Roy Blakey, Ice Show Performer and Archivist, Is Dead at 94
He skated professionally for 15 years, but was best known for building a collection of more than 44,000 items, including some of Sonja Henie’s costumes and skates.
Sept. 30, 2024 — As an 11-year-old in Oklahoma, Roy Blakey became mesmerized by the brilliance of the Olympic figure skating champion Sonja Henie when he watched her 1941 film, “Sun Valley Serenade.”
One scene stayed with him for the rest of his life: With the ice painted black and covered with a film of water, Ms. Henie and the other skaters, all costumed in white, were reflected on a stage of mirror like ice.
“It was the most magical thing I had ever seen in my life,” Mr. Blakey told the Collectors Weekly website in 2015. “And it was in that movie theater that I said to myself, ‘I have to do that.’”
It was the start of his lifelong fascination with the theatrical end of figure skating, which led him to careers as a performer in ice shows around the world and as a historian who celebrated those extravaganzas by amassing a vast collection of artifacts, including skates, costumes, posters, postcards and programs.
Mr. Blakey died on Aug. 23 at his home in Minneapolis. He was 94.
His death was confirmed by his niece Keri Pickett, a photographer and filmmaker who directed “The Fabulous Ice Age,” a 2014 documentary about ice shows that featured her uncle and his memorabilia, and who is working on a film about his life, “Uncle Roy.”
With no ice rinks in Enid, Okla., Mr. Blakey turned to roller skating. He also started his collection, which he later called the IceStage Archive, by writing to skating stars for their autographs, and to hotels for programs from the shows they staged. He continued to build the collection during his 15 years as an ice-show performer in the 1950s and ’60s, and for the rest of his life.