Frances Taylor Davis

[4] Her instructor encouraged her to audition for the Edna McRae School of the Dance, where she became the only African American student.

[5][1] Taylor finished high school, then briefly attended college but decided to pursue a dancing career instead.

[6][1] She received rave reviews from the press for her performances in Paris and was compared to French ballet dancer Leslie Caron.

[5] In 1953, Taylor was asked by Sammy Davis Jr. to appear as his girlfriend in the ill-fated ABC TV show Three for the Road – with the Will Mastin Trio.

The cast included actresses Ruth Attaway and Jane White, as well as Frederick O'Neal who founded the American Negro Theater.

A pilot was filmed in the fall of 1953,[9] but the show was postponed and eventually dropped when ABC was unable to get a sponsor.

[10][11] In 1954, Taylor rejoined the Dunham troupe as a lead dancer for engagements in Rome[12] but later relocated to New York City so she could act on Broadway.

Taylor appeared in Off-Broadway productions of Porgy and Bess and Carmen Jones at New York City Center.

On West Side Story's opening night in September 1957, Taylor received the company's "gypsy robe" for being the outstanding dancer in the cast.

[15] When Davis married Taylor in December 1959,[16] he not only insisted that she quit West Side Story, but hampered her career in other ways.

[11] Following her split from Davis in 1965, Taylor taught private dance classes, appeared in television specials with performers such as Elvis Presley,[4] and had a role as the maid in the film The Party (1968).

[20][21] Durand was of Haitian descent and also a member of the Katherine Dunham troupe; he and Frances met in Argentina in 1954.

[18] Wrote Davis in his 1990 memoir Miles: The Autobiography: "Every time I hit her, I felt bad because a lot of it really wasn't her fault but had to do with me being temperamental and jealous."