Willie Covan

Willie Covan
Born(1898-03-04)March 4, 1898[1]
Atlanta, Georgia
DiedMay 7, 1989(1989-05-07) (aged 91)
Los Angeles, California
Occupation(s)Dancer, actor, choreographer
Years active1904 - 1978
Spouse(s)Anna Lee Hampton
(m. 1918; 1923 or later)[2][1]
Florence Byers
(m. 1929; died 1978)[3][4]

William McKinley Covan (March 4, 1898 – May 7, 1989) was an American tap dancer, actor, vaudeville performer best known for being a member of the tap quartet The Four Covans and a choreographer for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.

Willie Covan was born on March 4, 1898, in Atlanta, Georgia. Shortly after, his family moved to Chicago. By 1903, Willie was already tapping to the rhythms of the city. When was six years old, he began a six-year career as a pickaninny in the numerous vaudeville shows around the city. There he watched dancers and began to pick up technique from miming them. By age 12, he was tired of pick tapping and started out to make a name for himself in the vaudeville circuit.[5]

Covan got his first big break winning an amateur tap contest around 1910. From that he was taken under the wings of legendary tap dancers "Slow Kid" Thompson, and Leonard Ruffin.[5] In 1927, he formed the tap quartet, The Four Covans.[6][7] They became an instant sensation in the United States and in Europe.[5]

In the early 1930s, Covan moved to Hollywood where he began working with screen stars such as Shirley Temple, Jeanette MacDonald, Mae West, Mickey Rooney, Gregory Peck, Kirk Douglas and Ann Miller. It was at Eleanor Powell's insistence that Covan had his own bungalow on the MGM lot.[8]

Among the handful of films in which he himself appeared, the one that best showcased Covan's talents is The Duke Is Tops.[9]

While at MGM, he opened his own dance studio in Los Angeles, The Willie Covan Dance Studio, where he and his wife Florence taught for 35 years. Later in life he was seen in films such as The Big Fix and Finian's Rainbow. Covan is most credited for creating many classic tap dance steps, including the Rhythm Waltz Clog, and Around the World. Covan died on May 7, 1989, in his home in Los Angeles and is interred at Inglewood Park Cemetery.[10]

Filmography

Year Title Role Notes
1929 Fox Movietone Follies of 1929 Specialty Tap Dancers Uncredited[11]
1938 The Duke Is Tops Specialty Tap Dancer
1940 Gang War Dance Specialty Uncredited
1968 Finian's Rainbow Sharecropper Uncredited
1978 The Big Fix Elderly Servant (final film role)

References

  1. ^ a b William McKinley Covan U.S. Passport Applications, 1795-1925. FamilySearch.
  2. ^ William McKinley Covan Indiana Marriages, 1780-1992. FamilySearch.
  3. ^ William Mckinley Covan Illinois, Cook County Marriages, 1871-1968. FamilySearch.
  4. ^ ."Covan Dancer Dies at Home" Los Angeles Sentinel. August 17, 1978. Page A1.
  5. ^ a b c Frank, Rusty E. (1994). The Greatest Tap Dance Stars and Their Stories 1900-1955. New York: Da Capo Press. pp. 24–27. ISBN 0-306-80635-5.
  6. ^ "Calvin's Weekly Diary of the New York Show World". The Pittsburgh Courier. October 16, 1926. Page 10. "Covan and Ruffin, who have just completed an eight month tour over the Keith time, have split, and Louis Keene, who is now with Ethel Waters, will take Ruffin's place an Willie's Partner." Retrieved 2021-03-02.
  7. ^ "Bohemian Night History Maker in New York". The Vaudeville News and New York Star. January 22, 1927. Page 7. Retrieved 2021-03-02.
  8. ^ "Obituaries: Willie Covan". Variety. May 17-23, 1989.
  9. ^ "Willie Covan". IMDb. Retrieved 2016-03-04.
  10. ^ BOYER, EDWARD J. (1989-05-11). "Stylish Performer Taught Stars to Do His Steps : Willie Covan, 92; Veteran Tap-Dancer". Los Angeles Times. ISSN 0458-3035. Retrieved 2016-03-04.
  11. ^ "The Most Intimate Follies Ever Seen Or Heard". The Akron Beacon-Journal. June 6, 1929. Page 33. Retrieved 2021-03-02.