{{Short description|American dancer and writer (1931–2021)}} {{More citations needed|date=September 2024}} thumb|Hal de Becker
'''Haldor de Becker''' (July 31, 1931 – May 13, 2021) was an American dancer and writer about dance.
==Personal life== The third generation of a theatrical family, de Becker was born in New York City, the son of stage and film actor Harold de Becker<ref>{{cite web|title=Harold de Becker|url=https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0207321|website=IMDB|access-date=28 January 2016}}</ref> and actress Dorothy Daniels de Becker, who performed in Abie’s Irish Rose, the longest running play in Broadway history.<ref>{{cite web|title= Dorothy Daniels de Becker|url=https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0207320/bio?ref_=nm_ov_bio_sm|website=IMDB|access-date=28 January 2016}}</ref>
In 1950, he married Frances Katz (died in 1970).<ref>{{cite web|last1=Scalet|first1=Sarah D.|title=Interview with Gavin de Becker|url=http://www.csoonline.com/article/2117323/infosec-staffing/interview-with-gavin-de-becker.html|website=CSO Online|access-date=28 January 2016}}</ref> They had two children, one of whom is security specialist and author Gavin de Becker.{{Citation needed|date=September 2024}}
In 1958, he met dancer Linda Wahner (now Shoemaker) in a ballet class, and they married a year later and divorced in 1979. They have four children, Hal Jr., Belinda, Brian, and Douglas.<ref>{{cite web |last1=de Becker, III |first1=Hal |title=Hal de Becker |url=https://debeckerinvestigations.com/hal-de-becker.html |website=DeBecker Investigations, Inc |access-date=30 March 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Wagner |first1=Bruce |title=Dead Stars: A Novel |date=August 2, 2012 |publisher=Plume (August 2, 2012) |isbn=978-0399159350 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rhj-mV6czyQC&q=dead+stars+hal+debecker&pg=PT418}}</ref>
==Career== De Becker’s career began as a child actor on Broadway.<ref>{{cite web|title=Haldor deBecker, Performer|url=http://www.playbillvault.com/person/detail/58488/haldor-debecker|website=Playbill Vault|publisher=Playbill|access-date=28 January 2016}}</ref> He appeared on stage with Ingrid Bergman, Burgess Meredith, and Elia Kazan, and he appeared in films with Marlene Dietrich, Elizabeth Taylor, and Mickey Rooney<ref>{{cite news|title=Las Vegas Puts On a Great Show|url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/55833724|access-date=28 January 2016|publisher=Kansas City Times|date=July 26, 1965}}</ref> with credits in National Velvet and other films.<ref>{{cite web|title= Harold de Becker, Jr.|url=https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0065330/|website=IMDb|access-date=28 January 2016}}</ref>
His contact with the dance world began in 1944 when legendary choreographer George Balanchine set a dance for him and two other young actors appearing in the world premiere of Song of Norway.
He and his wife at the time, Linda Wahner, toured Europe from 1961 to 1964 performing as “Belinda and de Becker.”<ref>{{Cite journal|url = http://www.callbacknews.com/chronicle-of-the-las-vegas-dance-scene-from-1987/337-1963|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20161021151450/http://www.callbacknews.com/chronicle-of-the-las-vegas-dance-scene-from-1987/337-1963|url-status = usurped|archive-date = October 21, 2016|title = As I See It|last = de Becker|first = Hal|date = November 1963|journal = Dance Magazine|access-date = 2016-02-01}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Las Vegas Puts On a Great Show|url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/55833724|access-date=28 January 2016|publisher=Kansas City Times|date=July 26, 1965}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Entertainment Section|url=https://archive.org/stream/zandvoort.newspapers.1964.zandvoorts.nieuwsblad/1964.Zandvoorts.Nieuwsblad_djvu.txt|access-date=28 January 2016|publisher=Zandvoorts Nieuwsblad|date=1964}}</ref> They appeared with many stars, including Liberace and Nat King Cole. He produced shows in the US and Europe.
De Becker danced principal roles in the Los Angeles City Ballet, Southern California Ballet, and Grand Opera Company of Los Angeles, and musicals including ''Oklahoma!'' and ''Plain and Fancy''.
De Becker worked with choreographers David Lichine, Joseph Rickard and Adam Darius. In 1958 he danced in Darius’s ballet Quartet along with Prima Ballerina Cynthia Gregory. His dance teachers included Michel Panaieff, Bronislava Nijinska, Leon Varkas, Michael Brigante, Irina Kosmovska and Carmelita Maracci. Later, in Paris, he trained with Madame Nora and Serge Perette and in Spain with Hector Zaraspe, Juan Magrina and Elsa Von Allen.
In the 1950s, de Becker worked for a private detective agency in Los Angeles to pay for his dance classes, and in 1968 he opened one of the first private detective agencies ever licensed in Nevada.<ref>{{cite web|title=About Hal de Becker Sr.|url=http://www.qualityreportingservice-debecker-sr.com/index.html|website=Quality Reporting Services|access-date=28 January 2016}}</ref> The Las Vegas Sun Newspaper dubbed him as “The Dancing Detective.” For 25 years, de Becker taught hundreds of professional dancers in Hollywood and in Las Vegas including Backstage Dance Studio,<ref>{{cite web|title=Hal de Becker|url=http://sueanntownsend.com/testimonials-and-press/|website=Sueann Townsend|access-date=28 January 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=42 Years of Instructors: 1973-2015|url=http://www.backstagedance.com/40_YEARS.html|website=Backstage Studio|access-date=28 January 2016|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160205050401/http://www.backstagedance.com/40_YEARS.html|archive-date=5 February 2016}}</ref> and in 1986 he directed the Las Vegas Civic Ballet Company.
De Becker wrote articles for various dance journals, such as Dance Magazine, since the sixties.<ref>{{Cite web|title = 1963 - Callback News|url = http://www.callbacknews.com/chronicle-of-the-las-vegas-dance-scene-from-1987/337-1963|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20161021151450/http://www.callbacknews.com/chronicle-of-the-las-vegas-dance-scene-from-1987/337-1963|url-status = usurped|archive-date = October 21, 2016|website = www.callbacknews.com|access-date = 2016-02-01|first = Hal de|last = Becker}}</ref> He was dance critic<ref>{{cite web|title=Nevada Ballet Theatre now boasts a celebrity swan|url=http://knpr.org/dc-blog/nevada-ballet-theatre-now-boasts-celebrity-swan|website=KNPR|access-date=28 January 2016}}</ref> for the New Times and Las Vegas Sun Newspaper, City Life, Las Vegas Weekly,<ref>{{cite web|title=Dance Orgies and Tutus|url=http://lasvegasweekly.com/news/archive/2005/feb/10/dance-orgies-and-tutus/|website=Las Vegas Weekly|access-date=28 January 2016}}</ref> and Desert Companion magazines. He's also written for Dance Europe, and reviewed for Dance Magazine.<ref>{{cite web|title=Nevada Ballet Theatre|url=http://dancemagazine.com/reviews/nevada_ballet_theatre/|website=Dance Magazine|access-date=28 January 2016}}</ref> From 1995 to 1998 his Las Vegas Beat column appeared in New York’s Dance and the Arts Magazine.
In 2007, de Becker wrote the foreword for Adam Darius’s autobiography, ''Arabesque Through Time: A Life in Ballet through Three Centuries''.<ref>{{cite book|page=foreword|last1=Darius|first1=Adam|title=Arabesque Through Time: A Life in Ballet through Three Centuries|date=2007|publisher=Harlequinade Books|isbn=9789519823249|edition=1st}}</ref> De Becker has reviewed nearly every major dance company from the Bolshoi and Kirov (St. Petersburg) Ballets to Paris Opera Ballet, NYC Ballet, Joffrey Ballet,<ref>{{cite web|title=Joffrey Ballet Rite On|url=http://www.callbacknews.com/hal-de-becker-to-the-point/234-joffrey-ballet-rite-on|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160202061047/http://www.callbacknews.com/hal-de-becker-to-the-point/234-joffrey-ballet-rite-on|url-status=usurped|archive-date=February 2, 2016|website=Callback News|access-date=28 January 2016}}</ref> American Ballet Theatre, Twyla Tharp Company and dance troupes from China, New Zealand, Mexico, Korea, Switzerland, Argentina, Africa and elsewhere.<ref>{{cite web|title=Ballet's Superstar Showcased on Video|url=http://www.ananiashvili.com/reviews/video_film/nina_starstourvideo.htm|website=Nina Ananiashvili|access-date=28 January 2016}}</ref>
More than 600 of de Becker’s articles appear online in Callback News, reflecting 30 years of history of dance in Las Vegas.<ref>{{cite web|title=To the Point|url=http://www.callbacknews.com/hal-de-becker-to-the-point|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151126095355/http://www.callbacknews.com/hal-de-becker-to-the-point|url-status=usurped|archive-date=November 26, 2015|website=Callback News|access-date=28 January 2016}}</ref> Becker died May 13, 2021, in Las Vegas.<ref>{{cite web |title=Hal de Becker Sr. |url=https://obituaries.reviewjournal.com/obituary/hal-de-becker-sr-1083268570 |publisher=Las Vegas Review-Journal |access-date=8 October 2021}}</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== *{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20010201060200/http://callbacknews.com/ Callback News]}} * {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20150117124334/http://www.callbacknews.com/chronicle-of-the-las-vegas-dance-scene-from-1987 Chronicle of the Las Vegas Dance Scene From 1987]}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:de Becker, Hal}} Category:1931 births Category:2021 deaths Category:American male dancers Category:Dancers from New York City Category:Writers from New York City