1952—1986
Charles Ward grew up in Downey, CA and started dancing late at the age of eighteen. Shortly after high school he joined Houston Ballet where he performed until 1972 when he joined the Corps de ballet at American Ballet Theater in New York. Ward became a soloist with ABT in 1974 and worked his way to principal dancer in 1976 where he partnered many of the leading ballerinas of the time. He danced in many popular ballets including Swan Lake and ballets by Antony Tudor and Fredrick Ashton. He left ABT in 1978 stating he found life in a dance company restricting and joined with Bob Fosse to star in the Broadway musical Dancin’ in which he was nominated for a 1978 Drama Desk Award.
Ward then aimed his considerable talents towards film, where he danced in Staying Alive (1983) and The Turning Point (1977) and in the made for TV movie Pippin: His Life and Times (1981), again with Fosse. He also danced in shows with Barbara Mandrell and the Mandrell Sisters, Raquel Welch, Rodney Dangerfield and Lynda Carter amongst others.
According to his obituary in the LA Times his last job was as a counselor at AIDS Project Los Angeles, (APLA).