Venora Leonard, a vaudeville star and movie actor, taught dance until shortly before her death at 93.
By MARTY CLEAR
Published January 23, 2004
BAYSHORE BEAUTIFUL - She was the goddaughter of a king, and by age 6 she was a popular vaudeville performer. She danced on stage with Fred Astaire and appeared in about 30 movies.
And for the past eight years, Venora Leonard was one of Tampa Recreation Department's oldest volunteers. She taught dance and tai chi classes at the Ballast Point and Barksdale centers until shortly before her death Jan. 16. She was 93.
"She was one of the most popular teachers they had," said her son, Bob Leonard, a history professor at Hillsborough Community College in Ybor City. "Sometimes she'd have 100 students in her class. She never told them that she was legally blind, that she couldn't see anyone past the first row. Some people took a whole class from her and never knew."
Mrs. Leonard was born in Belgium. Her American parents were staying in Brussels, where her father, theatrical producer Bolossy Kiralfy, was producing shows for the 1910 World's Fair. He was a good friend of Belgium's King Albert I, who became Venora's godfather.
She grew up in show business and started her own career at age 5, dancing with her brother, Calvin Kiralfy. They first called themselves the Kiralfy Kids but later changed the name to the Kaye Kids. She was known as Nona Kaye.
Her father instilled in her a love of the stage and a fierce commitment to duty and responsibility.
"When her father was 87, his health was such that she wanted to cancel a show in London to be with him," her son said. "He told her, "No matter what, if you're a performer you must do the show, you must show people your talents."'
She performed at the Palladium, and as she left the stage was told her father had died.
She continued her career, mostly in Europe, as a solo performer or with her brother and larger groups. At one point, on a London stage, she filled in as a partner for a young Fred Astaire.
"It was before he was a movie star," her son said. "My mother said he was very talented but very shy."
Through the 1930s, she appeared as a dancer or actor in about 30 films, mostly escapist British musicals.
In 1942, while touring U.S. military bases entertaining soldiers headed for war, she met Marston Leonard at Drew Field in Tampa.
"He was the most fascinating gentleman I had ever met, and he just swept me off my feet," she said in an interview with the St. Petersburg Times two years ago. "He was a popular person in the Air Force, and we had a great life together."
After a two-week courtship, the couple married and honeymooned at Pinellas County beaches. Then he went off to war in Europe.
The Leonards had two sons, Bob and Lawrence. For many years, the family lived in Framingham, Mass., where Mrs. Leonard ran a large and successful dance school.
"They sort of guided us by example," Bob Leonard said. "I don't remember either of them spanking us or anything. But there was just something about them, both of them, that made you not want to disappoint them."
Climate brought Mr. and Mrs. Leonard to Charlotte County in the 1960s. After her husband died, she moved to Canterbury Towers on Bayshore Boulevard eight years ago. She taught tai chi to her fellow residents, then began volunteering for the Tampa Recreation Department.
Failing eyesight and health forced her to quit teaching last year, and she spent many months in the nursing care section of Canterbury Towers. She stayed active until her death from complications of pneumonia.
"She was weak, but she was still exercising the day before she died," her son said. "She was always incredibly energetic, and she made the people around her that way, too. Throughout her life she energized people, and she sort of thought that was her purpose in life."
Mrs. Leonard is survived by her two sons, Bob and Lawrence, their wives, Barbara and Jeanette, and three grandchildren.
