Olrich, April (1931–)

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Olrich, April (1931–)

English ballet dancer and actress. Born April Penrick, 1931, in Zanzibar, East Africa (now Tanzania); dau. of an English diplomat; studied ballet in Paris with Lubov Tchernicheva and in Buenos Aires with Irina Borowska.

At 13, joined Ballet Russe and danced in Aurora's Wedding, and Edward Caton's Sebastien and Cain and Abel; danced with Sadler's Wells Ballet (1950–54) where she was featured in Giselle, Swan Lake, and The Sleeping Beauty; danced in West End in Alfred Rodrigues' Pay the Piper (1954) and appeared in Shakespearean productions; performed in London (1964) and New York City (1966) with the South African revue Wait a Minim; films include Women without Men (1956), Room at the Top (1959), The Intelligence Men (1965), Hussy (1980), and Riding High (1981); on tv, was in "Princess Daisy" (1983), among others.