Ernie Flatt; Dancer, Choreographer and Director

Dancer-choreographer-director Ernie Flatt, 76, who won an Emmy for his work with the “Carol Burnett Show.” Born Ernest Orville Flatt on Oct. 30, 1918, in Denver, he had danced with Gene Kelly in “Singin’ in the Rain” and had choreographed the movie version of “Anything Goes.” On television, he debuted on “Your Hit Parade” in the 1950s. The Ernie Flatt Dancers performed on the “Garry Moore Show” in the 1950s and 1960s, the “Judy Garland Show” in 1963 and 1964, “The Entertainers” in 1964 and 1965, the “Steve Lawrence Show” in 1965, and the long-running Burnett show, for which he won an Emmy in 1971. Broadway choreography credits include “Sugar Babies” in 1979 with Mickey Rooney and Anne Miller; “Fade Out, Fade In” with Burnett; “Lorelei” with Carol Channing; and, most recently, a 1989-90 show called “Durante,” based on the life of Jimmy Durante. Many of Flatt’s Broadway hits appeared in Southern California theaters. In the 1950s, he choreographed dances for productions of the Los Angeles Civic Light Opera including “Annie Get Your Gun” and “Grand Hotel.” Flatt lived in Palm Springs, but was building a new home in northern New Mexico. In Taos, N.M., on June 10 after an aortic hemorrhage.