Nicholas Johnson (1947-2007). British dancer, actor and director

Nicholas Johnson was born in London in 1947, and although his father was English, he was mostly brought up by his Polish mother and uncle. He was educated at the Lycée Français in London, and spoke French, English, Polish and Spanish fluently. He studied at The Royal Ballet School and joined The Royal Ballet Touring Company in 1965. Johnson became a soloist in 1968 and a principal in 1970 and transferred to The Royal Ballet at Covent Garden in 1973 where he extended his repertoire of leading roles.

In 1975 Johnson joined London Festival (later English National) Ballet as a principal. He danced many leading roles there until 1990, only taking time out in the mid 1980s to dance with Natalia Makarova in the musical On Your Toes at the Palace Theatre. He got a taste for acting and trained at the Actor’s Centre in preparation for a new direction in his career. His show, written by David Powell and based on the life of the great dancer Vaslav Nijinsky, was called Death of a Faun and enjoyed a huge success at the Edinburgh Festival in 1991. The play subsequently toured the world. Nicholas Johnson was married to the ballerina Laura Connor, and continued to perform