Robert Helpmann

Sir Robert Murray Helpmann CBE was an Australian ballet dancer, actor, director, and choreographer. After early work in Australia he moved to Britain in 1932, where he joined the Vic-Wells Ballet under its creator, Ninette de Valois. He became one of the company's leading men, partnering Alicia Markova and later Margot Fonteyn. When Frederick Ashton, the company's chief choreographer, was called up for military service in the Second World War, Helpmann took over from him while continuing as a principal dancer.

9 April 1909

Born on the same birth day (9 April): Fred Hollows • Harris Wofford • Henri de Massue, Earl of Galway • James Scott, 1st Duke of Monmouth • Jaya Bachchan • Jean-Marie Balestre • Jeremy Metcalfe • Kassim Abdallah • Lev Kopelev • Nigel Slater

Born in the same month (April 1909): Abner Biberman • Alain Poher • Albert R. Broccoli • Arthur Võõbus • Eddy Duchin • Erwin Wegner • Eudora Welty • F. E. McWilliam • Giacomo Gentilomo • Hermann Lang • Indro Montanelli • John Fante • Juliana of the Netherlands • Károly Sós • Lim Bo Seng • Marianne Hoppe • Rita Levi-Montalcini • Robert Charroux • Robert Edison Fulton Jr. • Spyros Markezinis • Tom Ewell • William M. Branham • William Pereira