Born in Durban, South Africa,[1] Michael Maule was a descendant of Scottish immigrants who had settled in the province of Natal, on the Indian Ocean.
[2] His early training in ballet took place in Pietermaritzburg and Durban, first under Nancy Hooper-Graham and then, from age fourteen, under Eileen Keegan and Dorothea McNair,[3] all teachers of the Cecchetti method.
[5] Once established in New York, Maule made his professional debut in the United States in the original Broadway production of Annie Get Your Gun (1946), a long-running hit starring Ethel Merman singing the songs of Irving Berlin.
Maule was not a bravura dancer, but he possessed a sound classical technique, and his fine Scottish looks—a sturdy figure, handsome head, pale complexion, and light red hair—added to his strong stage presence.
[6] In 1953, Maule was first choice for the role of Charlie Chisholm Dalrymple, the bridegroom in the movie version of Brigadoon (1954), a romantic fantasy of an enchanted village in the Scottish Highlands.