Anastasia Reilley was a Ziegfeld Follies dancer who retired when she married a millionaire
She was born Berniece Reilly on November 27, 1902 in Brooklyn, New York. Her father, Bernard Reilly, was a clothing salesman. At the age of fourteen Anastasia was discovered by Broadway star Raymond Hitchcock who saw her tap dancing. He became her mentor and helped her get started in vaudeville. Raymond gave her a part in his 1920 revue Hitchy Koo. Then Florenz Ziegfeld hired her to dance in the Ziegfeld Follies of 1921. The stunning brunette spent four seasons dancing with the Follies. Her nickname was "The Dream Girl". She was rumored to be engaged to prizefighter Joe Benjamin. In 1924 she had a small part in the film Winner Take All directed by W.S. Van Dyke. Anastasia also starred on Broadway in Annie Dear and Yours Truly.
She married millionaire Theodore Buhl, Florenz Ziegfeld's nephew, in October of 1927. The couple moved to Detroit, Michigan. Anastasia quit show business and began writing a column for the Grosse Point Review using the pen name A. Pryor. Then in 1940 she co-founded the Gross Point News. She and her husband divided their time between Detroit and Palm Beach, Florida where they owned a vacation home. They had numerous pets and became known for throwing elaborate circus themed parties. Anastasia devoted a lot of her time to local children's charities and volunteered with John F, Kennedy's presidential campaign. Tragically she was diagnosed with cancer during the late 1950s. On December 28, 1961 she died at the age of fifty-nine. She was buried at Elmwood Cemetery in Detroit, Michigan.
