A society, or a human society, is a group of people related to each other through persistent relations, or a large social grouping sharing the same geographical or virtual territory, subject to the same political authority and dominant cultural expectations. Human societies are characterized by patterns of relationships (social relations) between individuals who share a distinctive culture and institutions; a given society may be described as the sum total of such relationships among its constituent members. In the social sciences, a larger society often evinces stratification and/or dominance patterns in subgroups.

thumb|225px|left|Ant (formicidae) [[Ethology|social ethology]] Insofar as it is collaborative, a society can enable its members to benefit in ways that would not otherwise be possible on an individual basis; both individual and social (common) benefits can thus be distinguished, or in many cases found to overlap.

A society can also consist of like-minded people governed by their own norms and values within a dominant, larger society. This is sometimes referred to as a subculture, a term used extensively within criminology.

More broadly, a society may be described as an economic, social, or industrial infrastructure, made up of a varied collection of individuals. Members of a society may be from different ethnic groups. A society can be a particular ethnic group, such as the Saxons; a nation state, such as Bhutan; or a broader cultural group, such as a Western society. The word ''society'' may also refer to an organized voluntary association of people for religious, benevolent, cultural, scientific, political, patriotic, or other purposes. A "society" may even, though more by means of metaphor, refer to a social organism such as an ant colony or any cooperative aggregate such as, for example, in some formulations of artificial intelligence.

Etymology and usage

The term "society" came from the Latin word ''societas'', which in turn was derived from the noun ''socius'' ("comrade, friend, ally"; adjectival form ''socialis'') used to describe a bond or interaction among parties that are friendly, or at least civil. Without an article, the term can refer to the entirety of humanity (also: "society in general", "society at large", etc.), although those who are unfriendly or uncivil to the remainder of society in this sense may be deemed to be "antisocial". Adam Smith wrote that a society "may subsist among different men, as among different merchants, from a sense of its utility without any mutual love or affection, if only they refrain from doing injury to each other."

Used in the sense of an association, a society is a body of individuals outlined by the bounds of functional interdependence, possibly comprising characteristics such as national or cultural identity, social solidarity, language, or hierarchical organization.

Conceptions of society

Society, in general, addresses the fact that an individual has rather limited means as an autonomous unit. The Great apes have always been more (''Bonobo'', ''Homo'', ''Pan'') or less (''Gorilla'', ''Pongo'') social animals, so Robinson Crusoe-like situations are either fictions or unusual corner cases to the ubiquity of social context for humans, who fall between presocial and eusocial in the spectrum of animal ethology.

In anthropology

Human societies are most often organized according to their primary means of subsistence. Social scientists have identified hunter-gatherer societies, nomadic pastoral societies, horticulturalist or simple farming societies, and intensive agricultural societies, also called civilizations. Some consider industrial and post-industrial societies to be qualitatively different from traditional agricultural societies.

Today, anthropologists and many social scientists vigorously oppose the notion of cultural evolution and rigid "stages" such as these. In fact, much anthropological data has suggested that complexity (civilization, population growth and density, specialization, etc.) does not always take the form of hierarchical social organization or stratification.

Cultural relativism as a widespread approach or ethic has largely replaced notions of "primitive", better/worse, or "progress" in relation to cultures (including their material culture/technology and social organization).

According to anthropologist Maurice Godelier, one critical novelty in human society, in contrast to humanity's closest biological relatives (chimpanzees and bonobo), is the parental role assumed by the males, which supposedly would be absent in our nearest relatives for whom paternity is not generally determinable.

In political science

Societies may also be organized according to their political structure. In order of increasing size and complexity, there are bands, tribes, chiefdoms, and state societies. These structures may have varying degrees of political power, depending on the cultural, geographical, and historical environments that these societies must contend with. Thus, a more isolated society with the same level of technology and culture as other societies is more likely to survive than one in closer proximity to others that may encroach on their resources. A society that is unable to offer an effective response to other societies it competes with will usually be subsumed into the culture of the competing society.

In sociology

Sociologist Gerhard Lenski differentiates societies based on their level of technology, communication, and economy: (1) hunters and gatherers, (2) simple agricultural, (3) advanced agricultural, (4) industrial, and (5) special (e.g. fishing societies or maritime societies). This is similar to the system earlier developed by anthropologists Morton H. Fried, a conflict theorist, and Elman Service, an integration theorist, who have produced a system of classification for societies in all human cultures based on the evolution of social inequality and the role of the state. This system of classification contains four categories:

Hunter-gatherer bands (categorization of duties and responsibilities).

Tribal societies in which there are some limited instances of social rank and prestige.

Stratified structures led by chieftains.

Civilizations, with complex social hierarchies and organized, institutional governments.

In addition to this there are:

Humanity, mankind, upon which rest all the elements of society, including society's beliefs.

Virtual society, a society based on online identity, which is evolving in the information age.

Over time, some cultures have progressed toward more complex forms of organization and control. This cultural evolution has a profound effect on patterns of community. Hunter-gatherer tribes settled around seasonal food stocks to become agrarian villages. Villages grew to become towns and cities. Cities turned into city-states and nation-states.

Many societies distribute largess at the behest of some individual or some larger group of people. This type of generosity can be seen in all known cultures; typically, prestige accrues to the generous individual or group. Conversely, members of a society may also shun or scapegoat members of the society who violate its norms. Mechanisms such as gift-giving, joking relationships and scapegoating, which may be seen in various types of human groupings, tend to be institutionalized within a society. Social evolution as a phenomenon carries with it certain elements that could be detrimental to the population it serves.

Some societies bestow status on an individual or group of people when that individual or group performs an admired or desired action. This type of recognition is bestowed in the form of a name, title, manner of dress, or monetary reward. In many societies, adult male or female status is subject to a ritual or process of this type. Altruistic action in the interests of the larger group is seen in virtually all societies. The phenomena of community action, shunning, scapegoating, generosity, shared risk, and reward are common to many forms of society.

Types of societies

Societies are social groups that differ according to subsistence strategies, the ways that humans use technology to provide needs for themselves. Although humans have established many types of societies throughout history, anthropologists tend to classify different societies according to the degree to which different groups within a society have unequal access to advantages such as resources, prestige, or power. Virtually all societies have developed some degree of inequality among their people through the process of social stratification, the division of members of a society into levels with unequal wealth, prestige, or power. Sociologists place societies in three broad categories: pre-industrial, industrial, and postindustrial.

Pre-industrial societies

In a pre-industrial society, food production, which is carried out through the use of human and animal labor, is the main economic activity. These societies can be subdivided according to their level of technology and their method of producing food. These subdivisions are hunting and gathering, pastoral, horticultural, agricultural, and feudal.

;Hunting and gathering societies The main form of food production in such societies is the daily collection of wild plants and the hunting of wild animals. Hunter-gatherers move around constantly in search of food. As a result, they do not build permanent villages or create a wide variety of artifacts, and usually only form small groups such as bands and tribes. However, some hunting and gathering societies in areas with abundant resources (such as the Tlingit) lived in larger groups and formed complex hierarchical social structures such as chiefdoms. The need for mobility also limits the size of these societies. They generally consist of fewer than 60 people and rarely exceed 100. Statuses within the tribe are relatively equal, and decisions are reached through general agreement. The ties that bind the tribe are more complex than those of the bands. Leadership is personal—charismatic—and used for special purposes only in tribal society. There are no political offices containing real power, and a chief is merely a person of influence, a sort of adviser; therefore, tribal consolidations for collective action are not governmental. The family forms the main social unit, with most societal members being related by birth or marriage. This type of organization requires the family to carry out most social functions, including production and education.

;Pastoral societies Pastoralism is a slightly more efficient form of subsistence. Rather than searching for food on a daily basis, members of a pastoral society rely on domesticated herd animals to meet their food needs. Pastoralists live a nomadic life, moving their herds from one pasture to another. Because their food supply is far more reliable, pastoral societies can support larger populations. Since there are food surpluses, fewer people are needed to produce food. As a result, the division of labor (the specialization by individuals or groups in the performance of specific economic activities) becomes more complex. For example, some people become craftworkers, producing tools, weapons, and jewelry. The production of goods encourages trade. This trade helps to create inequality, as some families acquire more goods than others do. These families often gain power through their increased wealth. The passing on of property from one generation to another helps to centralize wealth and power. Over time emerge hereditary chieftainships, the typical form of government in pastoral societies.

;Horticultural societies Fruits and vegetables grown in garden plots that have been cleared from the jungle or forest provide the main source of food in a horticultural society. These societies have a level of technology and complexity similar to pastoral societies. Some horticultural groups use the slash-and-burn method to raise crops. The wild vegetation is cut and burned, and ashes are used as fertilizers. Horticulturists use human labor and simple tools to cultivate the land for one or more seasons. When the land becomes barren, horticulturists clear a new plot and leave the old plot to revert to its natural state. They may return to the original land several years later and begin the process again. By rotating their garden plots, horticulturists can stay in one area for a fairly long period of time. This allows them to build semipermanent or permanent villages. The size of a village's population depends on the amount of land available for farming; thus villages can range from as few as 30 people to as many as 2000.

As with pastoral societies, surplus food leads to a more complex division of labor. Specialized roles in horticultural societies include craftspeople, shamans (religious leaders), and traders. This role specialization allows people to create a wide variety of artifacts. As in pastoral societies, surplus food can lead to inequalities in wealth and power within horticultural political systems are developed because of the settled nature of horticultural life.

;Agricultural societies Agricultural societies use technological advances to cultivate crops over a large area. Sociologists use the phrase Agricultural Revolution to refer to the technological changes that occurred as long as 8,500 years ago that led to cultivating crops and raising farm animals. Increases in food supplies then led to larger populations than in earlier communities. This meant a greater surplus, which resulted in towns that became centers of trade supporting various rulers, educators, craftspeople, merchants, and religious leaders who did not have to worry about locating nourishment.

Greater degrees of social stratification appeared in agricultural societies. For example, women previously had higher social status because they shared labor more equally with men. In hunting and gathering societies, women even gathered more food than men. However, as food stores improved and women took on lesser roles in providing food for the family, they increasingly became subordinate to men. As villages and towns expanded into neighboring areas, conflicts with other communities inevitably occurred. Farmers provided warriors with food in exchange for protection against invasion by enemies. A system of rulers with high social status also appeared. This nobility organized warriors to protect the society from invasion. In this way, the nobility managed to extract goods from “lesser” members of society.

;Feudal societies Feudalism was a form of society based on ownership of land. Unlike today's farmers, vassals under feudalism were bound to cultivating their lord's land. In exchange for military protection, the lords exploited the peasants into providing food, crops, crafts, homage, and other services to the landowner. The caste system of feudalism was often multigenerational; the families of peasants may have cultivated their lord's land for generations.

Between the 14th and 16th centuries, a new economic system emerged that began to replace feudalism. Capitalism is marked by open competition in a free market, in which the means of production are privately owned. Europe's exploration of the Americas served as one impetus for the development of capitalism. The introduction of foreign metals, silks, and spices stimulated great commercial activity in European societies; as a result, hereditary chieftainships are prevalent.

Industrial societies

Industrial societies rely heavily on machines powered by fuels for the production of goods. This produced further dramatic increases in efficiency. The increased efficiency of production of the industrial revolution produced an even greater surplus than before. Now the surplus was not just agricultural goods, but also manufactured goods. This larger surplus caused all of the changes discussed earlier in the domestication revolution to become even more pronounced.

Once again, the population boomed. Increased productivity made more goods available to everyone. However, inequality became even greater than before. The breakup of agricultural-based feudal societies caused many people to leave the land and seek employment in cities. This created a great surplus of labor and gave capitalists plenty of laborers who could be hired for extremely low wages.

Post-industrial societies

Postindustrial societies are societies dominated by information, services, and high technology more than the production of goods. Advanced industrial societies are now seeing a shift toward an increase in service sectors over manufacturing and production. The U.S. is the first country to have over half of its work force employed in service industries. Service industries include government, research, education, health, sales, law, banking, and so on. It is still too early to identify and understand all the ramifications this new kind of society will have for social life. In fact, even the phrase "postindustrial" belies the fact that we don't yet quite know what will follow industrial societies or the forms they will take.

Contemporary usage

The term "society" is currently used to cover both a number of political and scientific connotations as well as a variety of associations.

Western society

The development of the Western world has brought with it the emerging concepts of Western culture, politics, and ideas, often referred to simply as "Western society. Geographically, it covers at the very least the countries of Western Europe, North America, Australia, and New Zealand. It sometimes also includes Eastern Europe, South America, and Israel.

The cultures and lifestyles of all of these stem from Western Europe. They all enjoy relatively strong economies and stable governments, allow freedom of religion, have chosen democracy as a form of governance, favor capitalism and international trade, are heavily influenced by Judeo-Christian values, and have some form of political and military alliance or cooperation.

Information society

Although the concept of information society has been under discussion since the 1930s, in the modern world it is almost always applied to the manner in which information technologies have impacted society and culture. It therefore covers the effects of computers and telecommunications on the home, the workplace, schools, government, and various communities and organizations, as well as the emergence of new social forms in cyberspace.

One of the European Union's areas of interest is the information society. Here policies are directed towards promoting an open and competitive digital economy, research into information and communication technologies, as well as their application to improve social inclusion, public services, and quality of life.

The International Telecommunications Union's World Summit on the Information Society in Geneva and Tunis (2003 and 2005) has led to a number of policy and application areas where action is required. These include:

promotion of ICTs for development;

information and communication infrastructure;

access to information and knowledge;

capacity building;

building confidence and security in the use of ICTs;

enabling environment;

ICT applications in the areas of government, business, learning, health, employment, environment, agriculture and science;

cultural and linguistic diversity and local content;

media;

ethical dimensions of the information society; and

international and regional cooperation.

Knowledge society

As access to electronic information resources increased at the beginning of the 21st century, special attention was extended from the information society to the knowledge society. An analysis by the Irish government stated, "The capacity to manipulate, store and transmit large quantities of information cheaply has increased at a staggering rate over recent years. The digitisation of information and the associated pervasiveness of the Internet are facilitating a new intensity in the application of knowledge to economic activity, to the extent that it has become the predominant factor in the creation of wealth. As much as 70 to 80 percent of economic growth is now said to be due to new and better knowledge."

The Second World Summit on the Knowledge Society, held in Chania, Crete, in September 2009, gave special attention to the following topics:

business and enterprise computing;

technology-enhanced learning;

social and humanistic computing;

culture, tourism and technology;

e-government and e-democracy;

innovation, sustainable development, and strategic management;

service science, management, and engineering;

intellectual and human capital development;

ICTs for ecology and the green economy;

future prospects for the knowledge society; and

technologies and business models for the creative industries.

Other uses

People of many nations united by common political and cultural traditions, beliefs, or values are sometimes also said to form a society (such as Judeo-Christian, Eastern, and Western). When used in this context, the term is employed as a means of contrasting two or more "societies" whose members represent alternative conflicting and competing worldviews.

Some academic, professional, and scientific associations describe themselves as ''societies'' (for example, the American Mathematical Society, the American Society of Civil Engineers, or the Royal Society).

In some countries, e.g. the United States, France, and Latin America, the term "society' is used in commerce to denote a partnership between investors or the start of a business. In the United Kingdom, partnerships are not called societies, but co-operatives or mutuals are often known as societies (such as friendly societies and building societies).

See also

{| |

Civil society

Community

Classless society

Cult

Culture

High society

Mass society

Open society

Professional society

Religion

Scientific society

Secret societies

Social actions

Social capital

Social cohesion

Societal collapse

Social contract

Social disintegration

Social solidarity

Social structure

Structure and agency

|}

Further reading

Effland, R. 1998. The Cultural Evolution of Civilizations Mesa Community College.

Jenkins, R. 2002. ''Foundations of Sociology.'' London: Palgrave MacMillan. ISBN 0-333-96050-5.

Lenski, G. 1974. ''Human Societies: An Introduction to Macrosociology.'' New York: McGraw- Hill, Inc.

Raymond Williams, "www.flpmihai.blogspot.com", in: Williams, Key Words: A Vocabulary of Culture and Society. Fontana, 1976.

Notes

External links

Definition of Society from the OED.

Lecture notes on "Defining Society" from East Carolina University.

Learning Commons - What is Culture ? - Glossary Item - Society

Internet Modern History Sourcebook: Industrial Revolution

"The Day the World Took Off" Six part video series from the University of Cambridge tracing the question "Why did the Industrial Revolution begin when and where it did."

BBC History Home Page: Industrial Revolution

National Museum of Science and Industry website: machines and personalities

''Industrial Revolution and the Standard of Living'' by Clark Nardinelli - the debate over whether standards of living rose or fell.

Cliff Notes on Types of Societies

Perceptions of Knowledge, Knowledge Society, and Knowledge Management

Category:Anthropology Category:Cultural history Category:Economic anthropology Category:Political philosophy Category:Sociology Category:Types of organization

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birth date	June 20, 1967
birth place
birth name	Nicole Mary Kidman
nationality	Australian
citizenship	American-Australian
occupation	Actress, spokesmodel, singer, producer
years active	1983–present
spouse	Tom Cruise (1990–2001)Keith Urban (2006–present)
children	4
relatives	Antonia Kidman (sister)
website	http://www.nicolekidmanofficial.com/ }}

Nicole Mary Kidman, AC (born 20 June 1967) is an Australian actress, singer, film producer, spokesmodel, and humanitarian. After starring in a number of small Australian films and TV shows, Kidman's breakthrough was in the 1989 thriller ''Dead Calm''. Following several films over the early 1990s, she came to worldwide recognition for her performances in ''Days of Thunder'' (1990), ''Far and Away'' (1992), and ''Batman Forever'' (1995). Kidman followed this with other successful films in the late 1990s, it was her performance in the musical, ''Moulin Rouge!'' (2001) which earned Kidman her second Golden Globe Award and first Academy Award nomination for Best Actress. Her performance as Virginia Woolf the following year in the drama film ''The Hours'' (2002) received critical acclaim and earned Kidman the Academy Award for Best Actress.

Kidman's other successful films include ''Cold Mountain'' (2003), ''The Interpreter'' (2005), ''Happy Feet'' (2006), and ''Australia'' (2008). Her performance in 2010's ''Rabbit Hole'' (which she also produced) earned Kidman further accolades including a subsequent Academy Award nomination for Best Actress. Kidman has been a Goodwill Ambassador for UNIFEM since 2006. Kidman's work has earned her a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, three Golden Globe Awards, one BAFTA, and an Academy Award. In 2006, Kidman was made a Companion of the Order of Australia, Australia's highest civilian honour, and was also the highest-paid actress in the motion picture industry. As a result of being born to Australian parents in Hawaii, Kidman has dual citizenship of Australia and the United States.

Life and career

1967–1987: Early life

Kidman was born in Honolulu, Hawaii. Since her parents were in the United States on educational visas, Kidman could claim both U.S. and Australian citizenship. Her father, Dr. Antony David Kidman, is a biochemist, clinical psychologist, and author, with an office in Lane Cove, Sydney, Australia. Her mother, Janelle Ann (née Glenny), is a nursing instructor who edits her husband's books and was a member of the Women's Electoral Lobby. At the time of Kidman's birth in 1967, her father was a visiting fellow at the National Institute of Mental Health of the United States. Opposed to the War in Vietnam, which was causing social unrest in both Australia and the United States, Kidman's parents participated in anti-war protests while they were living in Washington, DC. The family returned to Australia when Kidman was four and her parents now live on Sydney's North Shore. Kidman has a younger sister, Antonia Kidman, a journalist and TV presenter. She is of Irish descent through her great-great-great-grandparents, James and Bridget Callachor, who settled in Sydney in 1842.

Kidman attended Lane Cove Public School and North Sydney Girls' High School. She was enrolled in ballet at three and showed her natural talent for acting in her primary and high school years. Kidman revealed she was timid as a child, saying, "I am very shy – really shy – I even had a stutter as a kid, which I slowly got over, but I still regress into that shyness. So I don’t like walking into a crowded restaurant by myself; I don’t like going to a party by myself". In 1984, her mother was diagnosed with breast cancer, which caused Kidman to temporarily halt her education and help provide for the family by working as a massage therapist at age 17. This was followed by attending the Australian Theatre for Young People.

In 1983, aged 16, Kidman dropped out of high school and made her film debut in the Australian holiday season favourite, ''Bush Christmas''. By the end of 1983, she had a supporting role in the television series ''Five Mile Creek'' and began gaining popularity in the mid-1980s after appearing in several film roles, including ''BMX Bandits'', ''Watch the Shadows Dance'' (1987), and the romantic comedy ''Windrider'' (1986), which earned Kidman attention due to her racy scenes. Also during the decade, she appeared in several Australian productions, including the soap opera ''A Country Practice'' and the miniseries ''Vietnam'' (1986). She also made guest appearances on Australian television programs and TV movies.

1988–1994: Breakthrough

In 1988, Kidman appeared in ''Emerald City'', based on the play of the same name. The Australian film earned her an Australian Film Institute for Best Supporting Actress. After appearing in the Australian miniseries ''Bangkok Hilton'', Kidman starred in ''Dead Calm'' (1989) as Rae Ingram, playing the wife of a naval officer. The thriller garnered strong reviews and brought Kidman to international recognition; ''Variety'' commented: "Throughout the film, Kidman is excellent. She gives the character of Rae real tenacity and energy." Meanwhile, critic Roger Ebert noted the excellent chemistry between the leads, stating, "Kidman and Zane do generate real, palpable hatred in their scenes together." She moved on to star alongside her then-boyfriend and future husband, Tom Cruise, in the 1990 auto racing film ''Days of Thunder'', playing a young doctor who falls in love with a NASCAR driver. This was Kidman's American debut and was among the highest-grossing films of the year.

In 1991, she co-starred with former classmate and friend Naomi Watts and Thandie Newton in the independent film ''Flirting''. Kidman and Watts portrayed two high school girls in this coming of age story, which won the Australian Film Institute Award for Best Film. That same year, her work in the film ''Billy Bathgate'' earned Kidman her first Golden Globe Award nomination, for Best Supporting Actress. ''The New York Times'', in its film review, called her "a beauty with, it seems, a sense of humor". The following year, she and Cruise re-teamed for Ron Howard's Irish epic ''Far and Away'' (1992), which was a modest critical and commercial success. In 1993, she starred in ''My Life'' opposite Michael Keaton and the thriller, ''Malice'' opposite Alec Baldwin.

1995–2003: International success

In 1995, Kidman appeared in her highest-grossing film as of 2011, playing Dr. Chase Meridian, the damsel in distress, in the superhero film ''Batman Forever'', opposite Val Kilmer as the film's title character. That same year Kidman appeared in Gus Van Sant's critically acclaimed ''To Die For'', earning praise for her portrayal of murderous newscaster Suzanne Stone Maretto.

Kidman next appeared in ''The Portrait of a Lady'' (1996), based on the novel the same name, alongside, Barbara Hershey, John Malkovich and Mary-Louise Parker. The following year she appeared in the action-thriller ''The Peacemaker'' (1997) as White House nuclear expert Dr. Julia Kelly, opposite George Clooney. The film received mixed reviews but grossed some $110,000,000 worldwide. That same year she appeared opposite Sandra Bullock in the poorly received fantasy ''Practical Magic'' as a modern-day witch. Kidman returned to her work on stage the same year in the David Hare play ''The Blue Room'', which opened in London.

In 1999, Kidman reunited with then husband, Tom Cruise, to portray a married couple in ''Eyes Wide Shut'', the final film of Stanley Kubrick. The film opened to generally positive reviews but was subject to censorship controversies due to the explicit nature of its sex scenes. The film received further attention following Kubrick's death shortly before its release. After brief hiatus and a highly publicized divorce from Cruise, Kidman returned to the screen to play a mail-order bride in the British-American drama ''Birthday Girl''.

In 2001, Kidman appeared in two of her most critically and commercially successful films. In the first she played the cabaret actress and courtesan Satine in Baz Luhrmann's musical ''Moulin Rouge!'', opposite Ewan McGregor. In her first singing role, Kidman's musical numbers and performance earned her critical praise. Subsequently, Kidman received her second Golden Globe Award, for Best Actress in a Motion Picture Musical or Comedy, as well as other acting awards. She also received her first Academy Award nomination, for Best Actress. Also in 2001, she had a well-received starring role in Alejandro Amenábar's Spanish horror film ''The Others'' as Grace Stewart. Grossing over $210,947,037 worldwide, the film also earned several Goya Awards award nominations, including a Best Actress nomination for Kidman. Additionally she received her second BAFTA and fifth Golden Globe nominations.

In 2003, Kidman won critical praise for her portrayal of Virginia Woolf in Stephen Daldry's ''The Hours'', which also featured Meryl Streep and Julianne Moore. Kidman wore prosthetics that were applied to her nose making her almost unrecognisable playing the author during her time in 1920s England, and her bouts with depression and mental illness while trying to write her novel, ''Mrs. Dalloway''. The film earned positive notices and several nominations, including for an Academy Award for Best Picture. ''The New York Times'' wrote that , "Kidman tunnels like a ferret into the soul of a woman besieged by excruciating bouts of mental illness. As you watch her wrestle with the demon of depression, it is as if its torment has never been shown on the screen before. Directing her desperate, furious stare into the void, her eyes not really focusing, Ms. Kidman, in a performance of astounding bravery, evokes the savage inner war waged by a brilliant mind against a system of faulty wiring that transmits a searing, crazy static into her brain". Kidman won numerous critics' awards, including her first BAFTA, third Golden Globe, and the Academy Award for Best Actress. As the first Australian actress to win an Academy Award, Kidman made a teary acceptance speech about the importance of art, even during times of war, saying, "Why do you come to the Academy Awards when the world is in such turmoil? Because art is important. And because you believe in what you do and you want to honour that, and it is a tradition that needs to be upheld."

Following her Oscar win, Kidman appeared in three very different films in 2003. The first, a leading role in ''Dogville'', by Danish director Lars von Trier, was an experimental film set on a bare soundstage. The second was an adaptation of Philip Roth's novel ''The Human Stain'', opposite Anthony Hopkins. Her third film, Anthony Minghella's war drama ''Cold Mountain'', was a critical and commercial success. Kidman appeared opposite Jude Law and Renée Zellweger, playing Southerner Ada Monroe, who is in love with Law's character and separated by the Civil War. ''TIME'' magazine wrote, "Kidman takes strength from Ada's plight and grows steadily, literally luminous. Her sculptural pallor gives way to warm radiance in the firelight". The film garnered several award nominations and wins for its actors; Kidman received her sixth Golden Globe nomination at the 61st Golden Globe Awards for Best Actress.

2004–2008: Continued acting

In 2004 she appeared in the film, ''Birth'', which received controversy over a scene in which Kidman shares a bath with her co-star, 10-year old Cameron Bright. At a press conference at the Venice Film Festival, Kidman addressed the controversy saying, "It wasn't that I wanted to make a film where I kiss a 10-year-old boy. I wanted to make a film where you understand love". Though the film received negative to mixed reviews, Kidman earned her seventh Golden Globe nomination, for Best Actress – Motion Picture. That same year she appeared in the black comedy-science-fiction film ''The Stepford Wives'', a remake of the 1975 film of the same name. Kidman appeared in the lead role as Joanna Eberhart, a successful producer. The film, directed by Frank Oz, was critically panned and a commercial failure. The following year, Kidman appeared opposite Sean Penn in the Sydney Pollack thriller ''The Interpreter'', playing UN translator Silvia Broome. Also that year she starred in ''Bewitched'', based on the 1960s TV sitcom of the same name, opposite Will Ferrell. Both Kidman and Ferrell earned that year's Razzie Award for "Worst Screen Couple". Neither film fared well in the United States, with box office sales falling well short of the production costs, but both films fared well internationally.

In conjunction with her success in the film industry, Kidman became the face of the ''Chanel No. 5'' perfume brand. She starred in a campaign of television and print ads with Rodrigo Santoro, directed by ''Moulin Rouge!'' director Baz Luhrmann, to promote the fragrance during the holiday seasons of 2004, 2005, 2006, and 2008. The three-minute commercial produced for ''Chanel No. 5'' made Kidman the record holder for the most money paid per minute to an actor after she reportedly earned US$12million for the three-minute advert. During this time, Kidman was also listed as the 45th Most Powerful Celebrity on the 2005 ''Forbes'' Celebrity 100 List. She made a reported US$14.5 million in 2004–2005. On ''People'' magazine's list of 2005's highest paid actresses, Kidman was second behind Julia Roberts, with US$16–17 million per-film price tag. Nintendo in 2007 announced that Kidman would be the new face of Nintendo's advertising campaign for the Nintendo DS game More Brain Training in its European market.

Kidman portrayed photographer Diane Arbus in the biography ''Fur'' (2006), opposite Robert Downey Jr.. Though the film was released to mixed reviews, both Kidman and Downey Jr. received praise for their performances. She also lent her voice to the animated film ''Happy Feet'' (2006), which grossed over US$384 million worldwide. In 2007, she starred in the science-fiction movie ''The Invasion'' directed by Oliver Hirschbiegel, a remake of the 1956 ''Invasion of the Body Snatchers'' that proved a critical and commercial failure. She also played opposite Jennifer Jason Leigh and Jack Black in Noah Baumbach's comedy-drama ''Margot at the Wedding'', released to positive reviews and earning Kidman a Satellite Award nomination for Best Actress – Musical or Comedy. She then starred in the commercially successful fantasy-adventure, ''The Golden Compass'' (2007), playing the villainous Marisa Coulter. In 2008, she reunited with ''Moulin Rouge!'' director Baz Luhrmann in the Australian period film ''Australia'', set in the remote Northern Territory during the Japanese attack on Darwin during World War II. Kidman played opposite Hugh Jackman as an Englishwoman feeling overwhelmed by the continent. Despite the film's mixed reviews, the acting was praised and the movie was a box office success worldwide. Kidman was originally set to star in the post-World War II German drama, ''The Reader'', working with previous collaborators Sydney Pollack and Anthony Minghella, but due to her pregnancy prior to filming she had to back out. The role went to Kate Winslet, who ultimately won the Oscar for Best Actress, which Kidman presented to her during the 81st Academy Awards.

2009–present: Recent work

Kidman appeared in the 2009 Rob Marshall musical ''Nine'', portraying the Federico Fellini-like character's muse, Claudia Jenssen. She was featured alongside fellow Oscar winners Daniel Day-Lewis, Judi Dench, Marion Cotillard, Penélope Cruz and Sophia Loren. Kidman's, whose screen time was brief compared to the other actresses, performed the musical number "Unusual Way" alongside Day-Lewis. Although the film was released to mixed reviews, it received several Golden Globe and Academy Award nominations, and earned Kidman a third Screen Actors Guild Award nomination, as part of the Outstanding Cast. Also in 2009, Kidman was the face of an international Schweppes advertisement. In 2010, she starred with Aaron Eckhart in the film adaptation of the Pulitzer Prize-winning play ''Rabbit Hole'', for which she vacated her role in the Woody Allen picture ''You Will Meet A Tall Dark Stranger''. She lent her voice to a promotional video that Australia used to support its bid to host the 2018 World Cup. The five-minute video was broadcast at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

''TV Guide'' reported in 2008 that Kidman will star in ''The Danish Girl'', a film adaptation of the novel of the same name, playing Lili Elbe, the world's first postoperative transsexual. ''Screen Daily'' reported that shooting would begin in Germany in July 2011. However the project has been delayed following the exit of the director, Lasse Hallström and Kidman's co-star Rachel Weisz. In 2009, ''Variety'' said that she would produce and star in a film adaptation of the Chris Cleave novel ''Little Bee'', in association with BBC Films.

In June 2010, ''TV Guide'' announced that Kidman and Clive Owen will star in an HBO film about Ernest Hemingway and his relationship with Martha Gellhorn. entitled ''Hemingway & Gellhorn''. The film, directed by Philip Kaufman, began shooting in March 2011, with an air date scheduled for 2012. She also stars alongside Nicolas Cage in director Joel Schumacher's action-thriller ''Trespass'', with the stars playing a married couple taken hostage.

On 17 September 2010, ContactMusic.com said Kidman will return to Broadway to portray Alexandra Del Lago in David Cromer's revival of Tennessee Williams' ''Sweet Bird of Youth'', with Scott Rudin producing On 30 August 2011 Cromer spoke to the ''The New York Times'' and explained that the production will not meet its original fall 2011 revival date but that it remains an active project. In February 2011, the ''Los Angeles Times'' reported Kidman is in talks to join the cast of Park Chan Wook's ''Stoker''. In May 2011 it was reported that Kidman would star and produce in ''Spectre'', a supernatural thriller directed by James Wan. The film closed major territory deals at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival. In June Kidman was cast in Lee Daniels' upcoming adaptation of the Pete Dexter novel, ''The Paperboy'' and began filming the thriller on 1 August 2011.

Singing

Not a singer before ''Moulin Rouge!'', Kidman had well-received vocal performances in the film. Her collaboration with Ewan McGregor on "Come What May" peaked at No.27 in the UK Singles Chart. Later she collaborated with Robbie Williams on "Somethin' Stupid", a cover of Williams' swing covers album ''Swing When You're Winning''. It peaked at No.8 in the Australian ARIAnet Singles Chart, and at No.1 for three weeks in the UK.

In 2006, while voicing a role in the animated movie ''Happy Feet'', she provided vocals for Norma Jean's "heartsong", a slightly altered version of "Kiss" by Prince. Kidman sang in Rob Marshall's movie musical ''Nine''.

Personal life

Kidman has been married twice, first to actor Tom Cruise, and then to singer Keith Urban.

She met Cruise in December 1989 on the set of their 1990 movie ''Days of Thunder''. Kidman and Cruise were married on Christmas Eve 1990 in Telluride, Colorado. The couple adopted a daughter, Isabella Jane (born 22 December 1992), and a son, Connor Anthony (born 17 January 1995). They separated on 25 May 1998. Kidman was three months pregnant at the time; shortly afterward, she suffered a miscarriage. Cruise filed for divorce in February 2001, and the marriage was dissolved that year, with Cruise citing irreconcilable differences. The reasons for dissolution have never been made public. In ''Marie Claire'', Kidman said she had an ectopic pregnancy early in their marriage. In the June 2006 ''Ladies' Home Journal'', she said she still loved Cruise: "He was huge; still is. To me, he was just Tom, but to everybody else, he is huge. But he was lovely to me and I loved him. I still love him." In addition, she has expressed shock about their divorce.

Prior to marrying Cruise, Kidman had a relationship with fellow Australian Marcus Graham in the 1980s. The 2003 film ''Cold Mountain'' brought rumours that an affair between Kidman and co-star Jude Law was responsible for the break-up of his marriage. Both denied the allegations, and Kidman won an undisclosed sum from the British tabloids that published the story. She gave the money to a Romanian orphanage in the town where the movie was filmed. Robbie Williams confirmed they had a short romance on her yacht in summer 2004. She met musician Lenny Kravitz in 2003 and dated him into 2004. In a 2007 interview, Kidman revealed that she was secretly engaged to someone prior to her marriage to Urban.

Kidman met her second husband, New Zealand-born country singer Urban, at G'Day LA, an event honouring Australians, in January 2005. They married on 25 June 2006, at Cardinal Cerretti Memorial Chapel in the grounds of St Patrick's Estate, Manly in Sydney. They maintain homes in Sydney, Sutton Forest, New South Wales, Los Angeles, California, and Nashville, Tennessee. The couple's daughter, Sunday Rose Kidman Urban, was born on 7 July 2008, in Nashville. Kidman's father said the daughter's middle name was after Urban's late grandmother, Rose. On 28 December 2010, Kidman and Urban welcomed his second daughter and her third daughter, Faith Margaret Kidman Urban, via gestational carrier at Nashville's Centennial Women's Hospital. The child is biologically Kidman and Urban's. Faith's middle name is after Kidman's late grandmother.

In 2005, Kidman mentioned in an interview with Ellen DeGeneres that she is banned from doing one of her favourite hobbies – sky diving – while shooting a movie.

In January 2005, Kidman won interim restraining orders against two Sydney paparazzi who persistently stationed themselves outside her Darling Point mansion.

In the beginning of 2009, Kidman appeared in a series of postage stamps featuring Australian actors. She, Geoffrey Rush, Russell Crowe, and Cate Blanchett each appear twice in the series: once as themselves and once as their Academy Award-winning character.

Religious and political views

Kidman is a practicing Roman Catholic. She attended Mary Mackillop Chapel in North Sydney. During her divorce from Tom Cruise, she stated that she did not want the children raised as Scientologists. She has been reluctant to discuss Scientology since her divorce.

Kidman has donated to U.S. Democratic party candidates and she endorsed John Kerry in the 2004 presidential election.

Charitable work

She has raised money for, and drawn attention to, disadvantaged children around the world. In 2004, she was honored as a "Citizen of the World" by the United Nations.

On Australia Day 2006, Kidman received Australia's highest civilian honor when she was made a Companion of the Order of Australia. She was also nominated goodwill ambassador for UNIFEM.

Kidman joined the Little Tee Campaign for breast cancer care to design T-shirts or vests to raise money to fight the disease. Kidman's mother had breast cancer in 1984.

Kidman was appointed Goodwill Ambassador of the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) in January 2006. In this capacity, Kidman has addressed international audiences at UN events, raised awareness through the media and testified before the United States House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs to support the International Violence against Women Act. Kidman visited Kosovo in 2006 to learn about women's experiences of conflict and UNIFEM's support efforts. She is the international spokesperson for UNIFEM's Say NO – UNiTE to End Violence against Women initiative. Kidman and the UNIFEM executive director presented over five million signatures collected during the first phase of this to the UN Secretary-General on 25 November 2008.

On 8 January 2010, Kidman, alongside Nancy Pelosi, Joan Chen and Joe Torre, attended the ceremony to help Family Violence Prevention Fund break ground on a new international center located in the Presidio of San Francisco.

Filmography

Kidman's movies have grossed more than $2 billion (US), with 17 movies making more than $100 million.

+ Feature films and television
! Year	! Title	Role	Notes
1983		Judy
1983	''Bush Christmas''	Helen
1983	''Five Mile Creek''	Annie	TV series
1983	''Skin Deep''	Sheena Henderson	TV movie
1983	''Chase Through the Night''	Petra	TV movie
1984	''Matthew and Son''	Bridget Elliot	TV movie
1984	''The Wacky World of Wills & Burke''	Julia Matthews
1984	''''	Simone Jenkins	TV series, 2 episodes (4x43-44)
1985	''Archer's Adventure''	Catherine	TV movie
1985	''Winners''	Carol Trig	TV series – episode 1
1986	''Windrider''	Jade
1987	''Watch the Shadows Dance''	Amy Gabriel
1987	''''	Mary McAllister
1987	''Room to Move''	Carol Trig	TV miniseries
1987	''''	Jill	TV movie
1987		Megan Goddard	Australian Film Institute Awards
1988		Helen
1989		Rae Ingram	Nominated—[[Saturn Award for Best Actress
1989	''Bangkok Hilton''	Katrina Stanton	Logie Award for Most Popular Actress in a Miniseries/TelemovieSilver Logie Award for Most Popular ActressNominated—Australian Film Institute Award for Best Lead Actress in a Telefeature
1990	''Days of Thunder''	Dr. Claire Lewicki
1991		Nicola
1991		Drew Preston	Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture
1992	''Far and Away''	Shannon Christie
1993		Tracy Kennsinger
1993		Gail Jones
1995	''To Die For''	Suzanne Stone Maretto	Boston Society of Film Critics Award for Best ActressBroadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best ActressEmpire Award for Best ActressGolden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or ComedyLondon Film Critics Circle Award for Actress of the YearSeattle International Film Festival Award for Best ActressSoutheastern Film Critics Association Award for Best ActressNominated—American Comedy Award for Funniest Leading Actress in a Motion PictureNominated—BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading RoleNominated—Chlotrudis Award for Best ActressNominated—Saturn Award for Best Actress
1995	''Batman Forever''
1996	''''	Isabel Archer
1996		Woman in bar	uncredited cameo
1996	''''	Academy Awards Presenter
1997	''''	Dr. Julia Kelly
1998	''Practical Magic''	Gillian Owens
1998		Irene/Marie/Emma/Kelly	Evening Standard Special AwardTheatre World Award 1999Nominated—Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Play
1999	''Eyes Wide Shut''	Alice Harford
2001	''Moulin Rouge!''	Satine	Empire Award for Best Actress Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or ComedyGransito Movie Award for Best ActressSatellite Award for Best Actress – Musical or Comedy London Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress (also for The Others) MTV Movie Award for Best Female Performance MTV Movie Award for Best Musical Sequence (with Ewan McGregor)Nominated—Academy Award for Best Actress Nominated—Australian Film Institute Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role Nominated—Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best ActressNominated—Film Critics Circle of Australia Awards for Best Female ActorNominated—IF Award for Best ActressNominated—MTV Movie Award for Best Kiss (shared with Ewan McGregor)Nominated—MTV Movie Award for Best Musical Sequence Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
2001	''''	Grace Stewart	Fangoria
2001	''[[Birthday Girl''	Sophia/Nadia
2002	''Panic Room''	Stephen's girlfriend, on the phone
2002	''''	Virginia Woolf	Academy Award for Best ActressBAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading RoleBerlin Film Festival For Best ActressGolden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture DramaItalian Online Movie Award for Best ActressItalian Online Movie Award for Best CastLas Vegas Film Critics Society Award for Best ActressNominated—Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best ActressNominated—Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best CastNominated—Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best ActressNominated—Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association Award for Best ActressNominated—International Online Cinema Award for Best ActressNominated—International Online Cinema Award for Best EnsembleNominated—Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best ActressNominated—Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best CastNominated—Satellite Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture DramaNominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading RoleNominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion PictureNominated—Seattle Film Critics Award for Best ActressNominated—Vancouver Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress
2003	''Dogville''	Grace Margaret Mulligan	Russian Guild of Film Critics Golden Aries Award for Best Foreign ActressNominated—Bodil Award for Best ActressNominated—Cannes Film Festival Award for Best ActressNominated—Chlotrudis Award for Best CastNominated—International Online Cinema Award for Best EnsembleNominated—Italian Online Movie Award for Best Actress
2003	''''	Faunia Farley
2003		Ada Monroe	Nominated—Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best ActressNominated—Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association Award for Best ActressNominated—Empire Award for Best Actress Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture DramaNominated—International Online Cinema Award for Best EnsembleNominated—Las Vegas Film Critics Society Award for Best Actress Nominated—London Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress
2003	''In the Cut''	Producer
2004	''''	Joanna Eberhart
2004		Anna
2005	''''	Silvia Broome
2005		Isabel Bigelow/Samantha	Razzie Award for Worst Screen Couple (with Will Ferrell)Nominated—People's Choice Award for Favorite Leading Lady
2006		Diane Arbus
2006	''Happy Feet''	Norma Jean
2005	''God Grew Tired of Us''	Narrator
2007	''''	Dr. Carol Bennell
2007	''Margot at the Wedding''	Margot	Nominated—Satellite Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or ComedyNominated—Gotham Awards 2007
2007	''''	[[Marisa Coulter	Nominated—Australian Film Institute Awards
2008		Lady Sarah Ashley
2009		Claudia Jenssen
2010		Becca Corbett	Nominated—Alliance of Women Film Journalists Award for Best ActressNominated—Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best ActressNominated—Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association Award for Best ActressNominated—Detroit Film Critics Society Award for Best ActressNominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture DramaNominated—Houston Film Critics Society Award for Best ActressNominated—International Cinema Association Award for Best ActressNominated—Italian Online Movie Award for Best ActressNominated—Las Vegas Film Critics Society Award for Best ActressNominated—Independent Spirit Award for Best Female LeadNominated—Online Film Critics Society Award for Best ActressNominated—Satellite Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture DramaNominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading RoleNominated—St. Louis Gateway Film Critics Association Award for Best ActressNominated—Utah Film Critics Association Award for Best ActressNominated—Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress
2011	''Just Go With It''	Devlin Adams
2011		Producer
2011		Sarah	''Post-Production''
2012	''Hemingway & Gellhorn''	Martha Gellhorn	''Post-Production''
2012	''The Paperboy''	Charlotte Bless	''Filming''

Awards

In 2003, Kidman received a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In addition to her 2003 Academy Award for Best Actress, Kidman has received Best Actress awards from the following critics' groups or award-granting organisations: the Hollywood Foreign Press (Golden Globes), the Australian Film Institute, Blockbuster Entertainment Awards, Empire Awards, Golden Satellite Awards, Hollywood Film Festival, London Critics Circle, Russian Guild of Film Critics, and the Southeastern Film Critics Association. In 2003, Kidman was given the American Cinematheque Award. She also received recognition from the National Association of Theatre Owners at the ShoWest Convention in 1992 as the Female Star of Tomorrow and in 2002 for a Distinguished Decade of Achievement in Film.

Government honours

In 2006, Kidman was made a Companion of the Order of Australia (AC), Australia's highest civilian honour, for "service to the performing arts as an acclaimed motion picture performer, to health care through contributions to improve medical treatment for women and children and advocacy for cancer research, to youth as a principal supporter of young performing artists, and to humanitarian causes in Australia and internationally." However, due to film commitments and her wedding to Urban, it was 13 April 2007 that she was presented with the honour. It was presented by Governor-General of Australia, Major General Michael Jeffery in a ceremony at Government House, Canberra.

Discography

"Come What May" single (Duet with Ewan McGregor – October 2001) AUS #10, UK #27

"One Day I'll Fly Away" – October 2001 (''Moulin Rouge!'' soundtrack)

"Sparkling Diamonds" (with Caroline O'Connor) – October 2001 (''Moulin Rouge!'' soundtrack)

"Hindi Sad Diamonds" -October 2001 (''Moulin Rouge!'' soundtrack)

"Somethin' Stupid" single (Duet with Robbie Williams – December 2001) AUS #8, UK #1

"Kiss" / "Heartbreak Hotel" – Nicole Kidman / Hugh Jackman – November 2006 (''Happy Feet'' soundtrack)

"Unusual Way"– December 2009 (''Nine'' soundtrack)

References

Additional reading

External links

Nicole Kidman's charity work

Category:1967 births Category:Living people Category:20th-century actors Category:21st-century actors Category:Actors from Hawaii Category:Actors from New South Wales Category:American child actors Category:American film actors Category:American Roman Catholics Category:American television actors Category:American people of Australian descent Category:Australian people of Irish descent Category:Australian child actors Category:Australian female singers Category:Australian film actors Category:Australian Roman Catholics Category:Australian television actors Category:BAFTA winners (people) Category:Best Actress Academy Award winners Category:Best Drama Actress Golden Globe (film) winners Category:Best Musical or Comedy Actress Golden Globe (film) winners Category:Companions of the Order of Australia Category:People from Honolulu, Hawaii Category:People from Sydney Category:Saturn Award winners Category:Miscarriage victims

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{{infobox person| name	Fred Astaire
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	1904–81
spouse	Phyllis Livingston Potter (1933–54; her death)Robyn Smith(1980–87; his death)
relatives	Adele Astaire(sister, deceased) }}

Fred Astaire (born Frederick Austerlitz; May 10, 1899 – June 22, 1987) was an American film and Broadway stage dancer, choreographer, singer and actor. His stage and subsequent film career spanned a total of 76 years, during which he made 31 musical films. He was named the fifth Greatest Male Star of All Time by the American Film Institute. He is particularly associated with Ginger Rogers, with whom he made ten films.

Gene Kelly, another major innovator in filmed dance, said that "the history of dance on film begins with Astaire". Beyond film and television, many classical dancers and choreographers, Rudolf Nureyev, Sammy Davis Jr., Michael Jackson, Gregory Hines, Mikhail Baryshnikov, George Balanchine and Jerome Robbins among them, also acknowledged his importance and influence.

Life and career

1899–1917: Early life and career

Astaire was born in Omaha, Nebraska, the son of Johanna "Ann" (née Geilus) and Frederic "Fritz" Austerlitz (born September 8, 1868, as Friedrich Emanuel Austerlitz). Astaire's mother was born in the United States to Lutheran German immigrants from East Prussia and Alsace, while Astaire's father was born in Linz, Austria, to Jewish parents who had converted to Catholicism.

After arriving in New York City at age 24 on October 26, 1892, and being processed at Ellis Island, Astaire's father, hoping to find work in his brewing trade, moved to Omaha, Nebraska, and landed a job with the Storz Brewing Company. Astaire's mother dreamed of escaping Omaha by virtue of her children's talents, after Astaire's sister, Adele Astaire, early on revealed herself to be an instinctive dancer and singer. She planned a "brother-and-sister act," which was common in vaudeville at the time. Although Astaire refused dance lessons at first, he easily mimicked his older sister's step and took up piano, accordion and clarinet.

When their father suddenly lost his job, the family moved to New York City to launch the show business career of the children. Despite Adele and Fred's teasing rivalry, they quickly acknowledged their individual strengths, his durability and her greater talent. Sister and brother took the name "Astaire" in 1905, as they were taught dance, speaking, and singing in preparation for developing an act. Family legend attributes the name to an uncle surnamed "L'Astaire".

Their first act was called ''Juvenile Artists Presenting an Electric Musical Toe-Dancing Novelty''. Fred wore a top hat and tails in the first half and a lobster outfit in the second. The goofy act debuted in Keyport, New Jersey, in a "tryout theater." The local paper wrote, "the Astaires are the greatest child act in vaudeville."

As a result of their father's salesmanship, Fred and Adele rapidly landed a major contract and played the famed Orpheum Circuit not only in Omaha, but throughout the United States. Soon Adele grew to at least three inches taller than Fred and the pair began to look incongruous. The family decided to take a two-year break from show business to let time take its course and to avoid trouble from the Gerry Society and the child labor laws of the time. In 1912, Fred became an Episcopalian.

The career of the Astaire siblings resumed with mixed fortunes, though with increasing skill and polish, as they began to incorporate tap dancing into their routines. Astaire's dancing was inspired by Bill "Bojangles" Robinson and John "Bubbles" Sublett. From vaudeville dancer Aurelio Coccia, they learned the tango, waltz and other ballroom dances popularized by Vernon and Irene Castle.

Some sources state that the Astaire siblings appeared in a 1915 film entitled ''Fanchon, the Cricket'', starring Mary Pickford, but the Astaires have consistently denied this.

Fred Astaire first met George Gershwin, who was working as a song plugger in Jerome H. Remick's, in 1916. Fred had already been hunting for new music and dance ideas. Their chance meeting was to deeply affect the careers of both artists.

Astaire was always on the lookout for new steps on the circuit and was starting to demonstrate his ceaseless quest for novelty and perfection. The Astaires broke into Broadway in 1917 with ''Over the Top'', a patriotic revue.

1917–1933: Stage career in Broadway and London

They followed up with several more shows, and of their work in ''The Passing Show of 1918'' Heywood Broun wrote: "In an evening in which there was an abundance of good dancing, Fred Astaire stood out ... He and his partner, Adele Astaire, made the show pause early in the evening with a beautiful loose-limbed dance."

By this time, Astaire's dancing skill was beginning to outshine his sister's, though she still set the tone of their act and her sparkle and humor drew much of the attention, due in part to Fred's careful preparation and strong supporting choreography.

During the 1920s, Fred and Adele appeared on Broadway and on the London stage in shows such as George and Ira Gershwin's ''Lady Be Good'' (1924) and ''Funny Face'' (1927), and later in ''The Band Wagon'' (1931), winning popular acclaim with the theater crowd on both sides of the Atlantic. By then, Astaire's tap dancing was recognized as among the best, as Robert Benchley wrote in 1930, "I don't think that I will plunge the nation into war by stating that Fred is the greatest tap-dancer in the world."

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. Recently, film footage taken by Fred Stone of Astaire performing in ''Gay Divorce'' with Luce's successor, Dorothy Stone, in New York in 1933 was uncovered by dancer and historian Betsy Baytos and now represents the earliest known performance footage of Astaire.

1933–1939: Astaire and Rogers at RKO

According to Hollywood folklore, a screen test report on Astaire for RKO Pictures, now lost along with the test, is reported to have read: "Can't sing. Can't act. Balding. Can dance a little." The producer of the Astaire-Rogers pictures, Pandro S. Berman, claimed he had never heard the story in the 1930s and that it only emerged years later. Astaire later insisted that the report had actually read: "Can't act. Slightly bald. ''Also dances''". In any case, the test was clearly disappointing, and David O. Selznick, who had signed Astaire to RKO and commissioned the test, stated in a memo, "I am uncertain about the man, but I feel, in spite of his enormous ears and bad chin line, that his charm is so tremendous that it comes through even on this wretched test." 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'', ''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."

Astaire received a percentage of the films' profits, something extremely rare in actors' contracts at that time; and complete autonomy over how the dances would be presented, allowing him to revolutionize dance on film.

Astaire is credited with two important innovations in early film musicals. 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). Astaire's style of dance sequences thus contrasted with the Busby Berkeley musicals, which were known for dance sequences filled with extravagant aerial shots, quick takes, and zooms on certain areas of the body, such as the arms or legs. Second, Astaire was adamant that all song and dance routines be seamlessly integrated into the plotlines of the film. Instead of using dance as spectacle as Busby Berkeley did, Astaire used it to move the plot along. Typically, an Astaire picture would include a solo performance by Astaire — which he termed his "sock solo" — a partnered comedy dance routine, and a partnered romantic dance routine.

Dance commentators Arlene Croce, Hannah Hyam and John Mueller 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 by Hermes Pan and Stanley Donen. Film critic Pauline Kael adopts a more neutral stance, while ''Time'' magazine film critic Richard Schickel writes "The nostalgia surrounding Rogers-Astaire tends to bleach out other partners."

Mueller sums up Rogers's abilities as follows: "Rogers was outstanding among Astaire's partners not because she was superior to others as a dancer, but because, as a skilled, intuitive actress, she was cagey enough to realize that acting did not stop when dancing began ... the reason so many women have fantasized about dancing with Fred Astaire is that Ginger Rogers conveyed the impression that dancing with him is the most thrilling experience imaginable." According to Astaire, "Ginger had never danced with a partner before ["Flying Down to Rio"]. She faked it an awful lot. She couldn't tap and she couldn't do this and that ... but Ginger had style and talent and improved as she went along. She got so that after a while everyone else who danced with me looked wrong."

For her part, Rogers described Astaire's uncompromising standards extending to the whole production, "Sometimes he'll think of a new line of dialogue or a new angle for the story ... they never know what time of night he'll call up and start ranting enthusiastically about a fresh idea ... No loafing on the job on an Astaire picture, and no cutting corners."

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 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". In his autobiography ''Steps in Time'', Astaire remarked, "She 'put 'em down like a man', no ricky-ticky-sissy stuff with Ellie. She really knocked out a tap dance in a class by herself."

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

thumb|In ''Daddy Long Legs'' (1955)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."

His legacy at this point was 30 musical films in 25 years. Afterwards, Astaire announced that he was retiring from dancing in film to concentrate on dramatic acting, scoring rave reviews for the nuclear war drama ''On the Beach'' (1959).

1958–1981: Branching out into televised dance and straight acting

Astaire did not retire from dancing completely. He made a series of four highly rated Emmy Award-winning musical specials for television in 1958, 1959, 1960, and 1968, each featuring Barrie Chase, with whom Astaire enjoyed an Indian summer of dance creativity. The first of these programs, 1958's ''An Evening with Fred Astaire'', won nine Emmy Awards, including "Best Single Performance by an Actor" and "Most Outstanding Single Program of the Year." It was also noteworthy for being the first major broadcast to be prerecorded on color videotape, and has recently been restored. The restoration won technical Emmy in 1988 for Ed Reitan, Don Kent, and Dan Einstein, who restored the original videotape, transferring its contents to a modern format, and filling in gaps where the tape had deteriorated with kinescope footage. Astaire personally won the Emmy for Best Single Performance by an Actor but the choice had a controversial backlash because many felt that his dancing in the special was not the type of "acting" the award was designed for. At one point Astaire even offered to return the award, but the Television Academy refused to consider it.

Fred played the role of Julian Osborne in the 1959 movie ''On the Beach'' and was nominated a Golden Globe Best Supporting Actor award for his performance, losing to Stephen Boyd in ''Ben Hur'' . Astaire's last major musical film was ''Finian's Rainbow'' (1968), directed by Francis Ford Coppola. He shed his white tie and tails to play an Irish rogue who believes if he buries a crock of gold in the shadows of Fort Knox it will multiply. His dance partner was Petula Clark, who portrayed his skeptical daughter. He admitted to being as nervous about singing with her as she confessed to being apprehensive about dancing with him. Unfortunately, the film was a box-office failure, though it has gained a strong reputation over the years since its release.

Astaire continued to act into the 1970s, appearing on television as the father of Robert Wagner's character of Alexander Mundy in ''It Takes a Thief'' and in films such as ''The Towering Inferno'' (1974), in which he danced with Jennifer Jones and for which he received his only Academy Award nomination, in the category of Best Supporting Actor. He voiced the mailman narrator in 1970's classic animated film ''Santa Claus is Comin' to Town''. He appeared in the first two ''That's Entertainment!'' documentaries in the mid 1970s. In the second, aged seventy-six, he performed a number of song-and-dance routines with Kelly, his last dance performances in a musical film. In the summer of 1975, he made three albums in London, ''Attitude Dancing'', ''They Can't Take These Away From Me'', and ''A Couple of Song and Dance Men'', the last an album of duets with Bing Crosby. In 1976, he played a supporting role as a dog owner in the cult movie ''The Amazing Dobermans'', co-starring Barbara Eden and James Franciscus. Fred Astaire played Dr. Seamus Scully in the French film ''The Purple Taxi'' (1977). In 1978, he co-starred with Helen Hayes in a well-received television film, ''A Family Upside Down,'' in which they play an elderly couple coping with failing health. Astaire won an Emmy Award for his performance. He made a well-publicized guest appearance on the science fiction television series ''Battlestar Galactica'' in 1979, as Chameleon, the possible father of Starbuck, in "The Man with Nine Lives", a role written for him by Donald P. Bellisario. Astaire asked his agent to obtain a role for him on ''Galactica'' because of his grandchildren's interest in the series. His final film role was the 1981 adaptation of Peter Straub's novel ''Ghost Story.'' This horror film was also the last for two of his most prominent castmates, Melvyn Douglas and Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.

Working methods and influence on filmed dance

Astaire was a virtuoso dancer, able to convey light-hearted venturesomeness or deep emotion when called for. His technical control and sense of rhythm were astonishing. Long after the photography for the solo dance number "I Want to Be a Dancin' Man" was completed for the 1952 feature "The Belle of New York", it was decided that Astaire's humble costume and the threadbare stage set were inadequate and the entire sequence was re-shot. The 1994 documentary ''That's Entertainment! III'' shows the two performances side-by-side in split screen. Frame for frame, the two performances are absolutely identical, down to the subtlest gesture.

Astaire's execution of a dance routine was prized for its elegance, grace, originality and precision. He drew from a variety of influences, including tap and other black rhythms, classical dance and the elevated style of Vernon and Irene Castle, to create a uniquely recognizable dance style which greatly influenced the American Smooth style of ballroom dance, and set standards against which subsequent film dance musicals would be judged. He termed his eclectic approach his "outlaw style", an unpredictable and instinctive blending of personal artistry. His dances are economical yet endlessly nuanced, as Jerome Robbins stated, "Astaire's dancing looks so simple, so disarming, so easy, yet the understructure, the way he sets the steps on, over or against the music, is so surprising and inventive." 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 "the most interesting, the most inventive, the most elegant dancer of our times", while for Baryshnikov he was "a genius ... a classical dancer like I never saw in my life".

Influence on popular song

Extremely modest about his singing abilities (he frequently claimed that he couldn't sing), Astaire introduced some of the most celebrated songs from the Great American Songbook, in particular, Cole Porter's: "Night and Day" in ''Gay Divorce'' (1932); Irving Berlin's "Isn't This a Lovely Day?", "Cheek to Cheek" and "Top Hat, White Tie and Tails" in ''Top Hat'' (1935), "Let's Face the Music and Dance" in ''Follow the Fleet'' (1936) and "Change Partners" in ''Carefree'' (1938). He first presented Jerome Kern's "The Way You Look Tonight" in ''Swing Time'' (1936); the Gershwins' "They Can't Take That Away From Me" in ''Shall We Dance'' (1937), "A Foggy Day" and "Nice Work if You Can Get it" in ''A Damsel in Distress'' (1937); Johnny Mercer's "One for My Baby" from ''The Sky's the Limit'' (1943) and "Something's Gotta Give" from ''Daddy Long Legs'' (1955); and Harry Warren and Arthur Freed's "This Heart of Mine" from ''Ziegfeld Follies'' (1946).

Astaire also co-introduced a number of song classics via song duets with his partners. For example, with his sister Adele, he co-introduced the Gershwins' "I'll Build a Stairway to Paradise" from ''Stop Flirting'' (1923), "Fascinating Rhythm" in ''Lady, Be Good'' (1924), "Funny Face" in ''Funny Face'' (1927); and, in duets with Ginger Rogers, he presented Irving Berlin's "I'm Putting all My Eggs in One Basket" in ''Follow the Fleet'' (1936), Jerome Kern's "Pick Yourself Up" and "A Fine Romance" in ''Swing Time'' (1936), along with The Gershwins' "Let's Call The Whole Thing Off" from ''Shall We Dance'' (1937). With Judy Garland, he sang Irving Berlin's "A Couple of Swells" from ''Easter Parade'' (1948); and, with Jack Buchanan, Oscar Levant, and Nanette Fabray he delivered Betty Comden and Adolph Green's "That's Entertainment" from ''The Band Wagon'' (1953).

Although he possessed a light voice, he was admired for his lyricism, diction and phrasing — the grace and elegance so prized in his dancing seemed to be reflected in his singing, a capacity for synthesis which led Burton Lane to describe him as "The world's greatest musical performer." 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." Jerome Kern considered him the supreme male interpreter of his songs 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 American Film Institute

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, New York

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, though he never made his political views publicly known. Along with Bing Crosby, George Murphy, Ginger Rogers and others he was a charter (founding) member of the Hollywood Republican Committee. He was churchgoing, supportive of American military action and was dismissive of the more open sexiness of movies in the 1970s.

Always immaculately turned out, with Cary Grant he was called "the best-dressed actor in American movies". Astaire remained 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

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 German descent Category:American people of Austrian-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: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

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name	Asghar Farhadi
birth date	January 01, 1972
birth place	Isfahan, Iran
occupation	Director & Screenwriter
years active	1997-present
partner	Parisa Bakhtavar (1990-present)
children	Sarina (b. 1992)
relatives	}}

Asghar Farhadi (, born 1 January 1972 in Khomeynishahr, Province of Isfahan) is an Iranian screenwriter and film director.

Career

Asghar Farhadi is a graduate of Theatre, with a BA in Dramatic Arts and MA in Stage Direction from Tehran University and Tarbiat Modarres University. Farhadi made short 8mm and 16mm films in Isfahan branch of Iranian Young Cinema Society before moving on to writing plays and screenplays for IRIB. He also directed such TV series as the popular ''A Tale of a City'' and co-wrote the screenplay of Ebrahim Hatamikia’s ''Low Heights''. ''Dancing in the Dust'' was his feature film debut, which he followed with the critically acclaimed ''A Beautiful City.''

His third film, ''Fireworks Wednesday'' won the Gold Hugo at the 2006 Chicago International Film Festival. His fourth film, ''About Elly'' won the Silver Bear for Best Director at 59th International Berlin Film Festival as well as Best Picture at Tribeca Film Festival. It is about a group of Iranians who take a trip to the Caspian Sea that turns tragic. Famous film theorist and film critic David Bordwell has called ''About Elly'' a masterpiece.

His latest film ''Nader and Simin, A Separation'' premiered on 9 February 2011 at the 29th Fajr International Film Festival in Tehran and received rave reviews from Iran Society of Film Critics. It won Farhadi four awards including Best Director (for the third time after Fireworks Wednesday and About Elly). On 15 February it also played in competition at the 61st Berlin International Film Festival which finally earned him Golden Bear for best film becoming the first Iranian film to win the Golden Bear. In June 2011, '' A Separation'' won the Sydney Film Prize in competition with Cannes Festival's winner The Tree of Life directed by Terrence Malick .

Filmography as director

''The Beautiful City'' ''Fireworks Wednesday'' ''About Elly'' ''Nader and Simin, A Separation''

Year !! English title !! Original title !! Transliteration
2003	''Dancing in the Dust''	''رقص در غبار''
2004	|	''شهر زیبا''	''Shah-re ziba''
2006	|	''چهارشنبه سوری''	''Chaharshanbe-soori''
2009	|	''درباره الی''	''Darbareye Elly''
2011	|	''جدایی نادر از سیمین''	''Jodaeiye Nader az Simin''

Awards

Special Jury Award for ''Dancing in the Dust'', Fajr International Film Festival (2003)

Best Director for ''Dancing in the Dust'', Asia Pacific Film Festival (2003)

Best Screenplay for ''Dancing in the Dust'', Asia Pacific Film Festival (2003)

Grand Prix for ''The Beautiful City'', Warsaw International Film Festival (2004)

Golden Peacock for ''The Beautiful City'', International Film Festival of India (2004)

FIPRESCI Prize for ''The Beautiful City'', Split Film Festival (2005)

Crystal Simorgh (Best Director) for ''Fireworks Wednesday'', Fajr International Film Festival (2006)

Gold Hugo for ''Fireworks Wednesday'', Chicago International Film Festival (2006)

Golden Lady Harimaguada for ''Fireworks Wednesday'', Las Palmas de Gran Canaria International Film Festival (2007)

Crystal Simorgh (Best Director) for ''About Elly'', Fajr International Film Festival (2009)

Audience Award for ''About Elly'', Fajr International Film Festival (2009)

Silver Bear (Best Director) for ''About Elly'', Berlin International Film Festival (2009)

Best Narrative Feature for ''About Elly'', Tribeca Film Festival (2009)

Golden Crow Pheasant for ''About Elly'', International Film Festival of Kerala (2009)

Best Screenplay for ''About Elly'', Asia Pacific Screen Awards (2009)

Jury Grand Prize for ''About Elly'', Asia Pacific Screen Awards (2009)

Netpac Award for ''About Elly'', Brisbane International Film Festival (2009)

Crystal Simorgh (Best Director) for ''Nader and Simin, A Separation'', Fajr International Film Festival (2011)

Crystal Simorgh (Best Screenplay) for ''Nader and Simin, A Separation'', Fajr International Film Festival (2011)

Audience Award for ''Nader and Simin, A Separation'', Fajr International Film Festival (2011)

Reader Jury of the "Berliner Morgenpost" for ''Nader and Simin, A Separation'', Berlin International Film Festival (2011)

Special Prize of the Ecumenical Jury for ''Nader and Simin, A Separation'', Berlin International Film Festival (2011)

Golden Bear for ''Nader and Simin, A Separation'', Berlin International Film Festival (2011)

See also

Iranian cinema

References

External links

Official website

Category:Iranian film directors Category:Iranian screenwriters Category:University of Tehran alumni Category:Tarbiat Modares University alumni Category:1972 births Category:Living people

de:Asghar Farhadi fa:اصغر فرهادی fr:Asghar Farhadi ko:아쉬가르 파라디 ja:アスガル・ファルハーディー pl:Asghar Farhadi fi:Asghar Farhadi

Name	Heath Ledger
Alt	Close up of a man's face with brown eyes, tousled brown hair and scraggly beard growth. He is looking toward his left. He is wearing a grey jumper with an orange stripe near his left shoulder and upper left arm. The background is blue with out of focus writing.
Birth name	Heath Andrew Ledger
Birth date	April 04, 1979
Birth place	Perth, Australia
Death date	January 22, 2008
Death place	New York City, United States
Death cause	Accidental prescription drug overdose
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1992–2008
Domesticpartner	Michelle Williams (2004–2007) }}

Heath Andrew Ledger (4 April 1979 – 22 January 2008) was an Australian television and film actor. After performing roles in Australian television and film during the 1990s, Ledger moved to the United States in 1998 to develop his film career. His work encompassed nineteen films, including ''10 Things I Hate About You'' (1999), ''The Patriot'' (2000), ''Monster's Ball'' (2001), ''A Knight's Tale'' (2001), ''Brokeback Mountain'' (2005), and ''The Dark Knight'' (2008). In addition to acting, he produced and directed music videos and aspired to be a film director.

For his portrayal of Ennis Del Mar in ''Brokeback Mountain'', Ledger won the 2005 New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor and the 2006 "Best Actor" award from the Australian Film Institute and was nominated for the 2005 Academy Award for Best Actor as well as the 2006 BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role. Posthumously he shared the 2007 Independent Spirit Robert Altman Award with the rest of the ensemble cast, the director, and the casting director for the film ''I'm Not There'', which was inspired by the life and songs of American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan. In the film, Ledger portrayed a fictional actor named Robbie Clark, one of six characters embodying aspects of Dylan's life and persona. Ledger received numerous accolades for his critically acclaimed portrayal of the Joker in ''The Dark Knight'', including the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, a Best Actor International Award at the 2008 Australian Film Institute Awards, for which he became the first actor to win an award posthumously, the 2008 Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor, the 2009 Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor and the 2009 BAFTA Award for Best Supporting Actor.

Ledger died in January 2008, from an accidental "toxic combination of prescription drugs". A few months before his death, Ledger had finished filming his penultimate performance, as the Joker in ''The Dark Knight'', his death coming during editing of the film and casting a shadow over the subsequent promotion of the $180 million production. At the time of his death, on 22 January 2008, he had completed about half of his work performing the role of Tony in Terry Gilliam's film ''The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus''.

Early life

Heath Ledger was born in Perth, Western Australia, the son of Sally Ledger (née Ramshaw), a French teacher, and Kim Ledger, a racing-car driver and mining engineer, whose family established and owned the Ledger Engineering Foundry. The Sir Frank Ledger Charitable Trust is named after his great-grandfather. Ledger attended Mary's Mount Primary School, in Gooseberry Hill, and later Guildford Grammar School, where he had his first acting experiences, starring in a school production as Peter Pan at age 10. His parents separated when he was 10 and divorced when he was 11. Ledger's older sister Kate, an actress and later a publicist, to whom he was very close, inspired his acting on stage, and his love of Gene Kelly inspired his successful choreography, leading to Guildford Grammar's 60-member team's "first all-boy victory" at the Rock Eisteddfod Challenge. Heath's and Kate's other siblings include two half-sisters, Ashleigh Bell (b. 1989), his mother's daughter with her second husband and his stepfather Roger Bell, and Olivia Ledger (b. 1997), his father's daughter with second wife and his stepmother Emma Brown.

Career

1990s

After sitting for early graduation exams at 16, Ledger left school to pursue an acting career. With Trevor DiCarlo, his best friend since he was three years old, Ledger drove across Australia from Perth to Sydney, returning to Perth to take a small role in ''Clowning Around'' (1992), the first part of a two-part television series, and to work on the TV series ''Sweat'' (1996), in which he played a gay cyclist. From 1993 to 1997, Ledger also had parts in the Perth television series ''Ship to Shore'' (1993); in the short-lived Fox Broadcasting Company fantasy-drama ''Roar'' (1997); in ''Home and Away'' (1997), one of Australia's most successful television shows; and in the Australian film ''Blackrock'' (1997), his feature film debut. In 1999, he starred in the teen comedy ''10 Things I Hate About You'' and in the acclaimed Australian crime film ''Two Hands'', directed by Gregor Jordan.

2000s

From 2000 to 2005, he starred in supporting roles as Gabriel Martin, the eldest son of Benjamin Martin (Mel Gibson), in ''The Patriot'' (2000), and as Sonny Grotowski, the son of Hank Grotowski (Billy Bob Thornton), in ''Monster's Ball'' (2000); and in leading or title roles in ''A Knight's Tale'' (2001), ''The Four Feathers'' (2002), ''The Order'' (2003), ''Ned Kelly'' (2003), ''Casanova'' (2005), ''The Brothers Grimm'' (2005), and ''Lords of Dogtown'' (2005). In 2001, he won a ShoWest Award as "Male Star of Tomorrow".

Ledger received "Best Actor of 2005" awards from both the New York Film Critics Circle and the San Francisco Film Critics Circle for his performance in ''Brokeback Mountain'', in which he plays Wyoming ranch hand Ennis Del Mar, who has a love affair with aspiring rodeo rider Jack Twist, played by Jake Gyllenhaal. He also received a nomination for Golden Globe Best Actor in a Drama and a nomination for Academy Award for Best Actor for this performance, making him, at age 26, the ninth-youngest nominee for a Best Actor Oscar. In ''The New York Times'' review of the film, critic Stephen Holden writes: "Both Mr. Ledger and Mr. Gyllenhaal make this anguished love story physically palpable. Mr. Ledger magically and mysteriously disappears beneath the skin of his lean, sinewy character. It is a great screen performance, as good as the best of Marlon Brando and Sean Penn." In a review in ''Rolling Stone'', Peter Travers states: "Ledger's magnificent performance is an acting miracle. He seems to tear it from his insides. Ledger doesn't just know how Ennis moves, speaks and listens; he knows how he breathes. To see him inhale the scent of a shirt hanging in Jack's closet is to take measure of the pain of love lost."

After ''Brokeback Mountain,'' Ledger costarred with fellow Australian Abbie Cornish in the 2006 Australian film ''Candy,'' an adaptation of the 1998 novel ''Candy: A Novel of Love and Addiction,'' as young heroin addicts in love attempting to break free of their addiction, whose mentor is played by Geoffrey Rush; for his performance as sometime poet Dan, Ledger was nominated for three "Best Actor" awards, including one of the Film Critics Circle of Australia Awards, which both Cornish and Rush won in their categories. Shortly after the release of ''Candy,'' Ledger was invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. As one of six actors embodying different aspects of the life of Bob Dylan in the 2007 film ''I'm Not There,'' directed by Todd Haynes, Ledger "won praise for his portrayal of 'Robbie [Clark],' a moody, counter-culture actor who represents the romanticist side of Dylan, but says accolades are never his motivation." Posthumously, on 23 February 2008, he shared the 2007 Independent Spirit Robert Altman Award with the rest of the film's ensemble cast, its director, and its casting director.

In his next to last film performance, Ledger played the Joker in ''The Dark Knight'', directed by Christopher Nolan, first released, in Australia, on 16 July 2008, nearly six months after his death. While still working on the film, in London, Ledger told Sarah Lyall, in their interview published in the ''New York Times'' on 4 November 2007, that he viewed ''The Dark Knight'''s Joker as a "psychopathic, mass murdering, schizophrenic clown with zero empathy."

To prepare for the role, Ledger told ''Empire'', "I sat around in a hotel room in London for about a month, locked myself away, formed a little diary and experimented with voices – it was important to try to find a somewhat iconic voice and laugh. I ended up landing more in the realm of a psychopath – someone with very little to no conscience towards his acts"; after reiterating his view of the character as "just an absolute sociopath, a cold-blooded, mass-murdering clown", he added that Nolan had given him "free rein" to create the role, which he found "fun, because there are no real boundaries to what the Joker would say or do. Nothing intimidates him, and everything is a big joke." For his work in ''The Dark Knight,'' Ledger won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, his family accepting it on his behalf, as well as numerous other posthumous awards including the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor, which Christopher Nolan accepted for him.

At the time of his death, on 22 January 2008, Ledger had completed about half of the work for his final film performance as Tony in ''The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus.''

Directorial work

Ledger had aspirations to become a film director and had made some music videos, which director Todd Haynes praised highly in his tribute to Ledger upon accepting the ISP Robert Altman Award, which Ledger posthumously shared, on 23 February 2008. In 2006 Ledger directed music videos for the title track on Australian hip-hop artist N'fa's CD debut solo album ''Cause An Effect'' and for the single "Seduction Is Evil (She's Hot)". Later that year, Ledger inaugurated a new record label, Masses Music, with singer Ben Harper and also directed a music video for Harper's song "Morning Yearning".

At a news conference at the 2007 Venice Film Festival, Ledger spoke of his desire to make a documentary film about the British singer-songwriter Nick Drake, who died in 1974, at the age of 26, from an overdose of an antidepressant. Ledger created and acted in a music video set to Drake's recording of the singer's 1974 song about depression "Black Eyed Dog"—a title "inspired by Winston Churchill’s descriptive term for depression" (''black dog''); it was shown publicly only twice, first at the Bumbershoot Festival, in Seattle, held from 1 to 3 September 2007; and secondly as part of "A Place To Be: A Celebration of Nick Drake", with its screening of ''Their Place: Reflections On Nick Drake,'' "a series of short filmed homages to Nick Drake" (including Ledger's), sponsored by American Cinematheque, at the Grauman's Egyptian Theatre, in Hollywood, on 5 October 2007. After Ledger's death, his music video for "Black Eyed Dog" was shown on the Internet and excerpted in news clips distributed via YouTube.

He was working with Scottish screenwriter and producer Allan Scott on an adaptation of the 1983 novel ''The Queen's Gambit'' by Walter Tevis, for which he was planning both to act and to direct, which would have been his first feature film as a director. Ledger's final directorial work, in which he shot two music videos before his death, premiered in 2009. The music videos, completed for Modest Mouse and Grace Woodroofe, include an animated feature for Modest Mouse's song, "King Rat", and the Woodroofe video for her cover of David Bowie's "Quicksand". The "King Rat" video premiered on 4 August 2009.

Personal life

Ledger was an avid chess player, winning Western Australia's junior chess championship at the age of 10. As an adult, he often played with other chess enthusiasts at Washington Square Park. Allan Scott's film adaptation of the chess-related 1983 novel ''The Queen's Gambit'', by Walter Tevis, which at the time of his death he was planning to both perform in and direct, would have been Ledger's first feature film as a director.

Among his most notable romantic relationships, Ledger dated actress Heather Graham for several months in 2000 to 2001, and he had a serious on-and-off-again long-term relationship with actress Naomi Watts, whom he met during the filming of ''Ned Kelly'' and with whom he lived at times from 2002 to 2004. According to the 10th Anniversary commentary by his co-stars for "10 Things I Hate About You", he and Julia Stiles began dating during the film and dated for several years. In the summer of 2004, he met and began dating actress Michelle Williams on the set of ''Brokeback Mountain'', and their daughter, Matilda Rose, was born on 28 October 2005 in New York City. Matilda Rose's godparents are Ledger's ''Brokeback'' co-star Jake Gyllenhaal and Williams's ''Dawson's Creek'' castmate Busy Philipps. Ledger sold his residence in Bronte, New South Wales, and moved to the United States, where he shared an apartment with Williams, in Boerum Hill, Brooklyn, from 2005 to 2007. In September 2007, Williams' father confirmed to Sydney's ''Daily Telegraph'' that Ledger and Williams had ended their relationship. After his break-up with Williams, in late 2007 and early 2008, the tabloid press and other public media linked Ledger romantically with supermodels Helena Christensen and Gemma Ward and with former child star, actress Mary-Kate Olsen.

Press controversies

Ledger's relationship with the press in Australia was sometimes turbulent, and it led to his relocating to New York City. In 2004 he strongly denied press reports alleging that "he spat at journalists on the Sydney set of the film ''Candy''," or that one of his relatives had done so later, outside Ledger's Sydney home. On 13 January 2006, "Several members of the paparazzi retaliated ... squirting Ledger and Williams with water pistols on the red carpet at the Sydney premiere of ''Brokeback Mountain.''"

After his performance on stage at the 2005 Screen Actors Guild Awards, when he had giggled in presenting ''Brokeback Mountain'' as a nominee for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture, the ''Los Angeles Times'' referred to his presentation as an "apparent gay spoof." Ledger called the ''Times'' later and explained that his levity resulted from stage fright, saying that he had been told that he would be presenting the award only minutes earlier; he stated: "I am so sorry and I apologise for my nervousness. I would be absolutely horrified if my stage fright was misinterpreted as a lack of respect for the film, the topic and for the amazing filmmakers."

Ledger was quoted in January 2006 in Melbourne's ''Herald Sun'' as saying that he heard that West Virginia had banned ''Brokeback Mountain'', which it had not; actually, a cinema in Utah had banned the film. He had also referred mistakenly to West Virginia's having had lynchings as recently as the 1980s, but state scholars disputed his statement, observing that, whereas lynchings did occur in Alabama as recently as 1981, according to "the director of state archives and history" quoted in ''The Charleston Gazette'', "The last documented lynching in West Virginia took place in Lewisburg in 1931."

Sleep difficulties and other work-related health issues

In their ''New York Times'' interview, published on 4 November 2007, Ledger told Sarah Lyall that his recently completed roles in ''I'm Not There'' (2007) and ''The Dark Knight'' (2008) had taken a toll on his ability to sleep: "Last week I probably slept an average of two hours a night. ... I couldn't stop thinking. My body was exhausted, and my mind was still going." At that time, he told Lyall that he had taken two Ambien pills, after taking just one had not sufficed, and those left him in "a stupor, only to wake up an hour later, his mind still racing."

Prior to his return to New York from his last film assignment, in London, in January 2008, while he was apparently suffering from some kind of respiratory illness, he reportedly complained to his co-star Christopher Plummer that he was continuing to have difficulty sleeping and taking pills to help with that problem: "Confirming earlier reports that Ledger hadn't been feeling well on set, Plummer says, 'we all caught colds because we were shooting outside on horrible, damp nights. But Heath's went on and I don't think he dealt with it immediately with the antibiotics.... I think what he did have was the walking pneumonia.' [...] On top of that, 'He was saying all the time, "dammit, I can't sleep"... and he was taking all these pills to help him.' "

In talking with ''Interview'' magazine after his death, Ledger's former fiancée Michelle Williams "also confirmed reports the actor had experienced trouble sleeping. "For as long as I'd known him, he had bouts with insomnia. He had too much energy. His mind was turning, turning turning – always turning."

Death

At about 2:45 p.m. (EST), on 22 January 2008, Ledger was found unconscious in his bed by his housekeeper, Teresa Solomon, and his masseuse, Diana Wolozin, in his fourth-floor loft apartment at 421 Broome Street in the SoHo neighborhood of Manhattan.

According to the police, Wolozin, who had arrived early for a 3:00 pm appointment with Ledger, called Ledger's friend, actress Mary-Kate Olsen, for help. Olsen, who was in California, directed a New York City private security guard to go to the scene. At 3:26 pm, "[fewer] than 15 minutes after Wolozin first saw him in bed and only a few moments" after first calling Olsen and then calling her a second time to express her fears that Ledger was dead, Wolozin telephoned 9-1-1 "to say that Mr. Ledger was not breathing." At the urging of the 9-1-1 operator, Wolozin administered CPR, which was unsuccessful in reviving him.

Emergency medical technicians (EMT) arrived seven minutes later, at 3:33 pm ("at almost exactly the same moment as a private security guard summoned by Ms. Olsen"), but were also unable to revive him. At 3:36 pm, Ledger was pronounced dead and his body removed from the apartment.

Memorial tributes and services

As the news of Ledger's death became public, throughout the night of 22 January 2008, and the next day, media crews, mourners, fans, and other onlookers began gathering outside his apartment building, with some leaving flowers or other memorial tributes.

The next day, at 10:50 a.m., Australian time, Ledger's parents and sister appeared outside his mother's house in Applecross, a riverside suburb of Perth, and read a short statement to the media expressing their grief and desire for privacy. Within the next few days, memorial tributes were communicated by family members, Prime Minister of Australia Kevin Rudd, Deputy Premier of Western Australia Eric Ripper, Warner Bros. (distributor of ''The Dark Knight''), and thousands of Ledger's fans around the world.

Several actors made statements expressing their sorrow at Ledger's death, including Daniel Day-Lewis, who dedicated his Screen Actors Guild Award to Ledger, saying that he was inspired by Ledger's acting; Day-Lewis praised Ledger's performances in ''Monster's Ball'' and ''Brokeback Mountain'', describing the latter as "unique, perfect." Verne Troyer, who was working with Ledger on ''The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus'' at the time of his death, had a heart shape, an exact duplicate of a symbol that Ledger scrawled on a piece of paper with his email address, tattooed on his hand in remembrance of Ledger because Ledger "had made such an impression on [him]."

On 1 February, in her first public statement after Ledger's death, Michelle Williams expressed her heartbreak and described Ledger's spirit as surviving in their daughter.

After attending private memorial ceremonies in Los Angeles, Ledger's family members returned with his body to Perth.

On 9 February, a memorial service attended by several hundred invited guests was held at Penrhos College, garnering considerable press attention; afterward Ledger's body was cremated at Fremantle Cemetery, followed by a private service attended by only 10 closest family members, with his ashes to be interred later in a family plot at Karrakatta Cemetery, next to two of his grandparents. Later that night, his family and friends gathered for a wake on Cottesloe Beach.

Autopsy and toxicological analysis

After two weeks of intense media speculation about possible causes of Ledger's death, on 6 February 2008, the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner of New York released its conclusions, based on an initial autopsy of 23 January 2008, and a subsequent complete toxicological analysis. The report concludes, in part, "Mr. Heath Ledger died as the result of acute intoxication by the combined effects of oxycodone, hydrocodone, diazepam, temazepam, alprazolam and doxylamine." It states definitively: "We have concluded that the manner of death is accident, resulting from the abuse of prescription medications." The medications found in the toxicological analysis are commonly prescribed in the United States for insomnia, anxiety, depression, pain, and/or common cold symptoms. Although the Associated Press and other media reported that "police estimate Ledger's time of death between 1 pm and 2:45 pm" (on 22 January 2008), the Medical Examiner's Office announced that it would not be publicly disclosing the official estimated time of death. The official announcement of the cause and manner of Ledger's death heightened concerns about the growing problems of prescription drug abuse or misuse and Combined Drug Intoxication (CDI).

Federal investigation

Late in February 2008, a DEA investigation of medical professionals relating to Ledger's death exonerated two American physicians, who practice in Los Angeles and Houston, of any wrongdoing, determining that "the doctors in question had prescribed Ledger other medications – not the pills that killed him."

On 4 August 2008, citing unnamed sources, Murray Weiss, of the ''New York Post'', first reported that Mary-Kate Olsen had "refused [through her attorney, Michael C. Miller] to be interviewed by federal investigators probing the accidental drug death of her close friend Heath Ledger ... [without] ... immunity from prosecution," and that, when asked about the matter, Miller at first declined further comment. Later that day, after the police confirmed the gist of Weiss's account to the Associated Press, Miller issued a statement denying that Olsen supplied Ledger with the drugs causing his death and asserting that she did not know their source." In his statement, Miller said specifically: "Despite tabloid speculation, Mary-Kate Olsen had nothing whatsoever to do with the drugs found in Heath Ledger's home or his body, and she does not know where he obtained them," emphasizing that media "descriptions [attributed to an unidentified source] are incomplete and inaccurate."

After a flurry of further media speculation, on 6 August 2008, the U.S. Attorney's Office in Manhattan closed its investigation into Ledger's death without filing any charges and rendering moot its subpoena of Olsen. With the clearing of the two doctors and Olsen, and the closing of the investigation because the prosecutors in the Manhattan U.S. Attorney's Office "don't believe there's a viable target," it is still not known how Ledger obtained the oxycodone and hydrocodone in the lethal drug combination that killed him.

Eleven months after Ledger's death, on 23 December 2008, Jake Coyle, writing for the Associated Press, announced that "Heath Ledger's death was voted 2008's top entertainment story by U.S. newspaper and broadcast editors surveyed by The Associated Press," as it resulted in: "shock and confusion" about "the circumstances", the ruling of the death as an accident caused by "a toxic combination of prescription drugs", and the continuation of "his legacy... [i]n a roundly acclaimed performance as the Joker in the year's biggest box office hit ''The Dark Knight''."

Controversy over will

After Ledger's death, in response to some press reports about his will, filed in New York City on 28 February 2008, and his daughter's access to his financial legacy, his father, Kim Ledger, said that he considered the financial well-being of his granddaughter Matilda Rose the Ledger family's "absolute priority" and her mother, Michelle Williams, "an integral part of our family", adding "They will be taken care of and that's how Heath would want it to be". Some of Ledger's relatives may be challenging the legal status of his will signed in 2003, prior to his involvement with Williams and the birth of their daughter and not updated to include them, which divides half of his estate between his parents and half among his siblings; they claim that there is a second, unsigned will, which leaves most of that estate to Matilda Rose. Williams' father, Larry Williams, has also joined the controversy about Ledger's will as it was filed in New York City soon after his death.

On 31 March 2008, stimulating another controversy pertaining to Ledger's estate, Gemma Jones and Janet Fife-Yeomans published an "Exclusive" report, in ''The Daily Telegraph'', citing Ledger's uncle Haydn Ledger and other family members, who "believe the late actor may have fathered a secret love child" when he was 17, and stating that "If it is confirmed that Ledger is the girl's biological father, it could split his multi-million dollar estate between ... Matilda Rose ... and his secret love child." A few days later, reports citing telephone interviews with Ledger's uncles Haydn and Mike Ledger and the family of the other little girl, published in ''OK!'' and ''Us Weekly'', "denied" those "claims", with Ledger's uncles and the little girl's mother and stepfather describing them as unfounded "rumors" distorted and exaggerated by the media.

On 15 July 2008, Fife-Yeomans reported further, via Australian ''News Limited,'' that "While Ledger left everything to his parents and three sisters, it is understood they have legal advice that under WA law, Matilda Rose is entitled to the lion's share" of his estate; its executors, Kim Ledger's former business colleague Robert John Collins and Geraldton accountant William Mark Dyson, "have applied for probate in the West Australian Supreme Court in Perth, advertising "for 'creditors and other persons' having claims on the estate to lodge them by 11 August 2008 ... to ensure all debts are paid before the estate is distributed...." According to this report by Fife-Yeomans, earlier reports citing Ledger's uncles, and subsequent reports citing Ledger's father, which do not include his actual posthumous earnings, "his entire fortune, mostly held in Australian trusts, is likely to be worth up to [A]$20 million."

On 27 September 2008, Ledger's father Kim stated that "the family has agreed to leave the [US]US$16.3 million fortune to Matilda," adding: "There is no claim. Our family has gifted everything to Matilda." In October 2008, ''Forbes.com'' estimated Ledger's annual earnings from October 2007 through October 2008 – including his posthumous share of ''The Dark Knight'''s gross income of "[US]US$991 million in box office revenue worldwide" –– as "[US]US$20 million."

Posthumous films and awards

Ledger's death affected the marketing campaign for Christopher Nolan's ''The Dark Knight'' (2008) and also both the production and marketing of Terry Gilliam's film ''The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus'', with both directors intending to celebrate and pay tribute to his work in these films. Although Gilliam temporarily suspended production on the latter film, he expressed determination to "salvage" it, perhaps using computer-generated imagery (CGI), and dedicated it to Ledger. In February 2008, as a "memorial tribute to the man many have called one of the best actors of his generation," Johnny Depp, Jude Law, and Colin Farrell signed on to take over Ledger's role, becoming multiple incarnations of his character, Tony, transformed in this "magical re-telling of the Faust story," and the three actors have donated their fees for the film to Ledger's and Williams' daughter.

Speaking of editing ''The Dark Knight,'' on which Ledger had completed his work in October 2007, Nolan recalled, "It was tremendously emotional, right when he passed, having to go back in and look at him every day. ... But the truth is, I feel very lucky to have something productive to do, to have a performance that he was very, very proud of, and that he had entrusted to me to finish." All of Ledger's scenes appear as he completed them in the filming; in editing the film, Nolan added no "digital effects" to alter Ledger's actual performance posthumously. Nolan dedicated the film in part to Ledger's memory, as well as to the memory of technician Conway Wickliffe, who was killed during a car accident while preparing one of the film's stunts.

Released in July 2008, ''The Dark Knight'' broke several box office records and received both popular and critical accolades, especially with regard to Ledger's performance as the Joker. Even film critic David Denby, who does not praise the film overall in his pre-release review in ''The New Yorker'', evaluates Ledger's work highly, describing his performance as both "sinister and frightening" and Ledger as "mesmerising in every scene", concluding: "His performance is a heroic, unsettling final act: this young actor looked into the abyss." Attempting to dispel widespread speculations that Ledger's performance as the Joker had in any way led to his death (as Denby and others suggest), Ledger's co-star and friend Christian Bale, who played opposite him as Batman, has stressed that, as an actor, Ledger greatly enjoyed meeting the challenges of creating that role, an experience that Ledger himself described as "the most fun I’ve ever had, or probably ever will have, playing a character."

Ledger received numerous awards for his Joker role in ''The Dark Knight''. On 10 November 2008, he was nominated for two People's Choice Awards related to his work on the film, "Best Ensemble Cast" and "Best Onscreen Match-Up" (shared with Christian Bale), and Ledger won an award for "Match-Up" in the ceremony aired live on CBS in January 2009.

On 11 December 2008, it was announced that Ledger had been nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture for his performance as the Joker in ''The Dark Knight''; he subsequently won the award at the 66th Golden Globe Awards ceremony telecast on NBC on 11 January 2009 with ''Dark Knight'' director Christopher Nolan accepting on his behalf.

Film critics, co-stars Maggie Gyllenhaal and Michael Caine and many of Ledger's colleagues in the film community joined Bale in calling for and predicting a nomination for the 2008 Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in recognition of Ledger's achievement in ''The Dark Knight.'' Ledger's subsequent nomination was announced on 22 January 2009, the anniversary of his death; Ledger went on to win the award, becoming the second person to win a posthumous Academy Award for acting, after fellow Australian actor Peter Finch, who won for 1976's ''Network''. The award was accepted by Ledger's family.

Filmography

Television

Year	Film	Role	Notes
1993	''Ship to Shore''	Cyclist
1996		Snowy Bowles	Series regular
	''Home and Away''	Scott Irwin	Guest
	Conor	Leading role

Film

! Year	! Title	! Role	Notes
1992	''Clowning Around''	Orphan clown	Uncredited
1997		Toby
1997		Oberon
1999		Jimmy
1999	''10 Things I Hate About You''
2000		Gabriel Martin	Blockbuster Entertainment Awards – Favorite Male – Newcomer
2001	''Monster's Ball''	Sonny Grotowski
2001	''''	Sir William Thatcher / Sir Ulrich von Lichtenstein of Gelderland
2002	''''	Harry Faversham
2003	''''	Alex Bernier
2003		Ned Kelly
2005		Giacomo Casanova
2005	''''	Jacob Grimm
2005	''Lords of Dogtown''	Skip Engblom
2005	''Brokeback Mountain''	Ennis Del Mar	|New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor|Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Actor|San Francisco Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor|Santa Barbara International Film Festival Performance of the Year Award|Nominated – Academy Award for Best Actor|Nominated – BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role|Nominated – Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor|Nominated – Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor|Nominated – Chlotrudis Award for Best Actor|Nominated – Independent Spirit Award for Best Male Lead|Nominated – Inside Film Award for Best Actor|Nominated – Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama|Nominated – London Film Critics' Circle Award for Actor of the Year|Nominated – Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Actor|Nominated – Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role|Nominated – Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture|Nominated – Satellite Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama|Nominated – Washington DC Area Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor}}
2006		Dan
2007	''I'm Not There''
2008			|Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actor|San Francisco Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actor|Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor|Scream Award for Best Fantasy Actor|Scream Award for Best Villain|Scream Award for Best Line |Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role|Southeastern Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor|Toronto Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor|Washington DC Area Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor|Nominated – Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Cast|Nominated – London Film Critics' Circle Award for Actor of the Year|Nominated – Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actor - Motion Picture|Nominated – MTV Movie Award for Best Fight }}
2009	''''	Tony

Music videos

(2006) "Cause an Effect" and "Seduction is Evil (She's Hot)", songs by N'fa, videos directed by Ledger.

(2006) "Morning Yearning," song by Ben Harper, video directed by Ledger.

(2007) "Black Eyed Dog," song written by Nick Drake (1948–1974), video directed by and featuring Ledger. (2009) "King Rat", song by Modest Mouse and conceived by Ledger.

See also

List of oldest and youngest Academy Award winners and nominees

List of posthumous Academy Award winners and nominees

References

Additional resources

Adler, Shawn."Heath Ledger Said He Hoped to Evolve as an Actor and Person in 2005 Interview: Late Actor Was Intelligent, Self-Aware during 'Brokeback Mountain' Chat." ''MTV.com'', 22 January 2008. Accessed 18 March 2008. (Excerpts from transcript of interview with Heath Ledger conducted by John Norris in 2005.)

Arango, Tim. "Esquire Publishes a Diary That Isn't". ''The New York Times'', ''nytimes.com'', 6 March 2008, Books. Accessed 25 July 2008. (Rev. of Taddeo.)

"Death of a Star: Unsolved Mysteries". ''Newsweek'', 4 February 2008: 62, Newsmakers. Both Web and print versions. Accessed 5 August 2008.

''The Joker vs. The Real Heath: Entertainment Tonight Looks Back at the Career of Heath Ledger'', ''etonline.com'' (CBS Studios Inc.), July 2008. Accessed 8 August 2008. ("ET takes a look back at Heath Ledger's career amid the hugely successful launch of 'The Dark Knight,' which features the late actor portraying the Joker"; includes photo album.)

McShane John. ''Heath Ledger: His Beautiful Life and Mysterious Death''. London: John Blake, 2008. ISBN 1844546330 (10). ISBN 978-1844546336 (13). (Excerpt listed below.)

–––. "Loves of Heath Ledger's Life". ''The Courier-Mail'', ''news.com.au'', 20 April 2008. Accessed 21 April 2008. (Book excerpt.)

Nolan, Christopher. "Transition: Charisma as Natural as Gravity: Heath Ledger, 28, Actor". ''Newsweek'', 4 February 2008: 9, Periscope. Both Web (updated 26 January 2008) and print versions. Accessed 5 August 2008. (Eulogy.)

Norris, Chris. "(Untitled Heath Ledger Project): In Which the Protagonist Dies Mysteriously, and the Audience Analyzes His Final Days for Clues to His Real Character". ''New York'', ''nymag.com'', 18 February 2008. Accessed 21 April 2008.

Park, Michael Y. "Christian Bale on 'Kindred Spirit' Heath Ledger". Web. ''People'', 25 June 2008. Accessed 5 August 2008. (See Wolf below.)

Robb, Brian J. ''Heath Ledger: Hollywood's Dark Star''. London: Plexus Publishing Ltd, 2008. ISBN 0859654273 (10). ISBN 978-0859654272 (13).

Scott, A. O. "An Appraisal: Prince of Intensity with a Lightness of Touch". ''The New York Times'', ''nytimes.com'', 24 January 2008, Movies. Accessed 27 April 2008.

Sessums, Kevin, with photographs by Bruce Weber. "We're Having a Heath Wave". ''Vanity Fair'', August 2000, ''vanityfair.com'', August 2008. Web. (4 pages.) Accessed 21 April 2008. (Interview with Heath Ledger; illustrations in "Perth Album", by Bruce Weber.)

Taddeo, Lisa. "The Last Days of Heath Ledger". ''Esquire'' (April 2008), ''esquire.com'', 5 March 2008. (Updated 21 July 2008.) Accessed 25 July 2008. (Fictional account; cf. rev. by Arango.)

Travers, Peter."Sundance: Shock". ''The Travers Take: News and Reviews from Rolling Stone's Movie Critic'', ''Rolling Stone'' (Blog), ''rollingstone.com'', 22 January 2008. Includes hyperlinked feature: ''Video Review: A Look at Heath Ledger's Best Performances'' (video by Jennifer Hsu, with audio commentary provided by Travers), 1 February 2008. Accessed 21 April 2008.

Wolf, Jeanne. "Christian Bale: 'Life Should Never Be Boring' ". ''Parade'', 29 June 2008: 8–9. Both Web and print formats. Accessed 3 August 2008. (See Park above.)

External links

Heath Ledger at BBC In Pictures

Heath Ledger at CNN Topics

Heath Ledger at ''The Huffington Post''

Heath Ledger at MSN Movies

Heath Ledger at MTV Movies

Heath Ledger at ''New York Times Topics''

Heath Ledger at ''The Daily Telegraph'' obituary

Ledger, Heath (1979–2008) National Library of Australia, ''Trove, People and Organisation'' record for Heath Ledger

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