- Born
- Died
- Nicknames
- Bobby
- Bobby Banas
- Robert Banas was born on September 22, 1933 in New York City, New York, USA. He was an actor and producer, known for West Side Story (1961), Always (1989) and Teen Witch (1989). He died on July 29, 2024 in Encino, California, USA.
- Banas had enjoyed renewed celebrity 11 years ago when a long-forgotten 1964 clip from "The Judy Garland Show" circulated on social media, racking up tens of millions of views. In it, Peter Lawford, Martha Raye and Garland make way for a troupe to interpret the dance called "the Nitty Gritty," with Banas giving the supecharged performance of a lifetime.
- Robert Banas was an American dancer and actor who worked in films such as West Side Story (1961), Always (1989), and Down and Out in Beverly Hills (1986).
- Along with his "Judy Garland Show" number - which made him a meme at 80 - he is perhaps best remembered as Joyboy in "West Side Story" (1959) and as a lucky guy who receives a big kiss from Marilyn Monroe in the 1960 film "Let's Make Love.".
- In 1942, he took ballroom dancing lessons, eventually partnering with child star Natalie Wood in the Michael Panaieff Children's Ballet Company.
- During the war, his father became a Military Chief Inspector for the steel mills in McKeesport, Pennsylvania, while his mother became a propeller inspector for Curtiss-Wright in Erie.
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