Dorothy Hamill Biography

Ice skater. Born Dorothy Stuart Hamill on July 26, 1956 in Chicago, Illinois. Raised in Greenwich, Connecticut, Dorothy Hamill learned to skate as a young girl with her siblings on her grandparent's pond. She begged her parents, Chalmers and Carol, to let her take lessons as a child so that she could learn how to skate backwards. Her parents agreed.

Hamill became immediately dedicated to the sport, often heading to the rink for 4:30 AM practices. By 1974, Hamill had made her big breakthrough at the World Championships in Munich, Germany, when she won the silver medal. Hamill won silver again at the World Championships in 1975 at Colorado Springs, Colorado. In 1976, the 19-year-old skater won the Gold Medal at the Winter Games in Innsbruck, Austria. Shortly after her victory, Dorothy earned the World Championship title in Gothenburg, Sweden. Hamill's sweet face, bobbed hairstyle, and unbridled determination quickly turned her into America's sweetheart.

Hamill not only mastered the skills of figure skating, but she is also credited with inventing new moves of her own. One such move became known as the "Hamill camel," a combination of a camel and sit spin.

After her professional career, Dorothy Hamill toured extensively with the Ice Capades from 1977 to 1984. During her time with the traveling ice show, she also produced and starred in her own touring productions including Cinderella, and the Nutcracker. She also won a Daytime Emmy for her starring role in the 1983 figure-skating production of Romeo and Juliet. In 1993, after the Ice Capades began to struggle financially, Hamill bought the company. She later sold it to International Family Entertainment. Hamill continues to skate in shows, however, and is currently a regular performer with Broadway on Ice.

Hamill has been the recipient of many honors, including inductions into the Olympic Hall of Fame and the Figure Skating Hall of Fame. She also ran the torch into the Olympic Stadium in the 2002 Olympic Games in Salt Lake City, Utah. In 2006, she was chosen to be a judge on the television show Skating With Celebrities. The next year, Hamill published her autobiography A Skating Life: My Story.

In January 2008, Hamill announced that she was being treated for breast cancer. She moved to Nantucket, Massachusetts, for treament and currently works with the Nantucket skating club. She also continues her work with several charities, including the President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports, the International Special Olympics and the American Cancer Society.

Hamill was married to Dean Paul Martin from 1982 to 1984 and to Kenneth Forsythe from 1987 to 1995; they have a daughter, Alexandra.

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