Gillian Lynne

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Dame Gillian Lynne (born Gillian Barbara Pyrke; 20 February 1926 – 1 July 2018) was an English dancer, choreographer, actress, and director who helped shape many Broadway and West End musicals. She is best known for choreographing and directing Cats and The Phantom of the Opera.

She grew up in Bromley, Kent. A doctor noticed her natural talent for dancing, and she joined Sadler’s Wells Ballet during World War II. She quickly rose to fame as a dramatic ballerina, performing iconic roles in works like Checkmate and Giselle. After leaving Sadler’s Wells in 1951, she became a star dancer in London’s West End and also acted on screen and on early television.

Lynne later built a long career as a creator and director of dance. She worked with major companies such as the Royal Opera House, Royal Shakespeare Company, and English National Opera, and she did many West End and Broadway productions. Notable projects include Love on the Dole (1970), The Fool on the Hill (1975) for The Australian Ballet on TV, The Secret Garden (RSC and West End, 2000–2001), Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (2002, London and Broadway), and the 25th Anniversary Phantom of the Opera at the Royal Albert Hall (2011). She also contributed to The Muppet Show and won a BAFTA in 1987 for A Simple Man.

Gillian Lynne published an autobiography, A Dancer in Wartime, in 2011. She married Patrick Back in 1949 and later Peter Land in 1980. She received many honours, including CBE in 1997 and DBE in 2014, and won or was nominated for numerous awards throughout her career. In 2018, the New London Theatre was renamed the Gillian Lynne Theatre, making her the first non-royal woman to have a West End theatre named after her. She died in London in 2018 at the age of 92 from pneumonia, leaving a lasting legacy in dance and musical theatre.