Vera-Ellen Rohe was born in Norwood, Ohio, to Martin F. Rohe, a piano dealer, and Alma C. Westmeier. Both were descended from German immigrants. Her hyphenated first name originated in a dream that her mother had and that her mother saw it in the “Lights.”
She began dancing at age 10 and quickly became proficient. One of her fellow dance students at Hessler Studio of Dancing was Doris Day. At age 13, she was a winner on the Major Bowes Amateur Hour and embarked upon a professional career.
In 1939, she made her Broadway debut in the Jerome Kern/Oscar Hammerstein musical Very Warm for May. She became one of the youngest Rockettes at Radio City Music Hall. This led to roles on Broadway in Panama Hattie, By Jupiter, and A Connecticut Yankee, where she was spotted by Samuel Goldwyn, who cast her opposite Danny Kaye and Virginia Mayo in the 1945 film Wonder Man.

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