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Pearl Argyle (1910-1947) was a dancer and actor. Her career included leading roles in productions for the Ballet Rambert and Vic-Wells Ballet (now the Royal Ballet), in stage musicals and in films such as H. G. Wells' Things to Come.

She was born Pearl Wellman in Johannesburg on 7 November 1910 and studied in London under Marie Rambert and Nicolas Legat. Frederick Ashton, a fellow member of Rambert's Ballet Club, described her as 'the most beautiful woman of her generation' and she inspired Ashton and Andree Howard to create roles for her. Sacheverell Sitwell was also an admirer and her influence can be traced in works such as 'The Dance of the Quick and the Dead' (1936). She also worked briefly with George Balanchine in Les Ballets 1933.

She joined the Vic-Wells Ballet in 1935, taking leading roles including in Frederick Ashton's Le Baiser de la Fée (1935) and Ninette de Valois's The Gods go a'Begging (1936). She left the Vic-Wells ballet in 1938. Argyle also starred in several films, including as Eve Desborough in That Night in London (1932), Anna Pavlova in Royal Cavalcade (1934) and Catherine Cabal in Things to Come (1936). Her final film was Night in December (1941). She married the German-born film director Curtis Bernhardt in 1936 and moved with him to the United States in 1938, where she performed in several Broadway musicals including One Touch of Venus (1943) by Kurt Weill and Agnes de Mille but chose not to pursue her film career. She had two children, Tony and Steven Bernhardt.

Pearl Argyle died in New York on 29 January 1947 (attributed variously to a car accident and a brain haemorrhage) and was buried at the Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Glendale, California.

List of Works Performed by the Sadler's Wells Ballet 1931-1945 Bold text

The sets and costumes were lost in May 1940 when a tour by the Sadler's Wells Ballet was interrupted by the German invasion of the Netherlands. the ballet was restaged in 1947 with minor changes and is now in the repertoire of the Birmingham Royal Ballet.

June Brae was one of the leading British classical dancers of the twentieth century, creating leading roles for Frederick Ashton, Ninette de Valois and other choreographers.

She was born June Bear on 17 May 1917 and brought up in Shanghai, where she studied alongside Margot Fonteyn under the Russian George Gontcharov. She returned to London to study under Nicholas Legat, staying with her mother at the Women's Residence Club in Barkston Gardens, Earls' Court. In 1933 she joined the school of the Vic-Wells Ballet and in 1935 progressed to the Company, directed by Ninette de Valois. Soon after, at de Valois' prompting, she changed her name from Bear to Brae.

June Brae was soon taking leading roles, including the Rich Girl in Nocturne (1936), a skater in Les Patineurs (1937), Josephine in Wedding Bouquet (1937), the Black Queen in Checkmate (1937) and La Superbe in Harlequin in the Street (1938). She was the Lilac Fairy in the 1939 revival of The Sleeping Princess and Venus in Cupid and Psyche in the same year. After the start of the Second World War, she toured England extensively with the Sadler's Wells Ballet, and was with the company when it was caught in the Netherlands during the German invasion on 10 May 1940, escaping back to England in the hold of a freighter.

With Margot Fonteyn and Pamela May, June was one of trio of exceptional performers and close friends who gained the nickname 'The Triptych'. She met David Bredon, whom she was to marry in 1942, at a party in Cambridge in 1938, at which Margot and Pamela also met their future husbands. After her marriage, she retired from dancing and had two children. In 1946 she returned to the stage, creating the role of The Choreographer in Robert Helpmann's ballet Adam Zero. She then transferred to the Sadler's Wells Theatre Ballet (now Birmingham Royal Ballet), set up when the main Company moved to the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, including the principal role in Andree Howard's Assembly Ball. She retired soon after.

She died on 3 January 2000.

Frederick AshtonNinette de Valois

June Brae was one of the leading British classical dancers of the twentieth century, creating leading roles for Frederick Ashton, Ninette de Valois and other choreographers.

She was born June Bear on 17 May 1917 and brought up in Shanghai, where she studied alongside Margot Fonteyn under the Russian George Gontcharov. She returned to London to study under Nicholas Legat, staying with her mother at the Women's Residence Club in Barkston Gardens, Earls' Court. In 1933 she joined the school of the Vic-Wells Ballet and in 1935 progressed to the Company, directed by Ninette de Valois. Soon after, at de Valois' prompting, she changed her name from Bear to Brae, declaring "I can't have performing bears in the Company."

June Brae was soon taking leading roles, including the Rich Girl in Nocturne (1936), a skater in Les Patineurs (1937), Josephine in Wedding Bouquet (1937), the Black Queen in Checkmate (1937) and La Superbe in Harlequin in the Street (1938). She was the Lilac Fairy in the 1939 revival of The Sleeping Princess and Venus in Cupid and Psyche in the same year. After the start of the Second World War, she toured England extensively with the Sadler's Wells Ballet, and was with the company when it was caught in the Netherlands during the German invasion on 10 May 1940, escaping back to England in the hold of a freighter.

With Margot Fonteyn and Pamela May, June was one of trio of exceptional performers and close friends who gained the nickname 'The Triptych'. She met David Bredon, whom she was to marry in 1942, at a party in Cambridge in 1938, at which Margot and Pamela also met their future husbands. After her marriage, she retired from dancing and had two children. In 1946 she returned to the stage, creating the role of The Choreographer in Robert Helpmann's ballet Adam Zero. She then transferred to the Sadler's Wells Theatre Ballet (now Birmingham Royal Ballet), set up when the main Company moved to the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, including the principal role in Andree Howard's Assembly Ball. She retired soon after.

She died on 3 January 2000.