Bert Prival; Retired Dancer, Teacher

Bert Prival, a professional dancer who taught at his Valley dance studio until he was 75, has died at a Bakersfield hospital. He was 85.

Prival, a resident of Lake Isabella and a former Sherman Oaks resident, died Monday of complications of pneumonia, said his son, Leland Prival.

Born in Englewood, N.J., Prival received his dance training in Germany and New York and went on to dance with the Metropolitan Opera in New York during the early 1920s. He also appeared in vaudeville. He came to California in the mid-1930s to perform with the Hollywood Ballet Company. In 1939, he opened the Bert Prival School of Ballet & Theater Arts in Studio City, which later moved to Sherman Oaks in 1954. Prival, who worked at Lockheed Corp. in Burbank during World War II, taught dance students and led a semiprofessional dance troupe that performed throughout Los Angeles area.

Prival appeared in several films including “Puttin’ On the Ritz” (1930) and “The Emperor Waltz” (1948). He also choreographed for KTLA-TV from the early to mid-1950s and for NBC-TV shows from the late 1950s through the 1960s. He retired from the dance studio 10 years ago but remained its co-owner along with his son, Leland Prival.

He is survived by his wife of 54 years, Mary Prival of Lake Isabella; sons Leland Prival of Sherman Oaks and Tim Prival of Portland, Ore.; daughter Melody Ortega of Los Angeles; and three grandsons. His son, Michael Prival, died last October.

Services will be private. Valley Mortuary in Lake Isabella is handling the arrangements. Donations may be made in Prival’s name to UCLA for pneumonia research.