Fred Astaire was born in 1899 and died at the age of 88, in 1987. The peerless dancer, singer, actor who was the epitome of grace and style in many of the greatest movie musicals to ever come out of Hollywood. Born Frederick Austerlitz, Fred Astaire and his sister, Adele, became a Broadway dancing team sensation in the 1920s, starring in such hit shows as Funny Face and The Band Wagon (both of them serving loosely as the basis of later Astaire movies). After Adele left the act in the early 1930s to marry a titled Englishman, Lord Charles Cavendish, Fred was on his own.
He starred in one more Broadway show, The Gay Divorcee (also later adapted into a movie), and then decided to try his luck in Hollywood. He made a screen test, and the resulting comment made by an anonymous Goldwyn studio executive has been oft-repeated: “Can't act, can't sing, can dance a little.” History, of course, has proven that Fred Astaire could act with an effortless charm. As a singer, he introduced more hit songs than any other movie star in history. And as for his dancing, he is the only Hollywood entertainer to have become a legend within the first five years of his film career.
Goldwyn signed Fred Astaire but let him go after just a few months. RKO, in deep financial trouble, took a chance and signed him up, hoping that his Broadway reputation would bring people into theaters in what was the worst year (1933) of the Great Depression. They planned to make him the second male lead in Flying Down to Rio, teaming him with GINGER ROGERS, but before that film was ready to be shot, they loaned him to MGM, where he played himself in a JOAN CRAWFORD movie, Dancing Lady (1933). Both films did well, especially Flying Down to Rio (1933), and RKO teamed Fred Astaire with Ginger Rogers again in The Gay Divorcee (1934). This time they were the leads. The film was based on Fred Astaire's last Broadway show, the title subtly changed because RKO studio executives thought the original title too suggestive.
The team of Fred Astaire and GingerRogers played together for a total of 10 films during a period of 17 years. It was one of the most successful pairings in show business history. Although Ginger Rogers wasn't as talented a dancer as Fred Astaire, their chemistry was undeniable; KATHARINE HEPBURN once said that she gave him sex appeal, and he gave her class. All of their movies together are a delight, but the two best are certainly Top Hat (1935) and Swing Time (1936). At the height of their popularity, both Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers were earning $150,000 per picture. It was money well spent by RKO, and the Astaire-Rogers films saved the studio from bankruptcy.
In the early 1940s, Fred Astaire left RKO and made a series of musicals, the best of which were You'll Never Get Rich (1941) and You Were Never Lovelier (1942), both with RITA HAYWORTH. He also made Holiday Inn (1942) with BING CROSBY. All of these films were critically and commercially successful. But after The Sky's the Limit (1943) bombed, Fred Astaire suddenly found himself without any offers of work. There were whispers that Fred Astaire, 44 years old, was getting a bit long in the tooth for a dancer.
ARTHUR FREED, the great movie musical impresario at MGM, believed in Fred Astaire and showcased him in VINCENTE MINNELLI's Ziegfeld Follies (1944), in which Astaire performed four magnificent numbers, including a comic dance with GENE KELLY. (Whenever asked who his favorite dancing partner had been throughout his long, illustrious career, rather than embarrassing any of his female costars, Fred Astaire would always pick Gene Kelly.) Fred Astaire's career picked up, especially when he joined with Bing Crosby again in Blue Skies (1946). After this hit movie, he announced his retirement; he wanted to quit while he was still on top.
His retirement lasted two years, until Gene Kelly broke his ankle just before filming was to begin on Easter Parade (1948). MGM asked Fred Astaire to step in, and Fred Astaire was delighted to help out, thoroughly enjoying the chance to work with JUDY GARLAND. The movie was a huge success, and he and Garland were scheduled to follow it up together in The Barkleys of Broadway (1949). This time, it was Garland who fell ill, and a replacement was needed. The delightful surprise choice was Ginger Rogers. The reteaming of this famous pair (in what would be the last movie they would make together) helped turn the movie into a major hit.
In 1949, Fred Astaire was honored with a special Oscar for “raising the standard” of movie musicals. Strangely, he had never won - nor even been nominated for - an Academy Award during the 1930s and 1940s.
In the early 1950s, Fred Astaire made two classic musicals, Royal Wedding (1951), in which he performed the famous dancing on the ceiling number, and The Band Wagon (1953), along with Gene Kelly's Singin' in the Rain (1952), among the greatest musicals ever made.
Daddy Long Legs (1955), Funny Face (1956), and Silk Stockings (1957), the last a musical version of Ninotchka, brought Fred Astaire to the seeming end of his dancing career. The word in Hollywood was that the musical was out of fashion. Fred Astaire kept on working, taking dramatic parts - always in supporting roles - in films such as On the Beach (1959) and The Midas Run (1969). He was nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his performance in The Towering Inferno (1974). During these years, he also appeared in comedies, such as The Pleasure of His Company (1961) and The Notorious Landlady (1962).
But Fred Astaire was fated to dance again. He was cast in the movie musical version of Finian's Rainbow (1968), directed by newcomer FRANCIS FORD COPPOLA. The movie died at the box office, but Fred Astaire was as charming and graceful as ever. Except for his famous TV specials in the 1950s, his filmic hosting of That's Entertainment Part I (1974) and That's Entertainment Part II (1976), and an occasional appearance on TV series, Fred Astaire remained in semiretirement until his death in 1987.
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