| Barrie Chase | |
|---|---|
| Born | October 20, 1933 Kings Point, New York, U.S. |
| Occupation | Actress and dancer |
| Years active | 1952-72 |
Barrie Chase (born October 20, 1933) is an American actress and dancer originally from Long Island, New York.
When she was six, her father, writer Borden Chase, moved the family to California so he could start his screenwriting career. She grew up in Encino, and studied ballet. She abandoned her dream of being a ballerina in New York to stay in Los Angeles and help support her mother, pianist Lee Keith, after her parents' divorce.
She danced on such live TV programs as The Colgate Comedy Hour and The Chrysler Shower of Stars. It was while she was working as Jack Cole's assistant choreographer at MGM that Fred Astaire asked her to be his dancing partner on An Evening with Fred Astaire. She made four television appearances as Astaire's partner in his television specials between 1958 and 1968.[1] Chase also danced alongside Astaire on the television program Hollywood Palace in 1966.[2] During this period, she also dated Astaire.[3] She appeared on the syndicated talk show version of The Donald O'Connor Show.
Chase worked in the chorus of many Hollywood musicals, including Hans Christian Andersen, Brigadoon, Deep in My Heart, Kismet, Les Girls, Pal Joey, and two Fred Astaire films, Daddy Long Legs and Silk Stockings. She appeared in White Christmas (starring Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye, Rosemary Clooney, and Vera-Ellen) as the chorus girl who says multiple times, "Mutual, I'm sure." [4]
Other film and television roles included The George Raft Story; the beating victim of a sadistic Robert Mitchum in the thriller Cape Fear; and the dancing, bikini-clad girlfriend of Dick Shawn's maniacal character in It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963). She played Farida in the 1965 film, The Flight of the Phoenix (starring James Stewart and Richard Attenborough), in a dream sequence. The same year she appeared on an episode of Bonanza, playing a saloon dancer who longed to be a ballerina.
In 1972, Chase retired from performing to devote herself to her own family. She has one child.