Virginia Bosler

Virginia Bosler (September 23, 1926 – August 30, 2020), known to friends by her childhood nickname "Winkie", was an American actress born in Newton, Massachusetts. She was known for acting in Broadway musicals. Early Bosler's father was a maritime engineer, and her early years were spent relocating frequently along the eastern coast. At seven years old, she moved to Great Neck, Long Island, and was enrolled into ballet classes by her mother, who was concerned about her daughter's posture. For three years, Bosler studied with Mikhail Mordkin and the Swobodas before moving to New London, Connecticut, where her dance studies halted until high school. Dance training Bosler resumed her dance training while attending the progressive Cherry Lawn High School in Darien, Connecticut, focusing on modern and folk dancing under Hanya Holm protégée, Laura Morgan. She first attended the renowned Jacob's Pillow in Becket, Massachusetts, at the age of 15 between her sophomore and junior years of high school. Bosler returned for the following two summers as a scholarship student; dancing in the Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival, learning Pilates directly from its creator, Joseph Pilates, and earning the respect of Jacob's Pillow founder, Ted Shawn. After what Bosler considered a “disastrous” year at Barnard College, she left school to pursue a dance career. She studied with Hanya Holm as well as Cia Fornaroli and Merce Cunningham. Bosler's big break came in the spring of 1946 when she was cast in the tour of Bloomer Girl, choreographed by Agnes de Mille and starring Nanette Fabray. After observing Bosler's performance in the tour over the next nine months (which took her to cities such as Toronto, Boston, Los Angeles, and Washington, DC), de Mille requested that she fly to New York while on the Pittsburgh tour stop to audition for the upcoming Alan Jay Lerner/Frederick Loewe show, Brigadoon.