Actor, Songwriter, Dancer and Choreographer.  He was the dance director or choreographer on such famous movies as “Swanee River” (1939), “Buck Privates” (with Abbott and Costello – 1941), “Royal Wedding” (1951), “Skirts Ahoy” (1952), “The Seven Little Foys” (1955), and over eighty other films. Born Nicholas Castle in Brooklyn, New York, he worked in his early years as a dance director in vaudeville, and moved to Hollywood in 1935, where he worked as a choreographer at Twentieth Century Fox.  He would later do choreography for Paramount, Warner, MGM and Columbia studios, working with such stars as Shirley Temple, George Murphy, Betty Grable, Ann Miller, Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire.  He would later stage television shows.  In his prime, from the mid-1930s to the early 1960s, he would stage or choreograph some of the best dance scenes filmed, including such hits as “Hellzapoppin” (1941) with Dean Collins, and “Living it up” (1954) with Jerry Lewis. As a song writer, he is remembered for such hits as “Limpy Dimp,” “Candy Store Blues,” “Chula Chihuahua,” and “Ginger.”  He died of a sudden heart attack, in Los Angeles, California.  His son, Nick Jr, is also an actor and movie director. (bio by: Kit and Morgan Benson) Cause of death: Heart attack