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© Smith College. All rights reserved.
Agnes George de Mille was born in New York City, September 18, 1905, daughter of film producer, William de Mille and Anna (George) de Mille, daughter of economist Henry George. When Agnes was nine years old the family moved to Hollywood where her uncle, Cecil B. de Mille, was a motion picture director. Agnes entered university at age sixteen graduating from the University of California, Los Angeles, with a degree in English. Although she began dancing in her early teens, it was not until after her graduation from college that she seriously considered dancing as a career. She studied with Theodore Koslov, Marie Rambert, Antony Tudor, and Tamara Karasvina, becoming a proficient ballet dancer. In 1925 her parents divorced and she and her sister, Margaret, moved back to New York with their mother. De Mille's first New York performance was in MacKlin Marow's production of Mozart's La Finta Giardiniera in 1927. She choreographed productions through the early 1930s, returning to Hollywood in 1934 to participate in Cecil B. de Mille's Cleopatra, from which she withdrew after differences arose over the dances. De Mille spent the 1937-38 season in England helping to form a ballet troupe in Oxford and choreographing Cole Porter's The Nymph Errant starring Gertrude Lawrence. She staged dances for Leslie Howard's Hamlet (1936), Ed Wynn's Hooray for What?(1937), Swingin' the Dream (1939), and a jazz version of A Midsummer's Night Dream. In 1939 she joined the New York Ballet Theatre as choreographer and performer. During her first season she choreographed Black Ritual, the first ballet of a classical American ballet company to be danced by all black dancers. She then established a company of her own and began a national tour. In 1941, de Mille devised a scenario for Rodeo for the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo which was presented in 1942. In 1943 she did the choreography for Richard Rodgers/Oscar Hammerstein's hit musical Oklahoma!. She was one of the first women choreographers to work on Broadway doing the choreography for One Touch of Venus (1943), Bloomer Girl (1944), Carousel (1945), Brigadoon (1947), Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1949), and Paint Your Wagon (1951). De Mille also published articles on dance and several books. These include two autobiographical works: Dance to the Piper (1952), and Promenade Home (1958), To A Young Dancer (1960), The Book of Dance (1963), Lizzie Borden: A Dance of Death (1968), The Dance in America (1971), and Speak to Me, Dance With Me (1973). Despite a stroke and heart attack in the mid 1970s, de Mille continued her writing, publishing two memoirs, Where the Wings Grow (1978) and Reprieve (1981). She also choreographed the ballets The Informer (1988) and The Other (1992).
Agnes de Mille combined American folk dances and American music into classic art and was an innovator in dance who transformed the world of musical comedy forever. She received many awards including twelve honorary degrees, the Antoinette Perry (Tony) Award for best choreography (1947 and 1962), Theatre Hall of Fame (1973), Handel Medallion (1976), John F. Kennedy Center Career Achievement Award (1980), and the National Medal of the Arts (1986).
On June 14, 1943 Agnes de Mille married Walter Foy Prude. They had one son, Jonathan.
She died October 7, 1993 in Manhattan at the age of 88.
The Agnes de Mille Papers consist of four linear feet of correspondence, biographical and autobiographical material, research notes, manuscripts and typescripts, printed material, photographs, published writings, and memorabilia. The bulk of the papers date from 1914 to 1960 and focus on both personal and professional aspects of de Mille's life. Personal material can be found in the correspondence, especially to her mother, Anna George de Mille, and in the manuscript and research material for her two autobiographical books, Dance to the Piper and Promenade Home. Her professional life is reflected in the clippings and material related to her other writings about dance.
This collection is organized into three series:
The papers are open to research according to the regulations of the Sophia Smith Collection.
Literary rights are owned by Agnes de Mille's son, Jonathan Prude. Copyright to materials created by others may be owned by those individuals or their heirs or assigns. It is the responsibility of the researcher to identify and satisfy the holders of all copyrights. Permission must be obtained from the Sophia Smith Collection to publish reproductions or quotations beyond "fair use."
Please use the following format when citing materials from this collection:
Agnes de Mille Papers, Sophia Smith Collection, Smith College, Northampton, MA
Agnes de Mille donated her papers to the Sophia Smith Collection between 1959 and 1968, and her
Reprocessed by Susan Boone, 2000.
Additional papers are located at the New York Public Library at Lincoln Center, Performing Arts Research Center Dance Collection. There is also material related to de Mille's Smith College honorary degree (1954) located in the Smith College Archives.
This series contains clippings and articles, photographs, theater programs, and miscellaneous memorabilia. The clippings and articles cover de Mille's career from 1933 to her death in 1993 and include several short pieces authored by her. A group of clippings copied from photostats of her press books located at the New York Public Library and those specifically related to
The correspondence comprises the most significant portion of the Agnes de Mille papers. This series consists of letters from and to Agnes de Mille and Anna George de Mille. Letters Agnes de Mille wrote to Margaret Storrs Grierson in 1963 are also included. They describe the circumstances under which the correspondence was written and provide identification and personal information about the correspondents and people mentioned in the letters. The letters to Grierson in conjunction with the rest of the correspondence provide a fascinating look into de Mille's relationships with family, friends, and acquaintances and an aggregate picture of the theater in New York and London in the 1930s and 40s. Her lengthy letters to her mother (1914-46) and her husband (1944-45), are of particular interest. They describe her life and activities in great detail and provide insights and gossip about many notable people including Cecil B. de Mille, Rebecca West, Gertrude Lawrence, Noel Coward, Fannie Hurst, Cole Porter, Elizabeth Bowen, Martha Graham, Ruth St. Denis, Oscar Hammerstein, and Richard Rogers. This series also contains several letters from William de Mille to Anna George de Mille (1897-1903).
This series contains notes, manuscripts, typescripts, printed material, and clippings relating to both the choreography works and published and unpublished writings of Agnes de Mille. Choreography works include original scripts for Act II of