Len Goodman Through the Years: The Late ‘Dancing With the Stars’ Judge’s Life in Photos

usmagazine.com:

Remembering a dance legend. After achieving success as a ballroom dancer, Len Goodman found fame as a TV judge on Strictly Come Dancing and Dancing With the Stars.Goodman — who died in April 2023 at age 78, just three days shy of his 79th birthday — began his career on the dance floor at age 19, when a foot injury (and a go-getter girlfriend) helped pave the way for his lifelong love.“I got into dancing because I had hurt my foot and it just wouldn’t get better.

I had an old Scottish doctor who told me to go ballroom dancing. He said it was very good for your feet because you’re going up and down a lot,” the U.K.

native explained to The Guardian in 2006. “My girlfriend arranged for it all to happen. I really didn’t want to go, I kicked up a right fuss.

But once I’d been for a couple of weeks, I really loved it. I realized I had a bit of a talent for it.”Though the late TV personality “only danced for about eight years,” he explained at the time, his win at the British Championships inspired him to open a dance school. “I thought, ‘Well, I won’t win this again,’ so I thought I’d retire a winner,” Goodman shared.In order to view the video, please allow Manage CookiesAfter turning his focus to training students — “I’ve taught every standard from world champion to beginners and my favorite are people off the street, and children, and I do those classes if I can,” he told The Guardian in 2006 — the dance champion scored the role of head judge on BBC’s new dance competition series, Strictly Come Dancing, in 2004.