Melih Nicholas: Harold Nicholas’s Son, Family and Life

Melih Nicholas was the son of tap star Harold Nicholas and Elyanne Patronne. He was born in Paris, France, on October 29, 1958. He later lived in Los Angeles and went to Fairfax High School. In 1989, he married Janice F. Stout in Nevada. He died in Los Angeles on November 5, 2003, at age 45.

In this article, you will find the key facts about his birth, parents, school years, marriage, family ties, and death. You will also see how he fit into the famous Nicholas family. His father lived much of his life on stage and screen. His son left a far smaller trail in the press.

Born in Paris to Harold Nicholas and Elyanne Patronne

Melih Nicholas was born at a time when his father was working in Europe. Harold Nicholas had already made his name as one half of the Nicholas Brothers. His older brother Fayard was the other half.

The pair had danced on stage and in films for years. Their style mixed tap with leaps, splits, turns, and fast footwork. By the 1950s, they were known far beyond the United States.

Harold had first been married to actress Dorothy Dandridge. After that marriage ended, he spent much of the 1950s in Europe. The Washington Post later said that his marriages to Dandridge and Elyanne Patronne both ended in divorce. It also said he had two children.

Family records name Elyanne as Melih’s mother. They place his birth in Paris on October 29, 1958. That French birth is one of the firm facts in his early life.

The Move From Paris to Los Angeles

By his teen years, Melih Nicholas was in Los Angeles. A 1974 Fairfax High School yearbook photo shows him as a student there. He was about 16.

That school photo gives a rare look at his younger years. It also places him in the city that had long been tied to his father’s film work.

There is not much sound detail about his day-to-day school life. The yearbook still gives a clear point in time. He was a student in Los Angeles in 1974, while the Nicholas Brothers were already well known in dance and film.

His Father and the Nicholas Brothers

To see why people still search for Melih Nicholas, it helps to know why his father was so well known.

Harold and Fayard Nicholas began to dance when they were young. They worked in clubs, stage shows, Broadway plays, and films. Their fame grew in the 1930s and 1940s.

One of their best-known film scenes came in Stormy Weather in 1943. The Library of Congress says the film ends with a striking tap duet by the Nicholas Brothers. The film was added to the National Film Registry in 2001.

The brothers had great skill, but they also worked in an age of strict race rules. Black stars were often kept apart from white leads in film plots. Dance scenes with Black acts could be cut for some theaters in the South.

The Washington Post wrote about this part of their work after Harold died. Even with those limits, the brothers became major names in dance. They later helped shape the work of many dancers who came after them.

In 1991, Harold and Fayard received Kennedy Center Honors. The award marked their long role in American dance.

This was the fame that stood behind the family name. It was Harold’s career, not his son’s. That line is worth keeping clear.

Dorothy Dandridge, Harolyn, and the Family Tree

Harold Nicholas was married more than once, so the family tree can be easy to mix up.

Dorothy Dandridge was his first wife. She was a singer and actress and later became a major Hollywood star. She was also the first Black woman to earn an Oscar nomination for Best Actress.

Harold and Dandridge had one child, Harolyn Suzanne Nicholas, in 1943. Harolyn was Melih’s older half-sister. They had the same father but different mothers.

Elyanne Patronne was Melih’s mother. Harold later married Rigmor Newman Nicholas. Rigmor was his wife when he died in 2000.

These links help clear up a common mix-up online. Dorothy Dandridge was not Melih’s mother. Harolyn was his half-sister. Elyanne Patronne was his mother.

Adult Life and Marriage to Janice F. Stout

The adult life of Melih Nicholas drew far less press than his father’s career. He did not build a known film or dance career like Harold.

Some pages turn that fact into a story about why he stayed out of show business. The facts do not tell us his reason. His life was simply less well covered by the press.

One firm event is his marriage to Janice F. Stout. The Nevada Marriage Index lists the pair as spouses in Clark County. It also lists both of them as California residents.

Family history sites give the wedding date as June 30, 1989. The Nevada record backs the names and place.

A photo shared on AncientFaces has caused some doubt about this part of the story. A user said a woman named Lanetta Nicholas was shown with Melih at a wedding. That is a user post, not a state marriage file. The Nevada index is the stronger record and names Janice F. Stout.

There is no clear and strong source that shows whether the couple had children. That detail should not be guessed.

The 1984 Arrest Report

A news report from 1984 is one of the few press items tied to his name.

A Los Angeles Times report said he was arrested by sheriff’s deputies in West Hollywood. The arrest came from a complaint filed in Denver.

The report said the U.S. Secret Service alleged that a card was used to get $6,000 in cash from two banks in Lakewood, Colorado. It tied the cash deals to May 17.

That report describes an allegation. It does not, by itself, prove guilt.

A later court result is not clear in the material now easy to find online. For that reason, the event should stay framed as an arrest and an allegation. It should not be called a conviction.

Harold Nicholas Died in 2000

Harold Nicholas died in New York on July 3, 2000. He was 79.

The Los Angeles Times named Melih as one of the people who survived him. The Washington Post said Harold was survived by two children.

By then, the Nicholas Brothers had a firm place in dance history. Their film work was still shown and studied. Their awards had also grown with age.

For his son, his father’s death came three years before his own.

Melih Nicholas Died in Los Angeles in 2003

Melih Nicholas died in Los Angeles on November 5, 2003. He had turned 45 just one week before.

Ancestry search results list a Los Angeles coroner file under his name. The file gives the same birth and death dates. A Social Security death record also points to California.

The public record does not give a clear cause of death. It is best not to add one without a sound source.

His death came three years after Harold’s. Family history sites also give 2003 as the year his half-sister Harolyn died.

His Place in the Nicholas Family Story

Melih Nicholas is still searched today because of the family he came from. Harold and Fayard were key figures in tap dance and Black film history. Dorothy Dandridge was also a major star in her own right.

His own life was much less public. Still, a clear line can be drawn through the facts that remain.

He was born in Paris in 1958. He was the son of Harold Nicholas and Elyanne Patronne. He was in Los Angeles by his teen years and went to Fairfax High School. He married Janice F. Stout in Nevada in 1989. He died in Los Angeles in 2003 at age 45.

Those facts are enough to show where he fits in the family without turning him into a copy of his father.

The Nicholas Brothers left a huge mark on stage and film. Harold’s son did not leave the same kind of public career file. His story is more about family links, place, and the few records that trace his life from Paris to Los Angeles.

That makes the story quieter, but not less useful. Readers looking for the man behind the name can still find a clear answer. He was part of a famous family, yet his own life stayed mostly outside the fame that shaped the Nicholas name.

For more well-checked life stories about notable people and their families, visit the Biography section on LakewoodScoop.co.uk.