Olympe Bradna
| Olympe Bradna | |
|---|---|
Olympe Bradna, 1938
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| Born |
Antoinette Olympe Bradna 12 August 1920 Paris, France |
| Died | 5 November 2012 (aged 92) Lodi, California |
| Occupation | Dancer, actress |
| Years active | 1921–1941 |
Olympe Bradna (12 August 1920 – 5 November 2012) was a French dancer and actress, who emigrated to the United States where she lived for the rest of her life.
Bradna was born in a dressing room in the Olympic Theatre in Paris, and her full name was Antoinette Olympe Bradna. Her father, Joseph Bradna, was a Bohemian Czech and her mother, Jana Bradna, was Austrian German. (Another source says that her mother was French.) They were circus performers before Olympe began her career. (Jana Bradna had been an opera singer before she joined her husband in the circus.) Her aunt also was in the circus, as an equestrienne. An item in a newspaper in 1936 reported that Bradna "followed a line of trained dogs on the stage in France, when she was only 18 months old."
Branda appeared at 18 months of age with her parents, who were world-famous bare back riders. By the time she was 8, Bradna "had attracted so much attention that agents were anxious to book her as a 'single.'" Her parents accompanied her to Sweden, Norway, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, and France as she danced. She performed "an acrobatic dance" in the Paris, France, production of Hit the Deck.
Later she joined the Folies Bergère. She was with that group for eight months and danced at the French Casino in New York City for eight more months.
She danced in , New York City and other world capitals.
Bradna started her film career in France, then, in 1934, moved to Hollywood, California where she saw her greatest success, [1] signing a seven-year contract with Paramount Pictures. In 1935, she was one of seven young women "named by Paramount ... as possible screen stars of the future." She was one of six newcomers selected by Paramount in December 1935 to appear in a planned musical. Her screen debut came in Three Cheers for Love (1936). In 1936, she appeared in College Holiday. Later, branching out from musicals to more serious films, she had roles in The Last Train from Madrid and Souls at Sea.
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