Vernon Castle

American dancer

Also known as: Vernon Blythe

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June 25, 2026

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Vernon Castle was an American dancer who, along with his wife Irene, became world-famous in the early 20th century. They popularized many new dances, including the one-step, turkey trot, glide, castle polka, castle walk, hesitation waltz, maxixe, tango, and bunny hug.1

The Castles co-authored Modern Dancing in 1914. Tragically, Vernon Castle died in an aviation accident during World War I. Irene later wrote a book about him, and their story was the subject of a 1939 motion picture. The "castle walk" dance is named after Vernon Castle, its originator.12

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Vernon and Irene Castle
Vernon and Irene were married in 1911 and as dance partners became famous worldwide. They popularized such dances as the glide, the castle polka, the castle walk, the hesitation waltz, the maxixe, the tango, and the bunny hug.
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Vernon and Irene were married in 1911 and as dance partners became famous worldwide. They popularized such dances as the glide, the castle polka, the castle walk, the hesitation waltz, the maxixe, the tango, and the bunny hug.
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Elisabeth Marbury
Marbury’s other successes include bringing Vernon and Irene Castle, whom she had seen on one of her innumerable trips to Paris, to New York in 1913 and setting them up in a fashionable dancing school that was the springboard for their brief but spectacularly popular career; assisting her close friend…
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Marbury’s other successes include bringing Vernon and Irene Castle, whom she had seen on one of her innumerable trips to Paris, to New York in 1913 and setting them up in a fashionable dancing school that was the springboard for their brief but spectacularly popular career; assisting her close friend…
Read More