Carol Haney

Carol Haney, born Carolyn Haney on December 24, 1924, in New Bedford, Massachusetts, was an American dancer, actress, and choreographer whose Broadway career spanned from 1954 to 1959. She was the daughter of Norman Vincent Haney, a bank teller, and his Danish-born wife, Ellen Haney, and grew up alongside an older sister, Miriam Woodcock. Haney began dancing at age five and, while still a teenager, opened her own dancing school. Following high school, she left New Bedford for Hollywood, where she took on bit parts in films before dancer and choreographer Jack Cole noticed her talent, bringing her on as his dance partner and assistant between 1946 and 1948.

In 1949, Gene Kelly hired Haney as his assistant choreographer at M-G-M, a position in which she contributed to some of the most celebrated musical films of the era. Her work alongside Kelly included On the Town (1949), Summer Stock (1950), An American in Paris (1951), Singin' in the Rain (1952), and Invitation to the Dance (1956). Serving as Kelly's Dance Captain, Haney worked closely with his partners, identifying their strengths and building choreography around them. Kelly sought to raise her on-screen profile, including pushing for her inclusion in the "Gotta Dance" sequence in Singin' in the Rain, but studio executives repeatedly overruled him. She also danced with Bob Fosse in the 1953 film adaptation of Kiss Me, Kate.

When Fosse received his first Broadway choreography assignment on The Pajama Game in 1954, he recommended Haney for a small dancing role. Director George Abbott was so struck by her abilities that he merged her part with a larger one, creating the character of Gladys Hotchkiss and building two specialty numbers around her: "Steam Heat" and "Hernando's Hideaway." The role brought Haney immediate Broadway recognition, earning her the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical in 1955, a Theatre World Award in 1954, and two Donaldson Awards. The production also had an unintended consequence for Haney's understudy, Shirley MacLaine. About a month into the run, in May 1954, Haney injured her ankle during a Wednesday matinee, and MacLaine stepped in. Hollywood producer Hal Wallis, who had come specifically to see Haney, instead witnessed MacLaine's performance and signed her to a contract that launched her film career. Haney later recreated her role as Gladys in the 1957 film version of The Pajama Game, though she was again passed over when the stage production of A Loss of Roses, in which she played the role of Lila opposite Warren Beatty, was adapted for film.

Following the success of The Pajama Game, Haney appeared in additional productions, including the touring Ziegfeld Follies of 1956, but developed a paralyzing stage fright that curtailed her performing work. She maintained a television presence, appearing in May 1958 alongside Dick Van Dyke as a guest on The Polly Bergen Show on NBC, as well as on game programs such as What's My Line. She also took on the dramatic role of Lila in William Inge's A Loss of Roses on Broadway, sharing the stage with Warren Beatty, who was, in a notable coincidence, Shirley MacLaine's brother.

Haney increasingly directed her energies toward choreography for Broadway productions. Her credits in that capacity included Flower Drum Song (1958), directed by Gene Kelly, Bravo Giovanni (1962), She Loves Me (1963), and Funny Girl (1964). The last of these opened six weeks before her death. Her choreographic work earned her three Tony Award nominations for Best Choreography, for Flower Drum Song, Bravo Giovanni, and Funny Girl, the final nomination coming posthumously. The American Dance Machine (1978) later preserved her television choreography.

In her personal life, Haney was married twice, first to Eugene Dorian Johnson from 1945 to 1953, and then to Broadway actor and television host Larry Blyden from 1955 to 1962. She and Blyden had two children, Joshua, born in 1957, and Ellen, born in 1960. Haney choreographed Blyden in Flower Drum Song during their marriage. The couple lived in the historic Achenbach House in Saddle River, New Jersey, a property they believed to be haunted by the spirit of its original builder. Carol Haney died in Saddle River on May 10, 1964, at the age of 39, from pneumonia complicated by diabetes and alcoholism, exactly ten years after the month she had injured her ankle and been replaced by MacLaine in The Pajama Game.