Lucille Bremer

Lucille Bremer (February 21, 1917 – April 16, 1996) was an American actress, dancer, and former Rockette whose career spanned Broadway, nightclub performance, and Hollywood film. Born in Amsterdam, New York, she relocated to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where she trained in ballet from an early age. By age twelve she was dancing with the Philadelphia Opera Company.

Bremer moved to New York City and began performing in specialty dance acts, including a notable appearance at the 1939 New York World's Fair production "American Jubilee." She joined the Rockettes at Radio City Music Hall at age sixteen and was voted by her fellow Rockettes as "most likely to succeed," earning the informal distinction of being known as "5th from the right" in the lineup. During this period she also auditioned for Broadway productions alongside Vera-Ellen and June Allyson. Her Broadway credits include the 1940 musical Panama Hattie, in which she appeared as a "Pony Girl," as well as Lady in the Dark.

An early screen test with Warner Bros. proved unsuccessful, and Bremer returned to dancing, performing at New York venues including the Copacabana nightclub and the Club Versailles. In the summer of 1942 she was listed among six "Samba Sirens" for the Copacabana Revue's Saratoga Springs engagement, and in 1943 she performed as a singer-dancer at the Hotel Commodore. It was at the Club Versailles that MGM producer Arthur Freed spotted her. He brought her to Hollywood, where a screen test impressed studio head Louis B. Mayer. Offered a contract with Goldwyn Studios, she chose instead to sign with MGM in order to develop her dancing career. She studied acting at the studio under coach Lillian Burns and became part of the Freed Unit.

Bremer made her screen debut in director Vincente Minnelli's Technicolor musical Meet Me in St. Louis (1944), playing Rose Smith, the older sister of Judy Garland's character. She next starred opposite Fred Astaire in Yolanda and the Thief (1945), again directed by Minnelli, with a score by Harry Warren and choreography by Astaire and Eugene Loring. The film performed poorly at the box office, and Bremer absorbed much of the critical disappointment. She appeared with Astaire once more in two dance sequences for the musical revue Ziegfeld Follies, numbers filmed in 1945 though the film was released in 1946. Her final major musical at MGM was the Jerome Kern biographical film Till the Clouds Roll By (1946), in which she had dramatic scenes and danced with Van Johnson. After a minor dramatic role in Dark Delusion (1947), MGM loaned her to Eagle-Lion for three films, including the film noir Behind Locked Doors (1948) and Adventures of Casanova (1948), alongside Arturo de Córdova.

Bremer chose not to renew her MGM contract and left the film industry. In August 1948 she married Abelardo Luis Rodriguez, son of a former president of Mexico, in a ceremony at Catalina Island. The couple relocated to Baja California Sur, Mexico, where they founded the private resort Rancho Las Cruces, the original Palmilla Hotel, and the Hacienda Hotel. They were also business partners with Desi Arnaz, Lucille Ball, and Bing Crosby. Following her divorce in 1963, Bremer settled in La Jolla, California, where she operated a children's clothing boutique and continued to travel between California and Baja California. She died of a heart attack in 1996 at the age of seventy-nine.