| Name | Fred Astaire |
|---|
| Caption | in You'll Never Get Rich (1941) |
|---|
| Birth name | Frederick Austerlitz |
|---|
| Birth date | May 10, 1899 |
|---|
| Birth place | Omaha, Nebraska,United States |
|---|
| Death date | June 22, 1987 |
|---|
| Death place | Los Angeles, California,United States |
|---|
| Occupation | Actor, dancer, singer, choreographer |
|---|
| Years active | 1917–1981 |
|---|
| Spouse | Phyllis Livingston Potter (1933–1954) Robyn Smith(1980–1987) |
|---|
Fred Astaire (May 10, 1899 – June 22, 1987), born
Frederick Austerlitz,
After the close of Funny Face, the Astaires went to Hollywood for a screen test (now lost) at Paramount Pictures, but were not considered suitable for films.
They split in 1932 when Adele married her first husband, Lord Charles Arthur Francis Cavendish, a son of the Duke of Devonshire. Fred Astaire went on to achieve success on his own on Broadway and in London with Gay Divorce, while considering offers from Hollywood. The end of the partnership was traumatic for Astaire, but stimulated him to expand his range. Free of the brother-sister constraints of the former pairing and with a new partner (Claire Luce), he created a romantic partnered dance to Cole Porter's "Night and Day", which had been written for Gay Divorce. Luce stated that she had to encourage him to take a more romantic approach: "Come on, Fred, I'm not your sister, you know." The success of the stage play was credited to this number, and when recreated in the film version of the play The Gay Divorcee (1934), it ushered in a new era in filmed dance. Astaire later insisted that the report had actually read: "Can't act. Slightly bald. Also dances". However, this did not affect RKO's plans for Astaire, first lending him for a few days to MGM in 1933 for his Hollywood debut, where he appeared as himself dancing with Joan Crawford in the successful musical film Dancing Lady.
On his return to RKO Pictures, he got fifth billing alongside Ginger Rogers in the 1933 Dolores del Río vehicle Flying Down to Rio. In a review, Variety magazine attributed its massive success to Astaire's presence: "The main point of Flying Down to Rio is the screen promise of Fred Astaire ... He's assuredly a bet after this one, for he's distinctly likable on the screen, the mike is kind to his voice and as a dancer he remains in a class by himself. The latter observation will be no news to the profession, which has long admitted that Astaire starts dancing where the others stop hoofing."
Having already been linked to his sister Adele on stage, Astaire was initially very reluctant to become part of another dance team. He wrote his agent, "I don't mind making another picture with her, but as for this team idea it's out! I've just managed to live down one partnership and I don't want to be bothered with any more." He was persuaded by the obvious public appeal of the Astaire-Rogers pairing. The partnership, and the choreography of Astaire and Hermes Pan, helped make dancing an important element of the Hollywood film musical. Astaire and Rogers made ten films together, including The Gay Divorcee (1934), Roberta (1935), Top Hat (1935), Follow the Fleet (1936), Swing Time (1936), Shall We Dance (1937), and Carefree (1938). Six out of the nine Astaire-Rogers musicals became the biggest moneymakers for RKO; all of the films brought a certain prestige and artistry that all studios coveted at the time. Their partnership elevated them both to stardom; as Katharine Hepburn reportedly said, "He gives her class and she gives him sex." First, he insisted that the (almost stationary) camera film a dance routine in a single shot, if possible, while holding the dancers in full view at all times. Astaire famously quipped: "Either the camera will dance, or I will." Astaire maintained this policy from The Gay Divorcee (1934) onwards (until overruled by Francis Ford Coppola, who directed Finian's Rainbow (1968), Astaire's last film musical). Hannah Hyam consider Rogers to have been Astaire's greatest dance partner, while recognizing that some of his later partners displayed superior technical dance skills, a view shared
Astaire was still unwilling to have his career tied exclusively to any partnership, however. He negotiated with RKO to strike out on his own with A Damsel in Distress in 1937 with an inexperienced, non-dancing Joan Fontaine, unsuccessfully as it turned out. He returned to make two more films with Rogers, Carefree (1938) and The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle (1939). While both films earned respectable gross incomes, they both lost money due to increased production costs and Astaire left RKO. Rogers remained and went on to become the studio's hottest property in the early forties. They were reunited in 1949 at MGM for their final outing, The Barkleys of Broadway.
1940–1947: drifting to an early retirement
in Cole Porter's "Begin the Beguine" from
Broadway Melody of 1940]]
In 1939, Astaire left RKO to freelance and pursue new film opportunities, with mixed though generally successful outcomes. Throughout this period, Astaire continued to value the input of choreographic collaborators and, unlike the 1930s when he worked almost exclusively with Hermes Pan, he tapped the talents of other choreographers in an effort to continually innovate. His first post-Ginger dance partner was the redoubtable
Eleanor Powell — considered the finest female tap-dancer of her generation — in
Broadway Melody of 1940 where they performed a celebrated extended dance routine to Cole Porter's
Begin the Beguine. He played alongside
Bing Crosby in
Holiday Inn (1942) and later
Blue Skies (1946), but in spite of the enormous financial success of both, was reportedly dissatisfied with roles where he lost the girl to Crosby. The former film is particularly remembered for his virtuoso solo dance to "Let's Say it with Firecrackers" while the latter film featured an innovative song and dance routine to a song indelibly associated with him: "
Puttin' on the Ritz". Other partners during this period included
Paulette Goddard in
Second Chorus (1940), in which he dance-conducted the
Artie Shaw orchestra.
He made two pictures with Rita Hayworth, the daughter of his former vaudeville dance idols, the Cansinos: the first You'll Never Get Rich (1941) catapulted Hayworth to stardom and provided Astaire with his first opportunity to integrate Latin-American dance idioms into his style, taking advantage of Hayworth's professional Latin dance pedigree. His second film with Hayworth, You Were Never Lovelier (1942) was equally successful, and featured a duet to Kern's "I'm Old Fashioned" which became the centerpiece of Jerome Robbins's 1983 New York City Ballet tribute to Astaire. He next appeared opposite the seventeen-year-old Joan Leslie in the wartime drama The Sky's the Limit (1943) where he introduced Arlen and Mercer's "One for My Baby" while dancing on a bar counter in a dark and troubled routine. This film which was choreographed by Astaire alone and achieved modest box office success, represented an important departure for Astaire from his usual charming happy-go-lucky screen persona and confused contemporary critics.
His next partner, Lucille Bremer, was featured in two lavish vehicles, both directed by Vincente Minnelli: the fantasy Yolanda and the Thief which featured an avant-garde surrealistic ballet, and the musical revue Ziegfeld Follies (1946) which featured a memorable teaming of Astaire with Gene Kelly to "The Babbit and the Bromide", a Gershwin song Astaire had introduced with his sister Adele back in 1927. While Follies was a hit, Yolanda bombed at the box office and Astaire, ever insecure and believing his career was beginning to falter surprised his audiences by announcing his retirement during the production of Blue Skies (1946), nominating "Puttin' on the Ritz" as his farewell dance.
After announcing his retirement in 1946, Astaire concentrated on his horse-racing interests and went on to found the Fred Astaire Dance Studios in 1947 — which he subsequently sold in 1966.
1948–1957: Productive years with MGM and second retirement
However, he soon returned to the big screen to replace the injured Kelly in
Easter Parade opposite
Judy Garland,
Ann Miller and
Peter Lawford, and for a final reunion with Rogers in
The Barkleys of Broadway (1949). He then went on to make more musicals throughout the 1950s:
Let's Dance (1950) with
Betty Hutton,
Royal Wedding (1951) with
Jane Powell,
Three Little Words (1950) and
The Belle of New York (1952) with
Vera-Ellen,
The Band Wagon (1953) and
Silk Stockings (1957) with
Cyd Charisse,
Daddy Long Legs (1955) with
Leslie Caron, and
Funny Face (1957) with
Audrey Hepburn.
During 1952 Astaire recorded The Astaire Story, a four volume album with a quintet led by Oscar Peterson. The album provided a musical overview of Astaire's career, and was produced by Norman Granz. The Astaire Story later won the Grammy Hall of Fame Award in 1999, a special Grammy award to honor recordings that are at least twenty-five years old, and that have "qualitative or historical significance." Astaire further observes:
Working out the steps is a very complicated process — something like writing music. You have to think of some step that flows into the next one, and the whole dance must have an integrated pattern. If the dance is right, there shouldn't be a single superfluous movement. It should build to a climax and stop!"
With very few exceptions, Astaire created his routines in collaboration with other choreographers, primarily Hermes Pan. They would often start with a blank slate:
"For maybe a couple of days we wouldn't get anywhere — just stand in front of the mirror and fool around ... Then suddenly I'd get an idea or one of them would get an idea ... So then we'd get started ... You might get practically the whole idea of the routine done that day, but then you'd work on it, edit it, scramble it, and so forth. It might take sometimes as long as two, three weeks to get something going."
Frequently, a dance sequence was built around two or three principal ideas, sometimes inspired by his own steps or by the music itself, suggesting a particular mood or action. Many of his dances were built around a "gimmick", such as dancing on the walls in "Royal Wedding," or dancing with his shadows in Swing Time, that he or his collaborator had thought up earlier and saved for the right situation. They would spend weeks creating all the dance sequences in a secluded rehearsal space before filming would begin, working with a rehearsal pianist (often the composer Hal Borne) who in turn would communicate modifications to the musical orchestrators.
His perfectionism was legendary; however, his relentless insistence on rehearsals and retakes was a burden to some. When time approached for the shooting of a number, Astaire would rehearse for another two weeks, and record the singing and music. With all the preparation completed, the actual shooting would go quickly, conserving costs. Astaire agonized during the entire process, frequently asking colleagues for acceptance for his work, as Vincente Minnelli stated, "He lacks confidence to the most enormous degree of all the people in the world. He will not even go to see his rushes ... He always thinks he is no good." As Astaire himself observed, "I've never yet got anything 100% right. Still it's never as bad as I think it is."
Although he viewed himself as an entertainer first and foremost, his consummate artistry won him the admiration of such twentieth century dance legends as Gene Kelly, George Balanchine, the Nicholas Brothers, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Margot Fonteyn, Bob Fosse, Gregory Hines, Rudolf Nureyev, Michael Jackson and Bill Robinson. Balanchine compared him to Bach, describing him as "", while for Baryshnikov he was "".
Influence on popular song
Extremely modest about his singing abilities (he frequently claimed that he couldn't sing), Irving Berlin considered Astaire the equal of any male interpreter of his songs — "as good as
Jolson,
Crosby or
Sinatra, not necessarily because of his voice, but for his conception of projecting a song." and Cole Porter and Johnny Mercer also admired his unique treatment of their work. And while George Gershwin was somewhat critical of Astaire's singing abilities, he wrote many of his most memorable songs for him. In his heyday, Astaire was referenced in lyrics of songwriters Cole Porter,
Lorenz Hart and
Eric Maschwitz and continues to inspire modern songwriters.
Astaire was a songwriter of note himself, with "I'm Building Up to an Awful Letdown" (written with lyricist Johnny Mercer) reaching number four in the Hit Parade of 1936. He recorded his own "It's Just Like Taking Candy from a Baby" with Benny Goodman in 1940, and nurtured a lifelong ambition to be a successful popular song composer.
Awards, honors and tributes
1938 — Invited to place his hand and foot prints in cement at
Grauman's Chinese Theatre, Hollywood.
1950 — Ginger Rogers presented an honorary Academy Award to Astaire "for his unique artistry and his contributions to the technique of musical pictures".
1950 — Golden Globe for "Best Motion Picture Actor -Music/Comedy" for Three Little Words.
1958 — Emmy Award for "Best Single Performance by an Actor" for An Evening with Fred Astaire.
1959 — Dance Magazine award.
1960 — Nominated for Emmy Award for "Program Achievement" for Another Evening with Fred Astaire.
1960 — Golden Globe Cecil B. DeMille Award for "Lifetime Achievement in Motion Pictures".
1961 — Emmy Award for "Program Achievement" in 1961 for Astaire Time.
1961 — Voted Champion of Champions — Best Television performer in annual television critics and columnists poll conducted by Television Today and Motion Picture Daily.
1965 — The George Award from the George Eastman House for "outstanding contributions to motion pictures".
1968 — Nominated for an Emmy Award for Musical Variety Program for The Fred Astaire Show.
1972 — Named Musical Comedy Star of the Century by
Liberty, "The Nostalgia Magazine".
1973 — Subject of a Gala by the Film Society of Lincoln Center.
1975 — Academy Award nomination for The Towering Inferno.
1975 — Golden Globe for "Best Supporting Actor", BAFTA and David di Donatello awards for The Towering Inferno.
1978 — Emmy Award for "Best Actor — Drama or Comedy Special" for A Family Upside Down.
1978 — Honored by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences.
1978 — First recipient of the Kennedy Center Honors.
1978 — National Artist Award from the American National Theatre Association for "contributing immeasurably to the American Theatre".
1981 — The Lifetime Achievement Award from the AFI.
1982 — The Anglo-American Contemporary Dance Foundation announces the Astaire Awards "to honor Fred Astaire and his sister Adele and to reward the achievement of an outstanding dancer or dancers." The awards have since been renamed The Fred and Adele Astaire Awards.
1987 — The Capezio Dance Shoe Award (co-awarded with Rudolph Nureyev).
1987 — Inducted into the National Museum of Dance C.V. Whitney Hall of Fame in Saratoga Springs, NY.
1989 — Posthumous award of Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.
1991 — Posthumous induction into the Ballroom Dancer's Hall of Fame.
2000 — Ava Astaire McKenzie unveils a plaque in honor of her father, erected by the citizens of Lismore, County Waterford, Ireland.
2008 — Conference to honor the life and work of Fred Astaire at
Oriel College,
University of Oxford, June 21–24.
Built in 1905, the Gottlieb Storz Mansion in Astaire's hometown of Omaha includes the "Adele and Fred Astaire Ballroom" on the top floor, which is the only memorial to their Omaha roots.
Astaire is referenced in the 2003 animated feature, The Triplets of Belleville, in which he is eaten by his shoes after a fast-paced dance act.
Personal life
Politically, Astaire was a
conservative and a lifelong
Republican Party supporter. With
Bing Crosby,
George Murphy,
Ginger Rogers and others he was a charter (founding) member of the Hollywood Republican Committee.
Always immaculately turned out, Astaire remained something of a male fashion icon even into his later years, eschewing his trademark top hat, white tie and tails (which he never really cared for) in favor of a breezy casual style of tailored sports jackets, colored shirts, cravats and slacks — the latter usually held up by the idiosyncratic use of an old tie in place of a belt.
Astaire married for the first time in 1933, to the 25-year-old Phyllis Potter (née Phyllis Livingston Baker, 1908–1954), a Boston-born New York socialite and former wife of Eliphalet Nott Potter III (1906–1981), after pursuing her ardently for roughly two years. Phyllis's death from lung cancer, at the age of 46, ended 21 years of a blissful marriage and left Astaire devastated. Astaire attempted to drop out of the film Daddy Long Legs (1955), offering to pay the production costs to date, but was persuaded to stay.
In addition to Phyllis Potter's son, Eliphalet IV, known as Peter, the Astaires had two children. Fred, Jr. (born 1936) appeared with his father in the movie Midas Run, but became a charter pilot and rancher instead of an actor. Ava Astaire McKenzie (born 1942) remains actively involved in promoting her late father's heritage.
His friend David Niven described him as "a pixie — timid, always warm-hearted, with a penchant for schoolboy jokes." Astaire was a lifelong golf and Thoroughbred horse racing enthusiast. In 1946 his horse Triplicate won the prestigious Hollywood Gold Cup and San Juan Capistrano Handicap. He remained physically active well into his eighties. At age seventy-eight, he broke his left wrist while riding his grandson's skateboard.
He remarried in 1980 to Robyn Smith, a jockey almost 45 years his junior. Smith was a jockey for Alfred G. Vanderbilt II.
Astaire died from pneumonia on June 22, 1987. He was interred in the Oakwood Memorial Park Cemetery in Chatsworth, California. One last request of his was to thank his fans for their years of support.
Astaire has never been portrayed on film. He always refused permission for such portrayals, saying, "However much they offer me — and offers come in all the time — I shall not sell." Astaire's will included a clause requesting that no such portrayal ever take place; he commented, "It is there because I have no particular desire to have my life misinterpreted, which it would be."
Stage, film and television work
Musical films
Dancing Lady (1933)
Flying Down to Rio (1933)*
The Gay Divorcee (1934)*
Roberta (1935)*
Top Hat (1935)*
Follow the Fleet (1936)*
Swing Time (1936)*
Shall We Dance (1937)*
A Damsel in Distress (1937)
Carefree (1938)*
The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle (1939)*
Broadway Melody of 1940 (1940)
Second Chorus (1940)
You'll Never Get Rich (1941)
Holiday Inn (1942)
You Were Never Lovelier (1942)
The Sky's the Limit (1943)
Yolanda and the Thief (1945)
Ziegfeld Follies (1946)
Blue Skies (1946)
Easter Parade (1948)
The Barkleys of Broadway (1949)*
Three Little Words (1950)
Let's Dance (1950)
Royal Wedding (1951)
The Belle of New York (1952)
The Band Wagon (1953)
Daddy Long Legs (1955)
Funny Face (1957)
Silk Stockings (1957)
Finian's Rainbow (1968)
That's Entertainment, Part II (1976) (narrator and performer)
Performances with Ginger Rogers
Notes
References
Bibliography
External links
Fred Astaire tribute site
Fred Astaire biography at AlsoDances.Net
Time.com: The Great American Flyer Fred Astaire:1899-1987
Time Magazine archive: Astaire essay by Richard Corliss
Astaire's religious views incl. many extracts from his biographers
Astaire or Kelly: A Generation Apart at Indian Auteur
Ava Astaire discusses her father's legacy. (BBC Television — Realplayer required)
"He's in Heaven ... " — In Memoriam Fred Astaire
Fred Astaire MP3 Download site]
Radio Interview — Fred Astaire — 1968
Links to photos of Astaire
"Fred Astaire and the art of fun": an essay on the Oxford Fred Astaire conference from TLS, July 16, 2008.
Category:1899 births
Category:1987 deaths
Category:American Episcopalians
Category:Academy Honorary Award recipients
Category:American ballroom dancers
Category:20th-century actors
Category:Traditional pop music singers
Category:American crooners
Category:American choreographers
Category:American people of Austrian descent
Category:American actors of German descent
Category:American people of Jewish descent
Category:American film actors
Category:American tap dancers
Category:BAFTA winners (people)
Category:BAFTA Award for Best Supporting Actor
Category:Best Musical or Comedy Actor Golden Globe (film) winners
Category:Best Supporting Actor Golden Globe (film) winners
Category:California Republicans
Category:Cecil B. DeMille Award Golden Globe winners
Category:Deaths from pneumonia
Category:Emmy Award winners
Category:Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award winners
Category:People from Omaha, Nebraska
Category:Burials at Oakwood Memorial Park Cemetery
Category:Kennedy Center honorees
Category:National Museum of Dance Hall of Fame inductees
Category:Actors from Omaha, Nebraska
Category:RCA Victor artists
Category:MGM Records artists
Category:Vaudeville performers
Category:American racehorse owners and breeders
Category:Infectious disease deaths in California
Category:Film choreographers
![[DVD] Radiohead - Live From The Basement [Full Show]](http://web.archive.org./web/20110405193151im_/http://i.ytimg.com/vi/k8byXSML4bY/0.jpg "[DVD] Radiohead - Live From The Basement [Full Show]")
