Billman, Larry

Author, choreographer, and dancer Larry Billman began his professional career at the age of 16 in his home town of Hollywood, California. He came to Las Vegas, Nevada in 1961 to be a dancer in the Johnny Mathis Show at the Sahara Hotel. He was a dancer and singer in the “Hello America” productions at the Desert Inn Hotel from 1965 to 1967 and in two Ann Margaret Shows in 1967 and 1969, one in Las Vegas, Nevada and one at Harrah's in Lake Tahoe, Nevada. Billman also wrote and directed "Fanny Hill," a lounge show production at the Desert Inn, Las Vegas, Nevada.

Billman wrote two biographies for Greenwood Press about Fred Astaire and Betty Grable and the first encyclopedia detailing the dance artists who made the movies ‘move,’ which referred to the movement provided by dance. He also directed six additions of the Ringling Brothers Barnum and Bailey Circus and founded the Academy of Dance on Film to document the importance of dance.

In 1969, he was employed by Walt Disney Attractions where he wrote, directed, and produced hundreds of live shows for Disneyland, Walt Disney World, Tokyo Disneyland, and Tokyo DisneySea. Larry Billman retired from the Disney Company in 2007. Billman was married to fellow performer, Tomoko Katsuko Sekiya from 1967 until his death in 2017.

Source: Stephen Schaffer, -Stephanie Stromer. "Larry E. Billman Obituary." Los Angeles Times Obituaries. May 6, 2017. Accessed March 19, 2019. https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/latimes/obituary.aspx?n=larry-e-billman&pid=185310482.