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): Allen Jenkins • Bruce Robertson (rugby union) • Carl Amery • Carl Perkins • Chorão • Drew Shafer • Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold • Iain Duncan Smith • Ireneusz Jeleń • Jan Letzel • Jim Roberts (ice hockey, born 1940) • Joe Brinkman • John Davenport (minister) • Otz Tollen • Rafaela Aparicio • Wallace McCain

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 • Juliana of the Netherlands • Károly Sós • Marianne Hoppe • Rita Levi-Montalcini • Spyros Markezinis • Tom Ewell • William Pereira