Muriel Bentley, 82; Versatile Ballet Dancer

Muriel Bentley, comedic and dramatic ballet dancer known for her humorous portrayals in Jerome Robbins’ “Fancy Free” and other works, has died at age 82.

Bentley, who had suffered from severe asthma the last two years, died Monday at Kaiser Permanente Hospital in Woodland Hills of heart failure.

A leading dancer with the American Ballet Theatre for more than 15 years, she was particularly known for her roles in Robbins’ works and as the ill-fated stepmother of Lizzie Borden in Agnes de Mille’s 1948 “Fall River Legend.”

Bentley, with a talent for acting as well as movement, also won critical acclaim for her roles in Antony Tudor’s “Pillar of Fire” and “Shadow of the Wind” and De Mille’s “Tally Ho.”

For Robbins, she originated the role of “the brunet” in his first major work, “Fancy Free,” the 1944 tale of three sailors on shore leave.

“He took six people and really made a ballet around our personalities,” Bentley recalled in 1997 when the American Ballet Theatre revived “Fancy Free” at New York’s City Center.

Bentley had portrayed one of the flirtatious women who dance with the servicemen, and she was identified by her shiny patent leather shoes with ankle straps.

Describing Robbins as a “very particular” perfectionist, she said the choreographer explained that her role was to be “like patent leather,” meaning “sleek, shiny, bright and to the point.”

She created a role for Robbins’ “Interplay” in 1945 and played Anita in the replacement cast for “West Side Story” in 1958.

After that, Bentley joined Robbins’ Ballets: USA in 1959 and performed in his works “The Concert,” “Moves” and “Events.”

Born in New York City, Bentley trained with Ivan Tarasoff, Maria Yakovleva, Vescheslav Swoboda and Leon Fokine. She also attended the school of New York’s Metropolitan Opera Ballet.

She worked with that troupe, with the Jose Greco touring company and the Fokine Ballet before joining the American Ballet Theatre.

Bentley had lived in Los Angeles for the last two decades.

An only child who never married, Bentley leaves no survivors. Her close friend, ballet manager Betty Farrell, suggested that any memorial donations be made either to the Wildlife Wayfarer Station or the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.