Pearl Argyle

Pearl Argyle was a South African ballet dancer and actress. Remembered today primarily for her extraordinary beauty, she appeared in leading roles with English ballet companies in the 1930s and later performed in stage musicals and in films.

Pearl Wellman, the daughter of Ernest James Wellman and Mary Wellman, was born in Johannesburg, the major city the Transvaal province and the center of gold mining in South Africa. Located on the inland plateau known as the Highveld, it is the largest city in the world not situated on a river, lake, or coastline. Nothing is known of what brought the Wellman family to the city or what, if any, dance training young Pearl might have received there. She first enters dance history in the mid1920s, when she appeared in London and enrolled in ballet classes at the schools of Nikolai Legat, in Colet Gardens, and Dame Marie Rambert, in Notting Hill Gate. There she was known as Pearl Argyle by other students and members of Ramberts Ballet Club, the performing group from which Ballet Rambert was to evolve. Among other club members at the time was the emerging choreographer Frederick Ashton, who would play a significant role in her career on the ballet stage.

Source: Wikipedia