Rupert Doone
(August 14, 1903 - March 3, 1966) U. K.
Dancer and choreographer
Born Ernest Reginald Woodfield in Redditch, the son of a Worcestershire needle factory foreman, at age 16 Doone ran away from home to find a career on stage. He became a pupil of leading ballet teachers in residence in London. At 19 he left London for Paris, where he became a protégé and lover of Jean Cocteau.
An extraordinary performer, Doone appeared in Cocteau's Roméo et Juliette, but his terrible temper quickly alienated his fellow dancers and was dismissed from the company. He went back to London in 1924. In 1926 Doone met and became the lover of painter Robert Medley with whom he returned to Paris, and with whom he would spend the rest of his life. Here he was noticed by Diaghilev, who engaged him as principal dancer for the Ballets Russes' Covent Garden season in June 1929.
His career with that legendary company was cut short when the impresario died in August and the company disbanded. Doone gave up dance to concentrate on theatre, and worked primarily as director of dramatic productions for the remainder of his career. Doone worked at Morley College until 1962. He began suffering from a loss of motor control, which proved to be due to multiple sclerosis. He underwent electrical treatments to try to alleviate the condition, but to no avail.
Medley was frustrated in his efforts to care for Doone by a doctor who "saw no reason to discuss his patient's medical affairs with a person who had no legal rights to information." He was subsequently able to find another doctor, Bevan Pritchard, who respected their relationship.
In 1965 Medley retired from the Camberwell School of Arts and Crafts, where he had taught since 1958, to care for Doone. In the fall of 1965, however, Doone required hospitalization. He died in 1966.
Excerpts from: Aldrich R. & Wotherspoon G., Who's Who in Gay and Lesbian History, from Antiquity to WWII, Routledge, London, 2001 - and other sources
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