April Olrich

April Olrich, born Edith April Oelrichs on 17 July 1931 in Zanzibar — now part of Tanzania — was an English ballerina and actress who built a career spanning classical ballet, stage, film, and television. She died on 15 April 2014 in London at the age of 82.

Olrich's early years took her across several countries, as her father oversaw operations for the Eastern Telegraph Company in Zanzibar, and the family also lived in the Seychelles and Argentina. At thirteen, while in Buenos Aires, she joined Colonel Wassily de Basil's Original Ballet Russe, performing with the company throughout South America and in New York alongside George Balanchine. In 1949 she became a member of The Sadler's Wells Ballet, which would later become the Royal Ballet, under the direction of Ninette de Valois. During her five years with the company, from 1949 to 1954, she danced in an extensive repertoire that included Swan Lake, Giselle, The Sleeping Beauty, Coppélia, Les Sylphides, Cinderella, Façade, Checkmate, Don Juan, Daphnis and Chloe, Ballet Imperial, Homage to the Queen, and numerous other works.

Following her ballet career, Olrich transitioned to broader stage work in London. She appeared in Pay the Piper from 1954 to 1955, The Balcony and Honeymoon both in 1957, and the musical The Boys from Syracuse in 1963. She then joined the South African folk revue Wait a Minim!, performing in it from 1964 to 1966 before accompanying the production to Broadway, where it ran from 1966 to 1967. For her work in that production, Olrich received the Whitbread Anglo-American Theatre Award for Outstanding Musical Performance. It was during the Broadway run that she met her future husband, English actor Nigel Pegram, her co-star in the show; the two married in 1968 atop Coit Tower in San Francisco.

Olrich also maintained a substantial film career. Her screen credits include Women without Men (1956), Battle of the River Plate (1957), Kill Me Tomorrow (1957), Room at the Top (1959), Deadly Record (1959), It's All Over Town (1964), The Skull (1965), and Supergirl (1984), among others. She is particularly associated with the role of Madame Petrovna, the female lead opposite Morecambe and Wise, in The Intelligence Men (1966). On British television she appeared in a range of dramatic and comedy productions, including an episode of The Avengers in 1963, the series Fresh Fields in 1985, She-Wolf of London in 1990, and the game-show panel series Whodunnit? in 1976.

In her memory, the Royal Ballet School presents the annual April Olrich Award for Dynamic Performance.