Author Julie Kavenaugh on Ballet Icon Rudolph Nureyev's offbeat film career

The Ballet Icon in typically dynamic form (Pantheon)


As a dancer, Rudolph Nureyev was one of the most electrifying performers of the 20th century. The fine new biography by Julie Kavanaugh of the great ballet icon, Nureyev: The Life (Pantheon) traces the drama of the great Nureyev in his life and work. The work is also a reminder that Nureyev was an exotic screen personality and starred in one of the most sensational films of the 70's, Valentino. Ms. Kavanaugh was kind enough to correspond with FSW about Nureyev's limited, but fascinating screen work.


FSW: Is it really true that RN was up for the role of the snake in Huston's segment of The Bible?

JK: From what I was told this was a serious consideration. In addition, for his section of the film, Orson Welles had RN in mind as the Angel of God who wrestles with Jacob

FSW: Was there ever a moment when it was possible that RN could have a serious career as an actor? Did he have any real interest in this?

JK: Film was almost as much of a passion as dance for Nureyev. His London friends the Goslings used to rent films - usually the classics - and screen them on a projector in their house. RN directed the feature film of his ballet Don Quixote and impressed famous veterans like cinematographer Geoffrey Unsworth by his profound knowledge of the art. There was a time in the midSeventies when he would have loved to have made an impact as a film actor, but unfortunately never found the right vehicle. Both Valentino and Exposed were disasters.


FSW: Do you think that if Nureyev had arrived on the film scene today (or at some other point) he would have been better utilized as a film presence? Did his potential as a film performer conflict with the style of 70's films?



JK: He was very badly directed by Ken Russell in Valentino (and his co-star Leslie Caron would agree). But the fact that he looks so superb and charismatic in the stills suggests that his main problem was having to speak the lines. He'd have been the most wonderful silent film star. Pauline Kael wrote in her New Yorker review, 'Seen up close...Nureyev has the seductive, moody insolence of an older, more cosmoplitan James Dean.'