Muriel Bentley

Muriel Siegal Bentley (June 26, 1917 – March 8, 1999) was an American ballet dancer and Broadway performer born in New York City. Her father, Samuel A. (Max) Siegal, worked as an accountant, and all four of her grandparents were Jewish immigrants from Russia. Bentley trained at the Metropolitan Opera ballet school, and her mentors included Anton Dolin and Ruth St. Denis.

Bentley became a member of the Ballet Theatre of New York, where her colleagues included Jerome Robbins, Alicia Alonso, Nora Kaye, Harold Lang, and Janet Reed. She created roles in works choreographed by Antony Tudor, Agnes de Mille, and Jerome Robbins. Her work with de Mille included Tally-Ho (1945) and Fall River Legend (1948). In reviewing her 1945 performance in Tally-Ho, New York Times critic John Martin wrote that Bentley "practically walks away with the show, as the hilariously vulgar 'lady'." Her work with Tudor encompassed Pillar of Fire and Shadow of the Wind, both from 1948.

Her Broadway career spanned from 1941 to 1961. Among her stage credits were Interplay (1946), Fancy Free (1946), Call Me Madam (1950), The King and I, and The Concert. She played the role of Anita in West Side Story, a part she held from 1957 to 1959. Beyond the stage, Bentley appeared on television in The Kate Smith Hour in 1950.

Following her retirement from performing, Bentley worked as an interior decorator and a theatrical agent. In 1979 she contributed writing to the Los Angeles Times about the early years of the American Ballet Theatre. She died on March 8, 1999, in Woodland Hills, California, at the age of 81.