An elegant and versatile song-and-dance man, Dan Dailey began his career in minstrel shows and vaudeville before making his Broadway debut in the Rodgers & Hart production BABES IN ARMS in 1937. His debut appearance in a movie musical came in 1941 with the lavish ZIEGFIELD GIRL, his first of many. After service in World War II, Dailey signed for 20th Century-Fox and continued his prolific film career. As lavish, big budget musicals became unfashionable in the 1950s, Dailey returned to the stage and cabaret where he remained until his death in 1978 at 63.