Survivors include his wife of 33 years, actress/author Miluka Rivera, his son Elan L. Matlovsky, his daughter Miluette Nalin Matlovsky
Navarre Matlovsky, who performed on the Tony awarded Broadway musical Barnum and the classic film Pete’s Dragon, passed away on December 12, of a ischemic stroke at the Huntington Memorial Hospital in Pasadena, CA. He was 63.
Matlovsky credits also include such films as Treasure of Matacumbe (1976) with Robert Foxworth and Joan Hackett and Movie Movie ( 1978).
On television he guest starred on scores of shows like Julie the Julie Andrews show directed by Blake Edwards and Webster. He also performed on the 42nd Academy Awards Show during the Rain Drops Keep Falling on my Head dance number from the awarded “Butch Cassidy and Sundance Kid” film and at the Kennedy Center’s Honors honoring Cary Grant, with the cast of Barnum and along aside Audrey Hepburn and Mikhail Baryshnikov.
Besides his role in Barnum, later on he was the assistant to the director/choreographer of the Barnum National Tours. He also performed on Broadway in The King of Hearts and on musical shows with Debbie Reynolds, Glenn Close, Jim Dale, Lucy Arnaz, Tony Orlando, Agnes Moorehead, among others.
Navarre Matlovsky & wife, actress/author Miluka Rivera
This long time member of SAG-AFTRA, AEA and AGVA, was involved in Screen Actors Guild’s (SAG) activities along with his wife Miluka Rivera, a lauded actress-activist, author. He was also a photojournalist and Hollywood Correspondent for Puerto Rico, Miami and New York. His photograph of actor Ricardo Montalbán made history by being the first “Screen Actor” National Magazine cover featuring a Latino. The inside of the 1993 SAG issue had photos featuring 6 Latinos and interviews by Miluka Rivera also a former National Board member of SAG.The same year Montalbán became the first Latino to received a “Lifetime Achievement” by SAG.
Navarre was a long time ballroom dance professor at Pasadena City College. In addition he was the co-owner and dance instructor with his wife and dance partner Miluka of the Kumaras Center for the Arts, Dance and Etiquette in Burbank, CA for over 10 years.
He began his classical dancing training at the age of 14. He toured worldwide as a dancer with the legendary Burch Mann’s “American Folk Ballet.
Navarre, who was a native of Los Angeles, CA, was a descendant from the Shotwell aristocratic lineage, documented in the Ambrose M. Shotwell book Annals or Our Colonial Ancestors (1895).
A private Memorial service for Matlovsky will take place during the month of January 24. Donations could be send to the Raul Julia’s Hunger Project.
Survivors include his wife of 33 years, Miluka Rivera, his son Elan L. Matlovsky, his daughter Miluette Nalin Matlovsky an actress and stunt-artist, his sister actress/dancer and professor Noelle North Norris, and 2 nephews.
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