James Mitchell (February , â€" January , ) was an American actor and
dancer. Although he is best known to television audiences as Palmer
Cortlandt on the soap opera All My Children (â€"), theatre and dance
historians remember him as one of Agnes de Mille's leading dancers.
Mitchell's skill at combining dance and acting was considered
something of a novelty; in , the critic Olga Maynard singled him out
as "an important example of the new dancer-actor-singer in American
ballet", pointing to his interpretive abilities and "masculine"
technique.Mitchell was born on Leap Day, in Sacramento, California.
His parents emigrated from England to Northern California, where they
operated a fruit farm in Turlock. In , Mitchell's mother, Edith, left
his father and returned to England with Mitchell's brother and sister;
she and Mitchell had no further contact. Unable to run a farm while
single-handedly raising his remaining son, Mitchell's father fostered
him out for several years to vaudevillians Gene and Katherine
King.[citation needed]After Mitchell's mother died, however, his
father remarried and brought both of his sons, but not his daughter,
back to Turlock. At age seventeen, Mitchell left Turlock for Los
Angeles, where he remained close to the Kings.While studying drama at
Los Angeles City College, Mitchell was introduced to modern dance at
the school of the famed teacher and choreographer, Lester Horton.
After receiving his associate degree, he joined Horton's company,
where he remained for nearly four years. While working with Horton, he
became a close friend of dancer Bella Lewitzky; in the s, he became
President of the Board of Directors of her Dance Foundation, and
afterwards remained a "major longtime […] supporter" of hers. In ,
Horton took Mitchell to New York with him to form a new dance company,
but the venture abruptly collapsed.
dancer. Although he is best known to television audiences as Palmer
Cortlandt on the soap opera All My Children (â€"), theatre and dance
historians remember him as one of Agnes de Mille's leading dancers.
Mitchell's skill at combining dance and acting was considered
something of a novelty; in , the critic Olga Maynard singled him out
as "an important example of the new dancer-actor-singer in American
ballet", pointing to his interpretive abilities and "masculine"
technique.Mitchell was born on Leap Day, in Sacramento, California.
His parents emigrated from England to Northern California, where they
operated a fruit farm in Turlock. In , Mitchell's mother, Edith, left
his father and returned to England with Mitchell's brother and sister;
she and Mitchell had no further contact. Unable to run a farm while
single-handedly raising his remaining son, Mitchell's father fostered
him out for several years to vaudevillians Gene and Katherine
King.[citation needed]After Mitchell's mother died, however, his
father remarried and brought both of his sons, but not his daughter,
back to Turlock. At age seventeen, Mitchell left Turlock for Los
Angeles, where he remained close to the Kings.While studying drama at
Los Angeles City College, Mitchell was introduced to modern dance at
the school of the famed teacher and choreographer, Lester Horton.
After receiving his associate degree, he joined Horton's company,
where he remained for nearly four years. While working with Horton, he
became a close friend of dancer Bella Lewitzky; in the s, he became
President of the Board of Directors of her Dance Foundation, and
afterwards remained a "major longtime […] supporter" of hers. In ,
Horton took Mitchell to New York with him to form a new dance company,
but the venture abruptly collapsed.
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