Uploaded May 2018 | Updated September 2026, 1 hour ago
Sometimes famous dancers are used as doubles for actors in films where dance is required.
In 'Never Let Me Go' (1953), Violetta Elvin doubles for Gene Tierney, as Russian ballet dancer Marya Lamarkins, with Anton Dolin her partner.
Also appearing in the cast was Clarke Gable as Philip Sutherland, an American news writer, and Kenneth More. The director was Delmer Daves.
A summary of the plot is the film is:
“Philip Sutherland is an American news writer stationed in Moscow since the war; while there he falls for a Russian ballet dancer, Marya Lamarkins, who, he finds out, learned English because she fell in love with him. They marry, only to find that the Soviet nation which gladly collaborated with the Allies against Hitler has become a paranoid police state in peacetime. Sutherland is forced to leave without Marya, but he's determined to get her back, whether it be through proper channels, or through dangerously improper ones.” (Gary Dickerson)
To maintain the illusion that the double is the actor, such scenes are necessarily shot at a distance from the stage, such that it’s hard to recognise the performers.
But some footage, particularly of Violetta Elvin as Odette, is better than none I believe.
Enjoy!
Sometimes famous dancers are used as doubles for actors in films where dance is required.
In 'Never Let Me Go' (1953), Violetta Elvin doubles for Gene Tierney, as Russian ballet dancer Marya Lamarkins, with Anton Dolin her partner.
Also appearing in the cast was Clarke Gable as Philip Sutherland, an American news writer, and Kenneth More. The director was Delmer Daves.
A summary of the plot is the film is:
“Philip Sutherland is an American news writer stationed in Moscow since the war; while there he falls for a Russian ballet dancer, Marya Lamarkins, who, he finds out, learned English because she fell in love with him. They marry, only to find that the Soviet nation which gladly collaborated with the Allies against Hitler has become a paranoid police state in peacetime. Sutherland is forced to leave without Marya, but he's determined to get her back, whether it be through proper channels, or through dangerously improper ones.” (Gary Dickerson)
To maintain the illusion that the double is the actor, such scenes are necessarily shot at a distance from the stage, such that it’s hard to recognise the performers.
But some footage, particularly of Violetta Elvin as Odette, is better than none I believe.
Enjoy!
