User:Kwib/Larry Roquemore

Larry Roquemore, who played Rocco in the Broadway and movie versions of the Academy Award-winning production, moved to Corpus Christi in February 1972 with his wife, the former Betty Jenkins, a native Corpus Christian.

Both now are associated with the Ella Ilse Studio of the Dance, 514 Sharon, and in Kingsville.

In 1957, Roquemore was dancing in his first Broadway show, Li’l Abner, when West Side Story opened. Later that year, a replacement was needed, and, according to Roquemore, nearly every professional dancer in New York showed up to audition for the part. “It was everybody’s dream to do it,” he said. When the casting finally was announced, the Fort Worth native was selected to play Rocco.

He was contacted by Jerry Robbins, the production’s director and choreographer, in 1960 when auditions were being taken for the film version. “I went to New York to read the script then flew out to the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studios in Hollywood for a screen test.” He was selected from among 500 auditioning.

They selected Corpus Christi mainly because it is her home and also because of the opportunity to form the association with Ella Ilse Studio.

The movie will be televised locally on KRIS television in two parts, one beginning at 7 p.m. March 14 and the other at 7 p.m. March 15.

It was named the best picture of 1961 by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and won numerous other awards.

The couple met when they were doing summer musicals in Dallas. “Our paths kept crossing even after we made it to New York. We had planned to get married, but kept postponing it because of our work.”

They were married following completion of the movie.

Roquemore has played in Hallelujah Baby, Half a Sixpence, Tovarich, and Anyone Can Whistle. He also appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show, The Bell Telephone Hour, and The Gary Moore Show and has danced with Eva Gabor in a segment of The Tonight Show.

After managing a Fred Astaire Dance Studio in Englewood, N.J., for several years, “we decided to get out of the rat race and come home to Texas,” he said.