Background
She was born in New York City, United States, the daughter of Jewish-Russian immigrant parents Sonia and Alexander "Sasha" Mirrow (1893-1977). Kelly Brown was from Mississippi and started dancing at a young age, his mother Sue was a dance instructor.
Career
Mirrow was a principal dancer with the American Ballet Theatre in New York City from 1947 until 1953. Some of her peers she danced with during this time include Svetlana Beriosova, Tamara Toumanova, and Irina Baronova. In 1945, she danced in the Broadway musical The Day Before Spring.
She later became a dance mentor for many aspiring dancers and worked with Finis Jhung"s Ballet Company.
Their parents had immigrated from Russia to New York City at the same time and lived in the same brownstone apartment building. Kaye was later married to film director Herbert Ross.
Nora Kaye was the godmother of the Brown"s eldest daughter Leslie, born in 1957. In the 1970s, a script by Arthur Laurents was developed based on the Brown Family.
Shirley Maclaine was cast to play Isabel and originally, the dancer Gelsey Kirkland was cast to play Leslie.
Kirkland dropped out of the film due to substance abuse problems, and Ross cast Leslie believing she would be able to portray a fictionalized version of herself in the film. The film was directed by Herbert Ross and produced by Ross and Kaye. Released in 1977, The was nominated for eleven Academy Awards, including Best Picture.
The family name was changed to "Rodgers" for the film.
Her daughter Leslie Browne had added an "e" to her name for her stage name, believing it sounded more feminine after being mistaken as male in a playbill. Her other daughter, Elizabeth (Brown) Healy (born 1959), was portrayed in the film by Lisa Lucas with her name changed to "Janina.".