Thelma 'Tad' Tadlock
Born: Jan. 19, 1931 in Port Arthur, Texas
Died: Dec. 8, 2000
Tad Tadlock began dance lessons with Florence Coleman Ward at the age of three. By the age of five she knew she wanted to be a dancer. For 15 years, Tadlock trained at the Florence Coleman School of Dance, sneaking out of dance class during her high school years to don her majorette's uniform for Friday night football games. After graduating from Thomas Jefferson High School in 1949, Tadlock was ready to try her luck in New York, but her father wanted her to attend college. She finally persuaded him to allow her a year in the big city; if she had no luck finding a job, she would return and attend the University of Texas.
Tadlock landed a part in Make a Wish, followed by roles in three more Broadway plays. She continued her education at the Stanley School of Dance in New York. In 1955, she started work on television, as part of the chorus on the old Max Liebman Spectaculars. She became a featured dancer on the Hit Parade, then joined the Arthur Murray Dance Party as a dancer and assistant choreographer. Continuing her television career, Tadlock acted as spokesman, actress, model, and dancer for numerous commercials, appeared on many television shows as the featured dancer, and also choreographed numbers.
Tadlock's career credits included work in choreography and staging for film, television, stage, and television commercials. She has worked on such diverse projects as Love You to Death, Body Heat, Heaven's Gate, the Miss Teen USA, Miss USA, and Miss Universe pageants, multi-media industrial presentation for Toyota, and commercials for United Airlines and the Yellow Pages.