American professional dancer who gave ballroom exhibitions.
Margaret Evelyn Nerney was born on may 25, 1913, in Burlington, Chittenden, Vermont, to Robert Emmett Nerney, of English ancestry, and Rachel Laduke, who was French Canadian and only 16 at the time.
The family moved to Allentown, Pennsylvania when she was a baby. Renee was educated in a convent, and started dancing as a child. Her precocious, active nature pushed her into a dancing a career very early – she was merely 16 years old when she met Tony DeMarco (b. Feb 1, 1898 Buffalo, NY), a vaudeville dancer. Yet, her parents insisted she graduate from high school, which she did in 1931. By this time, she and Tony were already dancing professionally.
The gist of Renee’s career are not movies nor stage shows, but nightclub and hotel appearances. On October 14, 1930 (opening), the couple made their first headlines, featured in the show “Girl Crazy” off Broadway. She married Tony de Marco in 1931. On March 28, 1932, they got to Broadway in Hot-Cha!. In 1934, they were dancing in the Persian room in New York. In 1935, they made a Vanity Fair editorial. In early 1938, the couple separated but continued to work together, divorce followed in June 1941.
In March 1943, she married dancer Jody Henderson/Hutchingson, their daughter was born in May 1943, they fell apart in 1945. She divorced her husband on August 21, 1947, and married Paul V. Coates (b March 10, 1921 New York) just hours after in Reno, Nevada. Their elder son, Kevin Marley, was born in January 1947, the younger one Paul Timothy, on April 3, 1948. Her husband died of a heart attack, probably bought over by a unhealthy and stress filled lifestyle, on November 16, 1968. He was just 47 years old.
She made only one Hollywood movie, in 1953, and a bad one at that – Sword of Venus.
Renee Nerney Coates died on November 24, 2000, in Bend, Oregon.
(Source of biography, in parts: Obscureactresses.com Renee de Marco)