{{short description|American actress (1931–2000)}} {{Infobox dancer | name = Tad Tadlock | image = Tad Tadlock (deceased) publicity photo.jpg | image_size = | alt = Black-and-white publicity photo of a woman with black hair looking into the camera. | caption = Tadlock in undated photo | birth_name = Thelma Tadlock | birth_date = {{birth date|1931|1|13}} | birth_place = Port Arthur, Texas | death_date = {{death date and age|2000|12|8|1931|1|13}} | death_place = | citizenship = | education = | occupation = Dancer-choreographer | years_active = 1951–1994 | home_town = | height = | spouse = George Vosburgh Jr. | partner = | children = | website = <!-- {{URL|website}} --> | current_group = | former_groups = | dances = | module = }}
'''Thelma "Tad" Tadlock'''<ref name=beaumont>{{cite news|url=https://www.beaumontenterprise.com/news/article/Local-girl-made-good-in-50s-Big-Apple-5599038.php|title=Local girl made good in '50s Big Apple|first=Dan|last=Wallach|work=Beaumont Enterprise|location=Texas|date=July 7, 2014|accessdate=April 28, 2018|archivedate=April 29, 2018|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20180429024853/https://www.beaumontenterprise.com/news/article/Local-girl-made-good-in-50s-Big-Apple-5599038.php|url-status=bot: unknown}}Additional on April 28, 2018.</ref> (January 19, 1931 – December 8, 2000)<ref name=ssdi>{{cite web|url=https://www.familysearch.org/search/record/results?count=20&query=%2Bsurname%3ATadlock%20%2Bbirth_year%3A1931-1931~%20%2Bdeath_year%3A2000-2000~&collection_id=1202535 | title=Tad T. Tadlock| publisher=United States Social Security Death Index| via=FamilySearch.org| accessdate= April 28, 2018}}</ref><ref name=ibdb /> was an American dancer and choreographer known for her work in television, Broadway theater, and movies, including starring in the General Motors sponsored-film shorts "Design for Dreaming" (1956) a film which contributed scenes for Peter Gabriel's 1986 music video "In Your Eyes" and "A Touch of Magic" (1961).
==Early life== Tadlock was born in Port Arthur, Texas,<ref name=ibdb>{{cite web|url=http://www.ibdb.com/broadway-cast-staff/thelma-tadlock-95267| title=Thelma Tadlock: Performer|publisher=Internet Broadway Database (The Broadway League)|accessdate=April 28, 2018}}</ref> the daughter of Haydn H.<ref name=beaumont /> and florist Thelma Tadlock.<ref>{{cite news|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=7PdNAAAAYAAJ&q=tad+tadlock|title= [Title Unavailable] | work=Southern Florist and Nurseryman | volume =77|issue=14–26|page =26|date= 1964|publisher=Southern Florist Publishing Company|quote=Thelma Tadlock, Rose Hill Florists, Port Arthur, is having as her guest her daughter, Tad Tadlock, New York City. The two were in the Southeast Texas delegation to the TSFA [Texas State Florists' Association] convention in San Antonio recently.}}</ref> She trained for 15 years at the Florence Coleman School of Dance and served as a football majorette for Thomas Jefferson High School, where she graduated in 1949.<ref name=beaumont />
==Career== Tadlock moved to New York City in 1950<ref name=beaumont /> and made her Broadway debut as a dancer in the 1951 musical ''Make a Wish''.<ref name=ibdb /> Continuing her training at the Stanley School of Dance,<ref name=beaumont /> she went on to the Broadway-musical hits ''Top Banana'' (1951), ''Pal Joey'' (1952), and ''Me and Juliet'' (1953), billed in all as Thelma Tadlock, and both dancing and playing character roles in the latter two.<ref name=ibdb />
She then began work in television and film, working as a dancer and choreographer for decades, initially on TV's ''Your Hit Parade'' and ''The Arthur Murray Party''. Later billed as Tad Tadlock, she worked on ''Dance Fever'', ''The Dream Merchants'', ''Charlie's Angels'', ''Cheers'' and other programs, including ''Ziegfeld: The Man and His Women,''<ref>{{cite book|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=bN0TAQAAIAAJ&q=tad+tadlock|title= Film Choreographers and Dance Directors: An Illustrated Biographical Encyclopedia, With a History and Filmographies, 1893 Through 1995|date= 1997|first=Larry |last=Billman |publisher=McFarland & Company |isbn=978-0899508689|page=570}}</ref> and such events as the 1988 Miss Universe pageant<ref>{{cite news|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=P3RwAAAAMAAJ&q=tad+tadlock| title=[Title Unavailable]|work=Free China Review|volume=38|issue=7–12|publisher=W.Y. Tsao|year= 1988|language=en}}</ref> and the 1989 Super Bowl halftime show.<ref>{{cite book|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=dVzfAAAAMAAJ&q=tad+tadlock|title=3-D Movies: A History and Filmography of Stereoscopic Cinema|first=R. M. |last=Hayes|publisher=McFarland & Company|year= 1998|page=135|isbn= 978-0786405787}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1989-01-23-sp-735-story.html|title=Halftime Special Effects Are Less Than Effective|first=John|last= Nelson|agency= Associated Press| via=Los Angeles Times|date=January 23, 1989|access-date= April 28, 2018|archive-date=April 28, 2018|archive-url=https://archive.today/20180428204602/http://articles.latimes.com/1989-01-23/sports/sp-735_1_special-effects|url-status=live}}</ref> Her movies included ''Heaven's Gate'' (as "additional choreographer"), ''Body Heat'' and ''Irreconcilable Differences''. Tadlock also worked as a spokeswoman, actress, model, and dancer in numerous commercials, including for United Airlines.<ref name=beaumont />
[[File:Tad Tadlock, Marc Breaux, Design for Dreaming.png|thumb|Tadlock and Marc Breaux in "Design for Dreaming" (1956)]]
She as well performed in multimedia presentations for clients including Toyota,<ref name=beaumont /> and is perhaps best known for two General Motors sponsored-film shorts that have become cult classics:<ref name=atlas>{{cite web|url=https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/whats-a-1956-general-motors-ad-doing-in-the-stepford-wives-and-super-mario| title=What's a 1956 General Motors Ad Doing in 'The Stepford Wives' and Super Mario? | first=Rose|last=Everleth|date= February 9, 2016|publisher=Atlas Obscura|accessdate=April 28, 2018|archivedate= June 17, 2017|archiveurl= https://web.archive.org/web/20170617175845/https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/whats-a-1956-general-motors-ad-doing-in-the-stepford-wives-and-super-mario|url-status=live}}</ref> the musicals "Design for Dreaming" (1956), directed by William Beaudine, and "A Touch of Magic" (1961), directed by Victor D. Solow.
In the first, which has gone on to be excerpted and sampled in a host of media,<ref name=atlas /> Tadlock plays an unnamed woman who dreams about a masked man (dancer and choreographer Marc Breaux) taking her to the 1956 General Motors Motorama at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, and to Frigidaire's "Kitchen of the Future".<ref name=GMofficial>{{cite web|url= https://history.gmheritagecenter.com/wiki/index.php/1956_Motorama:_Design_for_Dreaming |title=1956 Motorama: Design for Dreaming|publisher=General Motors Heritage Center|accessdate=April 28, 2018|archivedate=October 21, 2017|archiveurl= https://web.archive.org/web/20171021161315/https://history.gmheritagecenter.com/wiki/index.php/1956_Motorama:_Design_for_Dreaming|url-status=live}}</ref> It was included in a fifth-season episode of ''Mystery Science Theater 3000'' in 1994. In the equally highly stylized "A Touch of Magic", Tadlock plays a medieval woman menaced by a dragon and rescued by a knight. She and the man then suddenly become a modern-day suburban couple with a magical kitchen, hosting a housewarming party attended by invisible guests, and then dancing dreamily on a cloud.
==Personal life== In June 1960, in New York City, Tadlock married George Vosburgh Jr., an assistant director of the 1958 feature documentary ''Windjammer'' and later a TV game-show producer. Her reception was held in the home of talk-show host and TV personality Merv Griffin.<ref name=beaumont /> Following her marriage, she was billed at least once as Tad Tadlock Vosburgh.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-uQ5AAAAIAAJ&q=tad+tadlock| title=[Title Unknown]| work=High Fidelity|volume=12|issue= 1|page=90|year=1962}}</ref> Tadlock was living in Tarzana, California, at the time of her death<ref name=ssdi /> from cancer.<ref name=beaumont />
==Legacy== The Museum of the Gulf Coast maintains a Tad Tadlock permanent exhibit.<ref>{{cite web|url= http://www.museumofthegulfcoast.org/tad-tadlock|title=Thelma 'Tad' Tadlock| publisher=Museum of the Gulf Coast| accessdate=April 28, 2018|archivedate= April 28, 2018|archiveurl=https://archive.today/20180428192115/http://www.museumofthegulfcoast.org/tad-tadlock |url-status=live}}</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== * {{IMDb name|0846327}} * [https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0903632/ George Vosburgh] on IMDb *[https://web.archive.org/web/20180429092126/http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2bb00ece22 Tad Tadlock] at the British Film Institute{{better source needed|reason=Help request: a live link can be searched for at https://collections-search.bfi.org.uk/web/search/expert - if available, replace the archive URL with the live link. Or if none found, remove this 'better source needed' template. | date=October 2023}} * {{Find a Grave | id=81156275|name=Thelma "Tad" Tadlock}} *{{cite news|url=https://www.austinchronicle.com/screens/1996-12-13/525791/| title=Motoramas in Pink Pajamas and Other Illusions from When Life Was Mighty Swell|first=Jesse|last=Sublett|date=December 13, 1996|accessdate= April 28, 2018|work=Austin Chronicle | location=Texas|archivedate=September 12, 2015|archiveurl= https://web.archive.org/web/20150912082756/http://www.austinchronicle.com/screens/1996-12-13/525791/|url-status=live}} *{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1962/10/16/archives/mormon-concern-purchases-wrul-shortwave-station-here-is-sold-by.html|title=Mormon Concern Purchases WRUL > [second item] Sandburg to Star| work=The New York Times| date= October 16, 1962| page=78}} {{subscription required}} *{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iIcqAAAAMAAJ&q=tad+tadlock| title=Journal of Health, Physical Education, Recreation |volume=45 |publisher=American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, and Recreation |year= 1974 |page=110}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Tadlock, Tad}} Category:1931 births Category:2000 deaths Category:20th-century American actresses Category:Actresses from Texas Category:American female dancers Category:Dancers from Texas Category:American film actresses Category:American musical theatre actresses Category:American stage actresses Category:American television actresses Category:20th-century American singers Category:20th-century American women singers Category:20th-century American dancers