Stephen Papich, 80; Choreographer, Author and Stage Producer

Choreographer, stage producer and author Stephen Papich, 80, died Dec. 16 of cancer at his home in Los Angeles, said his friend Robert Wood.

Through the 1950s, Papich was a staff choreographer at 20th Century Fox studios, where he worked on a number of films, including “Demetrius and the Gladiators” with Victor Mature, “Desiree,” starring Marlon Brando as Napoleon Bonaparte, and “South Pacific” with Mitzi Gaynor.

Papich then worked as a producer and director for the Hollywood Bowl from 1955 to 1965 and produced “Gay ‘90s Night,” which toured the country in 1959, sponsored by the Bowl. He also produced “Winner Take All,” a musical that opened at the Huntington Hartford Theater in Los Angeles in 1976.

Papich’s long friendship with singer and actress Josephine Baker is detailed in his memoir “Remembering Josephine Baker” (1976). He produced and directed Baker’s touring show in the United States in the 1960s and early ‘70s.

Born in St. David, Ill., he studied dance as a child and later earned a scholarship to study with pioneering modern dance choreographer Katherine Dunham in New York City. He began his Hollywood career at Fox in 1951. In the 1960s he produced a Katherine Dunham dance and music stage show.