Sally Rand was an American burlesque dancer, vedette, and actress, famous for her ostrich-feather fan dance and balloon bubble dance. She also performed under the name Billie Beck. Rand got her start as a chorus girl before working as an acrobat and traveling theater performer. Her career spanned more than forty years and she appeared on stage, screen and in television. Through her career she worked alongside Humphrey Bogart, Karl Malden and Cecil B. DeMille. She was a trained pilot and briefly dated Charles Lindbergh.

A vedette is the main female artist of a show derived from cabaret and its subcategories of revue, vaudeville, music hall or burlesque. The purpose of the vedette is to entertain and captivate the public. Vedettes are expected to sing, dance and act on stage. Particularly accomplished artistes are considered super vedettes or first vedettes. Vedettes often appear alongside groups of dancers, flashy and revealing costumes, magicians, comedians, jugglers, or even performing animals. Vedettes specializing in burlesque generally do striptease and may also perform nude on stage.