The last Ziegfeld girl Doris Eaton Travis, seen here in 2008, has died at the age of 106.The last Ziegfeld girl Doris Eaton Travis, seen here in 2008, has died at the age of 106. (Lynne Sladky/Associated Press)Doris Eaton Travis, the last of Broadway's famed Ziegfeld Follies girls, died Tuesday at age 106.

The youngest Ziegfeld Follies girl when she was hired — at 14 — in 1918, Travis continued to dance long after her Follies days ended.

"When the stage lights hit Doris, she was instantly and forever young," said Tom Viola, executive director of the Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS organization that Travis supported.

Broadway, which will dim its lights Wednesday night in Travis's honour, will "miss her forever," he added.

Born in 1904 into a family of seven children in Norfolk, Va., Travis got her start as an entertainer early when she and some of her siblings began performing in local plays in the Washington, D.C., area.

When one of her elder sisters pursued a role in a Ziegfeld Follies chorus in 1918, Travis tagged along and was also hired.

The Ziegfeld Follies chorus dancers became one of the best-known elements of Broadway impresario Florenz Ziegfeld's shows, renowned for their beauty, elaborate costumes by designers like Erté and for their highly choreographed performances. The Ziegfeld Follies chorus dancers became one of the best-known elements of Broadway impresario Florenz Ziegfeld's shows, renowned for their beauty, elaborate costumes by designers like Erté and for their highly choreographed performances. (Margaret Chute/Getty Images)She would continue as one of the beautiful and elaborately costumed chorus dancers, performing dramatic choreographed routines in Broadway's popular Follies revue shows (which were inspired by the Folies Bergère in Paris), until the Great Depression cast a chill over the theatre scene.

Travis later moved on to a second career as an Arthur Murray tap dance instructor and dance studio owner in Michigan.

She returned to the spotlight late in life, with a role in Jim Carrey's Andy Kaufman biopic Man on the Moon and annual appearances at the Broadway Cares/ Equity Fights AIDS Easter Bonnet Competition.

She also published a memoir: The Days We Danced: The Story of My Theatrical Family From Florenz Ziegfeld to Arthur Murray and Beyond.

A private funeral will be held for Travis, with her family also planning a memorial service in her home community of West Bloomfield, Mich.

With files from The Associated Press