William Chappell (dancer)

Chappell was born in Wolverhampton, the son of theatrical manager Archibald Chappell and his wife Edith Eva Clara Black (née Edith Blair-Staples). Edith, the daughter of an army officer, was raised in Ceylon and India; in pursuing a career in repertory acting, she moved away from her upper-middle-class roots and married twice to fellow actors, by the first of whom she had a daughter, Hermina, the second time being to Archibald Chappell, by whom she had two daughters, Dorothea and Honor, followed by Billy. Chappell was acutely aware of his 'déclassé origins': whereas his mother's brother had maintained a conventional upper-middle-class life, being a tea-planter in Ceylon and able to provide his son, Patrick (who was close to Billy and spent time with his aunt's family in school vacations) with a public school and Oxford education, Chappell studied at Balham Grammar School.[1]

[2] After his father deserted the family when he was still a baby, Chappell and his mother moved to Balham, London, where she pursued a career as a fashion journalist.[3] Edith's daughter by her first marriage, romantic novelist Hermina Black, Chappell's half-sister, was living nearby in Wandsworth.[4] Chappell studied at the Chelsea School of Art where aged 14 he met fellow students Edward Burra and Barbara Ker-Seymer forging a lifelong friendship.[3]

He did not take up dancing seriously until he was 17 when he studied under Marie Rambert,[5] whom he met through his friend Frederick Ashton.[3]

At the outbreak of war in 1939, he was the first male dancer to join up, spending the duration of the war as a second lieutenant and entertaining the troops.[5]

In his book Studies in Ballet he describes an occasion in North Africa when his company had no transport and had to march to their destination about eighteen miles away. He used this story to illustrate the benefit of ballet training to legs and feet, allowing a middle-aged man to arrive fresher than men nearly half his age, who had only received the routine Army physical training. He also emphasised the importance of a long unbroken tradition and continuity in the training of male dancers. He was of the opinion that the war was a factor that had caused chaos in the Sadler's Wells Company and rendered valueless years of work. He contrasted the treatment of the ballet in England and in Russia, where male dancers were considered important enough in their work to be kept in it.

He was invited by writer and lecturer on dance Peter Brinson to take part in a series of 8 lectures on 'The Ballet in Britain' at Oxford University where he entertained an academic audience with his thoughts on problems of ballet design. Other speakers included Dame Ninette de Valois director of the Royal Ballet, Marie Rambert, Arnold Haskell, William Cole and Douglas Kennedy[12]

He retired to his home in Rye and died there after a long illness.[5]

• Nijinsky (1980) - restaging: of "L'Après-midi d'un faune" (as William Chapell)[13]
• The Trial (1962) - as the painter Titorelli[14]
• Expresso Bongo with Paul Scofield (BBC recording of Saville Theatre, London production, 1958) - Director[13]
• The Prince and the Showgirl (1957) - dance arranger[15]
• Moulin Rouge (1952) - dance director[16]
• Flesh and Blood (1951) - Dancer (uncredited)[13]
• Golden Arrow (1949) - costume designer[13]
• The Winslow Boy (1948) - costume designer[13][17][18]
• Le Lac des Cygnes with Margot Fonteyn, Robert Helpmann and the Vic-Wells Ballet Company on BBC Television (13 December 1937) - as Benno[13][19][20][21]
• Job with Robert Helpmann, and the Vic-Wells Ballet Company (now The Royal Ballet) produced and choreographed by Ninette de Valois on BBC Television (11 November 1936) - as Elihu/The Three Messengers.†[13][20][21]

† This was the second broadcast of ballet on British television following the official start of the BBC high definition television service on 2 November 1936.

• Studies in ballet, William Chappell, John Lehmann Ltd, London (1948) ISBN 978-1340914226
• Fonteyn: Impressions of a ballerina, William Chappell, Rockcliff Publishing Corporation Ltd, London (1951)
• Edward Burra: A painter remembered by his friend, William Chappell, HarperCollins Distribution Services (1982) ISBN 978-0233974507
• Well Dearie!: The Letters of Edward Burra, William Chappell, Gordon Fraser Gallery Ltd, London (1985) ISBN 978-0860920762

• List of people from Wolverhampton
• Edward Burra

• William Chappell at IMDb
• William Chappell as Elihu in 'Job', by Gordon Anthony. National Portrait Gallery.
• Sir Frederick Ashton - 'Foyer de Danse' (1932) on YouTube Filmed at the Mercury Theatre, London, by Walter and Pearl Duff. Choreography: Frederick Ashton, inspired by Degas' ballet paintings. Costumes: William Chappell, after Degas.
• Gale, Matthew (October 1997) Tate Gallery Artist Biography: William Chappell 1907-1994
• Painting of William Chappell by Edward Burra
• Edward Burra, episode of BBC's Culture Show series, broadcast 21 October 2011. References to Billy Chappell and photograph at 5:16 on YouTube