American dancer, choreographer and actor Archie Savage was BOTD in 1914. Born in Norfolk, Virginia, he was raised in Harlem in New York City. In the 1930s, he joined the Hemsley Winfield’s Dance Troupe in the 1930s, and socialising with the luminaries of the Harlem Renaissance, including singer Ethel Waters and the photographer Carl van Vechten, for whom he modelled several times. He danced in several Broadway productions during the 1930s, including Dance With Your Gods, Macbeth, Dr. Faustus, Haiti, Beggar’s Holiday and Lysistrata. In 1939, he met the African-American dancer and choreographer Katherine Dunham, who invited him to join her dance troupe, first as a principal dancer and later as a teacher. In 1940, he, Dunham and Waters undertook a successful national tour of the Broadway musical Cabin in the Sky, shocking segregated audiences with their forthright presentation of Black dance culture. He formed his own dance troupe, The Archie Savage Dancers, with whom he appeared in stage productions and the musical short films Carnival of Rhythm and Jammin’ the Blues. He returned to Broadway for the 1949 premiere of the musical South Pacific starring Mary Martin, later appearing in the London production and the 1958 film version. Based on recommendations of his friend Orson Welles, he was cast in the 1954 films Vera Cruz and His Majesty O’Keefe, becoming the first Black actor in an ensemble cast of a Hollywood Western. Both films starred Burt Lancaster, who became a friend and with whom he may have had a relationship. In the late 1950s, he relocated to Italy, starring in the 1960 film Space-Men, making him one of the first actors of colour to portray an astronaut. His last known film appearance was in Pier Paolo Pasolini’s 1970’s film Notes Towards an African Orestes, chronicling Pasolini’s unsuccessful attempt to make a film of Aeschylus’ Oresteia trilogy set in Africa. In the 1970s, Savage returned to America and focused on teaching and choreography. Little is known of his later life or personal relationships. He died in Los Angeles in 2003, aged 88. His is now hailed as a pioneer in African-American dance and a leading exponent of the Afro/Cuban dance form.