She won four Tony Awards for her musical comedy performances, and she served as an uncredited choreographer's assistant and specialty dance coach for theater and film.

Verdon was a critically acclaimed performer on Broadway in the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s, having originated many roles in musicals, including Lola in Damn Yankees, the title character in Sweet Charity, and Roxie Hart in Chicago.

[4] As a toddler, she suffered from rickets, which led to her being called "Gimpy" by other children and spent her early years in orthopedic boots and rigid leg braces.

At age 11, she appeared as a solo ballerina in the musical romance film The King Steps Out (1936), directed by Josef von Sternberg and starring Grace Moore and Franchot Tone.

[5] In 1942, Verdon's parents asked her to marry family friend and tabloid reporter James Henaghan after he got her pregnant at 17 years old, and she quit her dancing career to raise their child.

[citation needed] Early on, Verdon found a job as assistant to choreographer Jack Cole, whose work was respected by both Broadway and Hollywood movie studios.

She also taught dance to stars such as Jane Russell, Fernando Lamas, Lana Turner, Rita Hayworth, Betty Grable, and Marilyn Monroe.

Her breakthrough role finally came when choreographer Michael Kidd cast her as the second female lead in Cole Porter's musical Can-Can (1953), starring French prima donna Lilo.

With her role reduced to little more than an ensemble part, Verdon formally announced her intention to quit by the time the show premiered on Broadway.

But her opening-night Garden of Eden performance was so well-received that the audience screamed her name until the startled actress was brought from her dressing room in a towel to take a curtain call.

Verdon won another Tony and went to Hollywood to repeat her role in the 1958 movie version Damn Yankees, famously singing "Whatever Lola Wants".

It was followed by a movie version starring Shirley MacLaine as Charity, featuring Ricardo Montalbán, Sammy Davis Jr. and Chita Rivera, with Fosse at the helm of his first film as director and choreographer.

In the 1975 Broadway production of the Fosse-directed musical Chicago, Verdon originated the role of murderess Roxie Hart) opposite Chita Rivera's Velma Kelly.

Called simply Fosse, lacking any formal narrative, the revue was conceived and co-directed by Richard Maltby Jr. and Ann Reinking.

[27] The series, which tells the story of the couple's troubled personal and professional relationship, is based on the biography Fosse by Sam Wasson.