BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. – Maria Tallchief Paschen, Osage, was honored along with five other luminaries of the production world, a few known for their work on and off the set, at the Producers Guild of America’s “Celebration of Diversity” awards in May.

The wisecracking Jeffrey Tambor, well-known for his comedic roles in the hit series “The Larry Sanders Show” and later “Arrested Development,” emceed the event.

Tallchief, 81, escorted onstage by actress Daryl Hannah, was honored for her contribution to ballet in addition to her artistic guidance to aspiring ballerinas.

Actress and dancer Marilu Henner presented Tallchief with the award. “I can’t tell you how excited I am to introduce one of my idols,” she said. “As an American, I believe in great individualism.”

“Thank you for bringing this old lady out on the stage,” Tallchief quipped as she accepted her award, adding a thank you to the Oneida Indian Nation of New York, a sponsor of the event and owners of Four Directions Media, Inc. (Four Directions Media Inc. is the publisher of Indian Country Today.)

According to the PGS’s written bio on Tallchief, when she retired as a dancer in 1965, she passed on her love and valuable knowledge of ballet to young dancers. She became the artistic director and instructor of the Chicago Lyric Opera Ballet in 1975, and from 1981 – ’87 she served as the founder and artistic director of the Chicago City Ballet.

Tallchief was born in 1925 in Fairfax, Okla., to an Osage father and Scottish/Irish mother. She took dance and piano lessons as a child, and continued her lessons when her family moved to the Los Angeles area. Her love for dance easily trumped any aspirations to become a concert pianist.

“I think it’s an innate thing in the American Indian to want to move. We want to dance; this is the way we are, we express our happiness in our song and dance, and this is our heritage,” she said in her pre-award video bio.

At age 12 she began dance lessons at Bronislava Nijinska’s studio in Beverly Hills. Nijinska, a renowned Russian ballet dancer and choreographer, gave Tallchief instruction that fueled her passion to pursue her ballet career. After five years of study, she joined the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo, where she soon achieved solo status.

From there, she met famed choreographer George Balanchine and the two fell in love and married in 1946. She was reportedly the inspiration for his “Symphonie concertante,” “Sylvia: Pas de Deux,” “Orpheus,” “Night Shadow,” “The Four Temperaments” and “Scotch Symphony.”

Additionally, the couple spent time at the Paris Opera working and honeymooning before returning to Balanchine’s ballet society in New York, which later transformed into the New York City Ballet.

Tallchief’s popularity skyrocketed as she asked to perform in about eight productions each week. Her marriage to Balanchine fizzled, but she remarried in 1956 and left ballet for two years to start a family. She returned to the New York City Ballet to dance in Balanchine’s “Gounod Symphony,” joined the American Ballet Theatre in 1960 and retired as a performer five years later.

“Maria Tallchief is one of six women known as a prima ballerina absoluta,” said Ken Heidecke, founder and director of the Chicago Festival Ballet. A prima ballerina absoluta is the highest ranked soloist in the ballet community.

The “Celebration of Diversity” event made its debut in 2002. Prior to its formal beginnings, since 1995, diversity awards were given in honor of Oscar Micheaux, a first-generation black producer, director and entertainment entrepreneur. The festival has its roots in honoring film and television, but in 2004 it branched out to award individuals who promote diversity in the theater and corporate ranks.

Anne Sweeny, co-chair of Disney Media Networks and president of Disney ABC Television, and named the “Most Powerful Woman in Entertainment” by the Hollywood Reporter, was awarded the President’s Citation for her promotion of diversity in the entertainment industry.

Including Tallchief, diversity awards went out to Charles Floyd Johnson, co-executive producer of the CBS drama series, “NCIS.” “American Idol” producers Ken Warwick and Nigel Lythgoe were presented their diversity award by “Idol” judge Randy Jackson.