Harold Nicholas 1921-2000.

THAT DYNAMIC TAP dance duo the Nicholas Brothers is sadly diminished with the death of Harold from heart failure on July 3. He was 79.

Harold was the one who added spice to Fayard's elegance. Together they dominated the spectacular type of tap known as the "flash" acts. The brothers, who had the advantage of free access to the vaudeville theaters where their musician parents played, were self-taught. Their mother took Fayard, from age 3, to the theater with her, where he watched all the acts. The dancers made the strongest impression on him, and by age 12, he was making up routines that he taught 6-year-old Harold. As soon as the latter had mastered the fundamentals, he started to make changes. "Harold was full of his own ideas," commented his older brother.

They were born in an era when all performing venues were strictly segregated by race. Had it not been for Hollywood, it is doubtful that the wider society would have discovered their artistry. Prior to their cinematic breakthrough, they had played in black clubs and vaudeville houses in their native Philadelphia and, later, in the wider but still restricted arena of New York.

They made their first movie in 1934 and their last in 1948. Their film careers paralleled Fred Astaire's, but the only time they appeared with him was in a home movie shot on the RKO back lot between "takes" for an Astaire movie. Throughout his career, Harold's taste for the high life kept him moving in and out of marriage with a succession of beautiful women, including actress Dorothy Dandridge, whom he met in Hollywood.

With his brother, and later as a solo artist, Harold Nicholas appeared in more than fifty movies, including The Big Broadcast of 1936 (1935), Down Argentine Way (1940), Tin Pan Alley (1940) and Sun Valley Serenade (1941).

Engagements dried up for tap dancers to a great extent in the 1950s, and the brothers accepted opportunities in Europe, but by 1958 Fayard wanted to return home. Harold stayed and played dates in Scandinavia, France and Italy as a solo act. He also sang a lot in cabarets and variety shows, which he enjoyed. For seven years, the brothers worked separately. A television engagement on comedian Ed Wynn's Hollywood Palace brought them back together in 1964. Fayard was 50 and Harold was 43 when they repeated their staircase number from the 1943 film Stormy Weather, complete with their famous "nohands" rise from splits.

By the end of the 1960s, the two brothers had stopped performing together. Harold continued as a solo performer, appearing in Broadway shows such as The Tap Dance Kid and Sophisticated Ladies and acting occasionally in movies, including Uptown Saturday Night (1974).

The two brothers received Kennedy Center Honors in 1991 and Dance Magazine Awards four years later. In recent years, Harold made guest appearances with a variety of tap dance companies. He didn't dance, but carried a walking stick with a jaunty air and made witty asides to match the twinkle in his eye. He dressed in the 1930s style made famous by the trend-setting Duke of Windsor. He liked fame, and he deservedly enjoyed it to the end of his life.

Survivors, in addition to Fayard, include Harold's third wife, Rigmor Newman Nicholas, and niece Lauren Porter, a dancer with San Francisco's Lines Contemporary Ballet.

Contributing editor Don McDonagh is also author of The Rise and Fall and Rise of Modern Dance and the introduction to The Encyclopedia of Modern Dance.