By Adam Goldman
Las Vegas (AP) -- Cholly Atkins, who choreographed the smooth moves of countless Motown artists and won a Tony Award when he was 75, has died. He was 89.
Atkins died of pancreatic cancer Saturday night at a hospital, according to his family.
Cholly Atkins was born Charles Atkinson on Sept. 13, 1913, in Pratt City, Ala. He found his career in 1923, after winning a Charleston dance contest in Buffalo, N.Y., and became a singing waiter and dancing bootblack. He made a name for himself as a tap dancer in the 1930s, touring small black venues before forming The Rhythm Pals with William Porter.
In the 1940s, Atkins did a stint in the Army and then toured with such jazz greats as Count Basie, Louis Armstrong and Lionel Hampton. He teamed with legendary tap dancer Charles "Honi" Coles to perform in the Broadway musical "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes," with Nat "King" Cole.
He divorced his first wife, Catherine, and married dance partner Dottie Saulters. The pair toured with the likes of Cab Calloway and the Mills Brothers before she died of a brain tumor in 1962.
Atkins married Maye Harrison Anderson in 1963 and gained his greatest fame two years later when he became choreographer for Motown Records.
He worked with countless Motown artists over the years, including the Cadillacs, the Supremes, the Temptations, Gladys Knight & the Pips, Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, Aretha Franklin and Marvin Gaye.
"He loved his work," said his wife, Maye Atkinson, 84. "That was his life."
The couple moved to Las Vegas in 1975, where Atkins continued to work with various stars.
He dusted off his tap shoes in 1988 to choreograph the Broadway musical "Black and Blue." His work earned him a Tony Award.
In 1993, the National Endowment for the Arts awarded him its highest honor, a three-year fellowship to record his memoirs and tour colleges to teach choreography and dance.
Atkins continued to teach dance until doctors diagnosed his cancer in February.
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