Charles Coles

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Charles "Honi" Coles (born April 2, 1911 in Philadelphia , Pennsylvania , † November 12, 1992 in New York City , New York ) was an African-American tap dancer , choreographer and actor .

Life

Charles "Honi" Coles was born to George and Isabel Coles in Philadelphia, where he learned to dance on the street at an early age. In 1931 he made his debut at the Lafayette Theater in New York. In the mid-1930s he danced at the Apollo Theater , toured the clubs with Count Basie and Duke Ellington . In 1940 Coles danced as a soloist with the Cab Calloways Orchestra, where he also met Cholly Atkins . Together they formed the tap dance duo Coles & Atkins .

In the early 1950s, the time of the big big bands came to an end and they performed with their show on Broadway . In the following years, together with Agnes de Mille, they revolutionized music theater with their idiosyncratic choreographies . Coles also worked as a dance instructor in later years and earned recognition as a character actor. For his appearance in the stocky Broadway musical My One and Only with the music of George Gershwin , Coles received the Tony Award and the Drama Desk Award in 1983 . From the late 1970s onwards, Coles came to a number of film and television roles, and he is best known to German-speaking audiences for his supporting role as band leader and dancer Tito Suarez in the dance film Dirty Dancing (1987).

In 1944 Charles "Honi" Coles married the Broadway dancer Marion Evelyn Edwards and they had two children. Coles died on November 12, 1992 of complications from cancer and was buried in the Beth Olom Cemetery in Queens .

Filmography (selection)

Awards

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Coles, Charles
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Coles, Honi (nicknames)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American dancer and choreographer
DATE OF BIRTH April 2, 1911
PLACE OF BIRTH Philadelphia , Pennsylvania , United States
DATE OF DEATH November 12, 1992
Place of death New York City , New York , United States