All though born in Berlin, Germany, she was of Norwegian heritage.
Appointed director of the Norwegian Opera in the 1970s.
Ballet dancer and choreographer.
Forced to change her stage name to Vera Zorina when she joined the Ballet Russe in 1933.
Has three granddaughters.
Imported to Hollywood by Samuel Goldwyn on a seven year film contract. Also directed "Cabaret" in Oslo during the late sixties. Now lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
Mother-in-law of Lorraine Hunt Lieberson.
On the April 11, 2011 Oprah show, Shirley MacLaine spoke of buying Vera Zorina's last home, the residence in which Shirley now lives. She told Oprah that upon first visiting the home, not knowing who had lived there, she got a psychic impression that a dancer had died on the staircase, and the dancer now wanted Shirley to buy the home. Shirley was so moved by the impression that she bought the home without seeing all of the house. Only later did she learn the identity of the dancer.
Two sons: Peter Goddard Crespian is a composer; Jonathan has a Ph.D. in philosophy from Columbia University.
Vera Zorina had two sons with Goddard Lieberson. Jonathan, a philosophy teacher, died in 1989, and Peter Lieberson has become a composer.