featuring theatrical ice skating performances. Shows often featured former Winter Olympic Games, Olympic and United States Figure Skating Championships, US National Champion figure skating, figur ...

build up to 40 rinks around the world, including one in

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the A ...

. In 1975, due to the downturn in ice-skating, most of Kirby's ice studios closed. Later in life he was an ice-skating consultant and then the author of a biography on Sonja Henie. "Figure Skating to Fancy Skating-Memoirs of the Life of Sonja Henie".

Personal life

Kirby married figure skater

Norah McCarthy Norah McCarthy was a Canadian figure skater who competed in single skating winning the 1940 national title, and pair skating. She competed in pairs first with Ralph McCreath, winning the 1939 and 1940 national titles, and later with Sandy McKech ...

in 1944. They had eight children, (4 sons; David, Michael, Christopher and Thomas; three daughters, Tricia Shafer, Ann Forster and Catherine Tanner ) and the union lasted 57 years, until his death in 2002 of renal failure, in his home at Orange County, Calif.

Results

Men's singles

Fours

(with McCarthy, Wilson, and Gilchrist)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kirby, Michael 1925 births 2002 deaths Canadian male single skaters 20th-century Canadian people 21st-century Canadian people