Vera Michelena

Vera Michelena
Vera Michelena c. 1904
Born	(1885-06-16)June 16, 1885 New York, New York
Died	August 28, 1961(1961-08-28) (aged 76) Queens, New York
Occupation	Actor, singer and dancer
Spouse(s)	Paul Schindler (divorced 1917) Harry Spingler (divorced 1921) Fred Hillebrand (her death)

Vera Michelena (June 16, 1885 – August 28, 1961) was a Venezuelan American actress, contralto prima donna and dancer who appeared in light opera, musical comedy, vaudeville and silent film. She was perhaps best remembered for her starring rôles in the musicals The Princess Chic, Flo Flo and The Waltz Dream, her rendition of the vampire dance in the musical Take It From Me and as a Ziegfeld Follies performer.

She was born in New York City the daughter of Fernando Michelena (1858–1921), a noted Venezuelan tenor, and Frances Lenord (1867–1912), an operatic soprano and pianist. Over much of her childhood Michelena’s parents toured with the Emma Abbott Grand Opera Company. As did her sister Beatriz Michelena, a famous actress during the silent film era, Vera received her musical education from her father. Michelena attended school at a convent in San Miguel, California.

Both Vera and Beatriz were trained by their father in classical voice and drama studies, and they followed in his footsteps by beginning singing careers of their own. By mid-1904, with Vera busy pursuing her career in New York, Fernando Michelena settled in San Francisco, California to teach voice. There, he raised Beatriz and continued to train her, a soprano, in operatic vocal techniques. He passed his stage experience to his daughter: the way to move as another person, the way to make simple but authoritative gestures, and the way to build intensity over the span of a performance. Her father in later life taught music and worked as a vocal coach and, at the time of his death, was serving as president of Arrillaga Musical College, San Francisco. Maria Antonia Field, a Californian writer, would later chronicle her time as a student of Michelena’s father in her book, Five Years of Vocal Study under Fernando Michelena.