When he first met her, he once recalled, she warned, “Young man, if you are going to dance with me, you must learn where my curves are.” He did. They danced together in many works, including “Swan Lake” and “Coppélia,” and were especially popular for their effervescence in two comedies by Léonide Massine, “Le Beau Danube” and “Gaîté Parisienne.”

Major choreographers like Massine and George Balanchine recognized Mr. Franklin as a quick learner with a sharp mind and theatrical flair. They created leading roles for him in ballets like Massine’s “Seventh Symphony” and “Rouge et Noir” and Balanchine’s “Danses Concertantes.”

The stage was a second home for him, and he never really stopped performing. In his later years he portrayed mime roles like Friar Laurence in “Romeo and Juliet,” the Witch in “La Sylphide,” the Tutor in “Swan Lake” and the Charlatan in “Petrouchka” — all to warm applause.

Mr. Franklin founded the National Ballet of Washington with Jean M. Riddell in 1962 and directed it until it disbanded in 1974. He also served as an adviser to Dance Theater of Harlem, the Oakland Ballet, the Tulsa Ballet and other companies.

In his book “Looking at the Dance” (1949), the critic Edwin Denby wrote that Mr. Franklin’s dancing “always makes perfect sense; like a true artist, he is completely at the service of the role he takes, and his straight delight in dancing, his forthright presence and openhearted nature give his version of the great classic roles a lyric grace that is fresh and sweet.”