There are a few who I would have liked to see dance in a more formal way...well, I don't mean "formal" exactly - but as trained dancers....people who seemed to have the gift of movement and grace without actually the training.<P>Like Yul Brynner - I think he would have been interesting to watch really dance.<P>or Greer Garson - she always seemed so graceful to me.<P>

Roberto Benigni -- that scene in "Life Is Beautiful" where he does a schtick, playing both waiter and maitre'd at the same time is delightful. And who can forget when he playfully marched to his death with a smile so as not to frighten his child. <P>Kevin Kline has no formal dance training that I know of but that scene in "In and Out" where he listens to an audiotape about how to act macho and, despite admonitions to the contrary, breaks out into a fullblown dance because his body gets the better of him, is worth watching again and again. I think he is a natural mover. Again, think of him doing battle with the bats in the attic in "The Big Chill." <P>Bruce Willis didn't look half bad in the dance Stanley Donen choreographed for him for a dream sequence of "Moonlighting." <P>I think many times it is actors with a humorous bent to them that do well with movment by virtue of a 'looser' personality-- e.g., Carol Burnett. <P>

Charlie Chaplin - had such a natural instinct for movement and timing (and was a lover of the ballet - we owe some of our film clips of Anna Pavlova to him) - would have been fun to see what he could do if he had been trained as a dancer.

Kenneth Branagh as a character dancer.

I would like to have seen "Bush" as a dancer. That would made him much eh ....... I'sorry, i forgot that word. Could you help me?

The American President who was most famous as a dancer was George Washington. He was very much in demand on the dance floor - and he loved to dance. He was known to be extremely graceful both as a dancer and as a horseman. Many of the contemporary descriptions of him mention his natural grace.<P>Hey - Berry - I wouldn't mind dancing with President Bush - at all....!!

Henry VIII - was supposed to turn a nice leg when he was youg - before he got fat and nasty; Queen Elizabeth I - also supposed to be able to cut a fine figure; Richard III - according to what the Countess of Salisbury (his niece - daughter of his brother, Clarence, and later executed by Henry VIII) said, he did NOT have a hunch back, was quite handsome, and danced well.

French King Louis XIV - we KNOW he was a very good dancer - we still have a ballet step named in his honor "Royale" it was supposed to be his favorite step.<P>For those of you how remember Mohammed Ali when he was young - he was extraordinarily graceful too. I bet he would have been a good dancer.

Wasn't ol' Louis rather portly? I thought the royale came from his inability to hoist himself off the ground for more difficult beats. Of course, weight never stopped Jackie Gleason from being one of the most graceful men ever to take the stage.

Yes, Christina. My old teacher, John Callender, used to tell the story that, no matter how hard he tried, old Louis could never do an entrechat quatre/six. . .etc. All he could do was "bang his legs together." So instead of embarrassing his Royal Highness, they just refined the "jump" he COULD do and named it the "royale." Mr. Callander used to tell it much better, with wild hand gestures and facial expressions -- leaving all of us teenage ballerinas in stitches.<P>In my opinion, (switching back to the forum topic) so many of the comedic actors who worked their way through Saturday Night Live/Second City circuits. Gilda Radner, Steve Martin, Lorraine Newman, and even today, Molly Shannon and Chris Kattan, etc, are fabulous movers -- would have made very accomplished dancers had they gone that route.<P>tura

And how 'bout their predecessors -- like Dick Van Dyke, Red Skelton, Sid Caesar?

Maybe what we are saying here is that there needs to be an inward grace for there to be an appearance of contrived awkwardness as in the case of comedians. <P>It's an interesting thought isn't it?<P>I always thought Jack Benny was very graceful.<P>Ok - I know you weren't born yet and don't remember him. He is credited with having the longest audience laugh ever recorded - and he did it totally with body gesture - he never said a word.

Let's not forget my favorite Lucille Ball. When she went to ballet class, or did any of the shows at the club. She was just perfect. Remember when she gets the cramp in her leg trying to jump over the stick in the Circus Act?

Dick Van Dyke is one of my favorites as well!! He was actually quite an accomplished hoofer according to my grandmother, who took tap dance lessons with him and his brother, Jerry, when they were kids in Danville, IL. She tells me that Dick was definitely the more accomplished mover of the two.<P>I adore watching him dance through "Mary Poppins."<P>tura

Yes, yes, yes -- and how about Buddy Ebsen (the Beverly Hillbillies). Now there was a hoofer too!