Mitzi Mayfair

Mitzi Mayfair (born Juanita Emylyn Pique; June 6, 1914 – May 30, 1976) was an American dancer and stage and film actress.

Life and career Born in Fulton, Kentucky, she grew up in St. Louis, Missouri. In 1936, she told a Harvard Crimson interviewer, "I guess I'm just a natural dancer". She recalled performing professionally albeit underage at age 11 in a "Kids Act". She joined the cast of At Home Abroad when star Eleanor Powell, also discovered by Gus Edwards, had to leave the show.

Like many performers of the New York stage, Mitzi Mayfair found occasional work in short-subject films produced in New York. In 1931 she was hired as Ziegfeld Follies star Hal Le Roy's dancing partner in three musical shorts for Vitaphone, and she starred without Le Roy in a fourth.

The celebrated dancer Irene Castle considered having Mayfair—among others—play her in the film The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle, but decided she was not a big enough star. As Fred Astaire had already been cast as Vernon, the part went to Ginger Rogers.

During World War II, Mayfair embarked on a USO tour of Europe and North Africa with Kay Francis, Carole Landis, Martha Raye and others. All four performers played themselves in the film re-creation of the tour, Four Jills in a Jeep (1944). This film, as well as Paramount on Parade (1930) and a brief cameo in Stage Door Canteen (1943), were Mitzi Mayfair's only feature-film credits.

Personal life Her first husband was Albert F. Hoffman, heir to a fortune from beverage-making. They married on March 12, 1938, at Hoffman's brother's home in South Orange, New Jersey. They were divorced in 1943. On April 7, 1944, she married Charles Henderson, "associate boss of the music department of the 20th Century-Fox Studio". It is unclear when this marriage ended. On June 28, 1963, Mayfair married Fred S. Cook of Kitsap County, Washington.

She died in Pima, Arizona in May 1976 at age 61.