Fayard and Harold Nicholas

Fayard and Harold Nicholas whose careers span over six decades, made up one of the most beloved dance teams in the history of dance-The Nicholas Brothers. Legends in their own time, they are best known for their unforgettable appearances in more than 30 Hollywood musicals in the 1930s and '40s, Stormy Weather  being their favorite. Their artistry, choreographic brilliance, and unique style, a smooth mix of tap, jazz, ballet and acrobatic moves, have excited and astonished vaudeville, theatre, film and television audiences all over the world.

Their natural talents were honed early on. Their parents were musicians and led the orchestra at the Standard Theatre in Philadelphia. In 1932, the same year they made their first film, Pie, Pie Blackbird  with Eubie Blake, they opened at the Cotton Club working with the likes of Cab Calloway, Duke Ellington, Ethel Waters, The Step Brothers and The Berry Brothers to name a few. Samuel Goldwyn saw them at the fashionable club and invited them to California to do their first movie Kid Millions (1934). In 1940 they were contracted to 20th Century- Fox where they made six films. The Brothers went Abroad for the First time after their First Broadway show Ziegfeld Follies with Bob Hope, Eve Arden, Fanny Brice and Josephine Baker, to London to star in Lew Leslie's Blackbirds of 1936. Fayard and Harold went on to star in many Broadway, Off Broadway, and theatre productions throughout the US and Abroad.

In 1981 the Brothers were honored with a retrospective of their work in films on the Academy Awards television special. Fayard received a Tony Award for his choreography in the Tony Award winning Broadway show Black and Blue  in 1989. Harold has received the Dea Award (Dance Educators of America), Bay Area Critics Circle Award (Best Principal Performance, Stompin' at the Savoy ) and Harbor Performing Arts Center Lifetime Achievement Award. Other awards and honors include Black Film makers Hall of Fame (1978), Ellie Award (1984), National Film Society, Apollo theaters Hall of Fame (1986), First Class Inductees, Ebony Lifetime Achievement Award (1987), Kennedy Center Honors (1991), The National Black Media Coalition Lifetime Achievement Award (1992), Flo-Bert Award (1992), New York's Tap Dance Committee, Gypsy Award (1994), Professional Dancer's Society, Dance Magazine Award of 1995 (1995). In 1994 the Brothers received their long overdue STAR on Hollywood's Walk of Fame. Their achievements and appearances are too numerous to mention here. According to Who's Who in Hollywood, The Nicholas Brothers are "...certainly the greatest dance team ever to work in the movies."

[Note: A documentary is occasionally shown on PBS stations called "We Sing, We Dance: The Nicholas Brothers" which includes interviews and film clips of their performances. The Internet Movie Database provides a filmography of Harold Nicholas and Fayard Nicholas with links to each film.]

There is a clip from one of the early Nicholas Brothers performances on film at Maxwell Demille Productions. (Thanks to Rusty Frank for forwarding the link during updates on Fayard's illness in 2005/2006, before he passed.)