Marc
Wilder (aka Marcello Miarani, name at birth; May 1, 1929, Italy - 18 April
1983, Los Angeles (USC County General Hospital), age 53) danced in over
twenty-five films, partnering such glamorous leading ladies as Cyd
Charisse and Shirley MacLaine, but he was also a prominent commercial
choreographer in his own right. He assisted Gene Kelly on a 1959 TV
special and Jack Cole on the 1962
revival of Kismet. In The I Don't Care Girl, choreographed by Jack Cole,
slinky cat men in black tights steal much of the erotic impact from Mitzi
Gaynor's entrance. At least one of the male dancers in that film, Marc
Wilder (he catches Mitzi after a back somersault), was gay; he appeared in
a number of Cole's shows and also in several films (Meet Me in St. Louis,
Can-Can.)
Born in Naples, Italy, he came to the U.S. at the age of seven and, at ten, began studying tap in Hollywood with Ethel Meglin and, at eighteen, ballet with
Eugene Loring at the American School of Dance. He was known as a Jack Cole dancer. The films in which he performed include With a Song in My Heart (1951), Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953), Kismet (1955), and Mame (1972).
He was one of the first in the film industry to die of AIDS.
Larri Thomas, a friend, doesn't know what happened to Wilder's estate. He died in County Hospital. He was an only child; his mother had already died. She recalls his ashes were strewn in Maui. She recalls that Wilder was "a great collector of videotapes...before Blockbuster," but she doesn't know who would have claimed them after his death.
Marc was an amazingly talented and versatile dancer and choreographer.
Thanks to a personal friend of Marc's, Lars Bonner, who pointed films and
dances he was featured in, some fans on Youtube made a Tribute.
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