Jeni LeGon

Born Jennie Ligon in Chicago, Illinois, at age thirteen she successfully auditioned for the Count Basie Orchestra’s chorus line. A year later, LeGon was already a cutting edge professional dancer. In her first screen role, LeGon danced with Bill “Bojangles” Robinson in Hooray for Love, which also featured Fats Waller. Her twenty-four film credits include: Broadway Melody of 1936, This Was Paris, (1937), Start Cheering, Fools for Scandal (1938), I Can’t Give You Anything But Love (1940), Birth of the Blues, Sundown, Arabian Nights (1941), While Thousands Cheered, Stormy Weather (1943), Hi De Ho (1945), Easter Parade (1948), I Shot Jesse James (1949) and Somebody Loves Me (1952). She settled in Vancouver in 1969. Dr LeGon (in 2002, Oklahoma City University conferred upon her a doctorate of performing arts in American Dance) taught tap dancing to countless children and others.  She died, aged 96, on December 7 2012.