Robert Alton

Former chorus boy and featured dancer who went on to stage the musical numbers for Cole Porter's "Anything Goes" (1934) and "Panama Hattie" (1940) and almost all of Rodgers and Hart's post-Balanchine Broadway shows including "Pal Joey" (1940). Under long-term contract to MGM from the 1940s, while continuing to choreograph occasional Broadway musicals, Alton was a versatile dance director who did his finest work--such as the Fred Astaire/Judy Garland routines in "Easter Parade" (1948)--for individuals rather than large groups.