In the annals of movie musicals, hardly a name shines brighter than Gene Kelly, the amiably athletic dancer who delighted us in a parade of roles which showcased his unique All-American charm and bravado.  Less known, probably, is the fact that Gene had some helpers behind the scenes devising his spectacular routines — certainly many geniuses have valuable partners — and that he eventually married one of them, the vivacious and gracious dancer named Jeanne Coyne, who was born on this date, February 28, 1923.

Once upon a time, in Gene’s hometown of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, he worked as a dancing instructor in his family’s dance training academy.  One of his pupils was a young girl named Jeanne Coyne, who eventually landed in New York as a professional dancer, appearing on Broadway and working with noted choreographers like Jack Cole and Robert Alton.  Gene Kelly himself followed a similar path, moving from his PA roots to try his hand at Broadway stardom, which came to him thanks in part to a role in a Cole Porter musical and later as the star of Pal Joey.  He left for the West Coast not long after his triumph, and the rest is Hollywood history.  In the meantime, in 1941 Kelly had married Betsy Blair, a talented young actress appearing in a show he had choreographed.

As Gene worked his way into big screen stardom, Jeanne Coyne decided also to make her move to Hollywood, but although she was extremely talented and a tireless worker, she lacked that certain something to push her in the leading actress role category.  She did however get the chance to renew her acquaintance with her former teacher Kelly, who by now was part of the legendary Freed Unit at MGM, the gang of singing and dancing talents who worked on MGM’s trademark high-class musicals.  Kelly persuaded her to join him as one of his assistants, just as the extremely talented dancer Carol Haney had, to help him devise his trademark dance routines and also appear onscreen as a dancer in the films he worked on.

And so Jeanne Coyne and Carol Haney worked alongside Gene Kelly as he danced in 1949’s On the Town, and 1950’s Summer Stock.  Jeanne also appeared onscreen in the landmark Singin' in the Rain from 1952, as well as working backstage with Gene, and both she and Carol were prominently featured in as dancers in 1953’s Kiss Me Kate, without Gene but still working as integral members of the MGM musical family. 

On the personal side, Gene Kelly’s marriage to Betsy Blair eventually began to unravel, and by the 1956 they were essentially split, working out the final details.  It was Betsy Blair herself, in the waning months of the marriage, who sensed that Gene’s longtime assistant Jeanne, who was of course a close personal friend of the family for many years, might have deeper feelings than just friendship for her boss.  It was essentially with Blair’s blessing that Jeanne admitted her fondness, though until the divorce was final Coyne and Kelly remained only friends.  (Jeanne had a brief marriage to Kelly collaborator Stanley Donen in 1948, and in fact the couples’ social circle was fairly intertwined and not always neatly or happily.  Kelly and Donen ended up in a feud which essentially ended their friendship.  In fact, a few years ago a musical was produced about the Kelly-Donen-Coyne trio during the time of Singin' in the Rain.) 

After Kelly’s divorce from Betsy, he and Jeanne became constant companions, living and traveling together (unofficially), until finally in 1960 they married.  The homebody Jeanne completely and contentedly gave up her show business life and fashioned a long and happy marriage with her former mentor, and they eventually had two children, a girl and a boy, together.  Their relationship, which had started so many years ago in that Pennsylvania dance studio, was alas not to have a happy ending.  In 1972 Jeanne was diagnosed with leukemia, and after a long and brave battle with the disease, succumbed on May 10, 1973, just a few months past her fiftieth birthday.  (Gene Kelly would marry again many years later, and he passed away in February of 1996.)