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Alsace
http://wn.com/Alsace -
Boston
Boston (pronounced ) is the capital and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. Boston city proper had a 2009 estimated population of 645,169, making it the twentieth largest in the country. Boston is also the anchor of a substantially larger metropolitan area called Greater Boston, home to 4.5 million people and the tenth-largest metropolitan area in the country. Greater Boston as a commuting region includes six Massachusetts counties, Essex, Middlesex, Norfolk, Suffolk, Plymouth, and Worcester, all of Rhode Island and parts of New Hampshire; it is home to 7.5 million people, making it the fifth-largest Combined Statistical Area in the United States.
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Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 large professional theatres with 500 seats or more located in the Theatre District, New York and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan, New York City.Although theater is the preferred spelling in the U.S.A. (see further at American and British English Spelling Differences), the majority of venues, performers, and trade groups for live dramatic presentations use the spelling theatre. Along with London's West End theatre, Broadway theatre is usually considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English-speaking world.
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East Prussia
http://wn.com/East_Prussia -
France
{{Infobox Country
http://wn.com/France -
George Eastman House
The George Eastman House is the world's oldest photography museum and one of the world's oldest film archives, opened to the public in 1949 in Rochester, New York, USA. World-renowned for its photograph and motion picture archives, the museum is also a leader in film preservation and photograph conservation, educating archivists and conservators from around the world. Home to the Dryden Theatre, a 535-seat repertory theater, the museum is located in and around the house built by George Eastman, the founder of Eastman Kodak Company. The house was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1966.
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Hollywood
Hollywood is a neighborhood in Los Angeles, California - situated west-northwest of Downtown Los Angeles. Due to its fame and cultural identity as the historical center of movie studios and movie stars, the word "Hollywood" is often used as a metonym of American cinema, and is often interchangeably used to refer to the greater Los Angeles area in general. The nicknames StarStruck Town and Tinseltown refer to Hollywood and its movie industry. Today, much of the movie industry has dispersed into surrounding areas such as the Westside neighborhood, but significant auxiliary industries, such as editing, effects, props, post-production, and lighting companies remain in Hollywood, as does the backlot of Paramount Pictures.
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Ireland
Ireland (,; , ; Ulster Scots: Airlann) is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island in the world. It lies to the northwest of continental Europe and is surrounded by hundreds of islands and islets. To the east of Ireland is Great Britain, separated from it by the Irish Sea. The island is divided between the Republic of Ireland, which covers just under five-sixths of the island, and Northern Ireland, a part of the United Kingdom, which covers the remainder and is located in the northeast of the island. The population of Ireland is approximately 6.2 million people. Just under 4.5 million live in the Republic of Ireland and just under 1.8 million live in Northern Ireland.
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Keyport, New Jersey
Keyport is a Borough in Monmouth County, New Jersey, United States. As of the United States 2000 Census, the borough population was 7,568. Keyport's nickname is the "Pearl of the Bayshore" or the "Gateway to the Bayshore".
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Lincoln Center
http://wn.com/Lincoln_Center -
London
London () is the capital of England and the United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its founding by the Romans, who called it Londinium. London's core, the ancient City of London, largely retains its square-mile mediaeval boundaries. Since at least the 19th century, the name London has also referred to the metropolis developed around this core. The bulk of this conurbation forms the London region and the Greater London administrative area, governed by the elected Mayor of London and the London Assembly.
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Omaha, Nebraska
Omaha () is the largest city in the state of Nebraska, United States, and is the county seat of Douglas County. It is located in the Midwestern United States on the Missouri River, about 20 miles (30 km) north of the mouth of the Platte River. Omaha is the anchor of the Omaha-Council Bluffs metropolitan area, which includes Council Bluffs, Iowa, across the Missouri River from Omaha. It is located 190 miles north of Kansas City, Missouri.
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University of Oxford
The University of Oxford (informally Oxford University, or simply Oxford) is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the third oldest surviving university and the oldest university in the English-speaking world. Although the exact date of foundation remains unclear, there is evidence of teaching there as far back as the 11th century. The University grew rapidly from 1167 when Henry II banned English students from attending the University of Paris.
http://wn.com/University_of_Oxford
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Aaron Copland
Aaron Copland (November 14, 1900 – December 2, 1990) was an American composer of concert and film music. Instrumental in forging a distinctly American style of composition, he was widely known as "the dean of American composers." Copland's music achieved a balance between modern music and American folk styles. The open, slowly changing harmonies of many of his works are said to evoke the vast American landscape.
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Adele Astaire
Lady Charles Cavendish (September 10, 1896 – January 25, 1981), better known as Adele Astaire, was an American dancer and entertainer. She was Fred Astaire's elder sister. Her birthdate was often given as 1897 or 1898, but the 1900 U.S. census showed her birth year as 1896.
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Adolph Green
http://wn.com/Adolph_Green -
Agnes Moorehead
Agnes Robertson Moorehead (December 6, 1900 – April 30, 1974) was an American actress. Although she began with the Mercury Theatre, appeared in more than seventy films beginning with Citizen Kane and on dozens of television shows during a career that spanned more than thirty years, Moorehead is most widely known to modern audiences for her role as the witch Endora in the series Bewitched.
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Al Jolson
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Al Pacino
http://wn.com/Al_Pacino -
Alan Rickman
Alan Sidney Patrick Rickman (born 21 February 1946) is an English actor and theatre director. He is a renowned stage actor in modern and classical productions and a former member of the Royal Shakespeare Company. Rickman is known for his performances in film as Hans Gruber in Die Hard, as Severus Snape in the Harry Potter film series, as Eamon de Valera in Michael Collins, and as Metatron in Dogma.
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Alec Guinness
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Alfred Hitchcock
Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock, KBE (13 August 1899 – 29 April 1980) was an English filmmaker and producer. He pioneered many techniques in the suspense and psychological thriller genres. After a successful career in his native United Kingdom in both silent films and early talkies, Hitchcock moved to Hollywood. In 1956 he became an American citizen while remaining a British subject.
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Alfred Lunt
http://wn.com/Alfred_Lunt -
Alsace
http://wn.com/Alsace -
Ann Miller
http://wn.com/Ann_Miller -
Anthony Hopkins
Sir Philip Anthony Hopkins, CBE (born 31 December 1937), is a Welsh actor of film, stage and television. Considered to be one of the greatest living actors, he is perhaps best known for his portrayal of cannibalistic serial killer Hannibal Lecter in The Silence of the Lambs, its sequel, Hannibal, and its prequel, Red Dragon. Other prominent film credits include Magic, The Elephant Man, 84 Charing Cross Road, Dracula, Legends of the Fall, The Remains of the Day, Amistad, Nixon and Fracture. Hopkins was born and brought up in Wales. Retaining his British citizenship, he became a U.S. citizen on 12 April 2000. He received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2003 and was made a Fellow of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts in 2008.
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Arlene Croce
Arlene Croce (born 1934) founded Ballet Review magazine in 1965. She was a dance critic for The New Yorker magazine from 1973 to 1998. Prior to her long career as a dance writer, she also wrote film criticism for Film Culture and other magazines. The keynote of her criticism can be grasped from her ability to evoke kinesthetic movement and expressive images in her writing. Although she considers ballet to epitomize the highest form of dance, she has also written extensively on the topic of popular and filmed dance, and is a recognized authority on the Astaire and Rogers musical films.
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Armand Assante
Armand Anthony Assante, Jr. (born October 4, 1949) is an American actor.
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Arthur Freed
http://wn.com/Arthur_Freed -
Arthur Lowe
http://wn.com/Arthur_Lowe -
Arthur Rubinstein
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Artie Shaw
Arthur Jacob Arshawsky (May 23, 1910 – December 30, 2004), better known as Artie Shaw, was an American jazz clarinetist, composer, and bandleader. He is also the author of both fiction and non-fiction writings.
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Audrey Hepburn
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Austerlitz (family)
Austerlitz is the name of a Jewish family. As is the case with all names derived from places, the surname "Austerlitz" does not necessarily signify that all the persons so named belong to one family. It denotes that an ancestor of the person came from that place or was for some time a resident there. In the tombstone inscriptions of the old cemetery at Prague this name occurs after 1620. The name is also found in Prague among those Jews banished from Vienna in 1670, and in other localities in Austria and Hungary. Of the members of this family known in literature and communal life, the following may be mentioned:
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Ava Gardner
actor
http://wn.com/Ava_Gardner -
Barbara Eden
Barbara Eden (born Barbara Jean Morehead; August 23, 1934) is an American film and television actress and singer who is best known for her starring role in the sitcom I Dream of Jeannie.
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Barbara Stanwyck
Barbara Stanwyck (July 16, 1907 – January 20, 1990) was an American actress, a film and television star, known during her 60-year career as a consummate and versatile professional with a strong screen presence, and a favorite of directors including Cecil B. DeMille, Fritz Lang and Frank Capra. After a short stint as a stage actress, she made 85 films in 38 years in Hollywood, before turning to television.
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Barbara Walters
Barbara Jill Walters (born September 25, 1929) is an American broadcast journalist and author, who has hosted morning television shows (Today and The View), the television newsmagazine (20/20), and co-anchor of the ABC Evening News and correspondent on ABC World News (then ABC Evening News).
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Barbra Streisand
Barbra Streisand ( ; born Barbara Joan Streisand, April 24, 1942) is an American singer, actress, director, and songwriter. She has won two Academy Awards, eight Grammy Awards, four Emmy Awards, a Special Tony Award, an American Film Institute award, and a Peabody Award.
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Barrie Chase
Barrie Chase (born October 20, 1933) is an American actress and dancer originally from Long Island, New York.
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Beau Bridges
Lloyd Vernet "Beau" Bridges III (born December 9, 1941) is an American actor.
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Ben Johnson (actor)
Ben "Son" Johnson, Jr. (June 13, 1918 – April 8, 1996) was an American motion picture actor who was mainly cast in Westerns. He was also a rodeo cowboy, stuntman, and rancher.
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Benny Goodman
In the mid-1930s, Benny Goodman (May 30, 1909 - June 13, 1986) led one of the most popular musical groups in America. His January 16, 1938 concert at Carnegie Hall in New York City is described by critic Bruce Eder as "the single most important jazz or popular music concert in history: jazz's 'coming out' party to the world of 'respectable' music."
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Bette Davis
http://wn.com/Bette_Davis -
Betty Comden
Betty Comden (May 3, 1917 November 23, 2006) was one-half of the musical-comedy duo Comden and Green, who provided lyrics, libretti, and screenplays to some of the most beloved and successful Hollywood musicals and Broadway shows of the mid-20th century. Her writing partnership with Adolph Green lasted for six decades, during which time they collaborated with other leading entertainment figures such as the famed "Freed Unit" at MGM, Jule Styne and Leonard Bernstein.
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Betty Hutton
http://wn.com/Betty_Hutton -
Bill Robinson
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Billy Wilder
Billy Wilder (22 June 190627 March 2002) was an Austrian-born American filmmaker, screenwriter, producer, artist, and journalist, whose career spanned more than 50 years and 60 films. He is regarded as one of the most brilliant and versatile filmmakers of Hollywood's golden age. Wilder is one of only five people who have won three Academy Awards for producing, directing and writing the same film (The Apartment).
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Bing Crosby
http://wn.com/Bing_Crosby -
Bob Fosse
http://wn.com/Bob_Fosse -
Brad Dourif
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Buddy Adler
http://wn.com/Buddy_Adler -
Burt Lancaster
http://wn.com/Burt_Lancaster -
Burton Lane
http://wn.com/Burton_Lane -
Busby Berkeley
http://wn.com/Busby_Berkeley -
Buster Keaton
http://wn.com/Buster_Keaton -
Cantinflas
Fortino Mario Alfonso Moreno Reyes (August 12, 1911 – April 20, 1993) was a Mexican comedian and stage and film actor, known professionally as Cantinflas. He often portrayed impoverished campesinos or a peasant of pelado origin. The character came to be associated with the national identity of Mexico, and allowed "Cantinflas" to establish a long, successful film career that included a foray into Hollywood. Charlie Chaplin once called him "the greatest comedian in the world", and Moreno has been referred to as the "Charlie Chaplin of Mexico". To audiences in the United States, he is best remembered as costarring with David Niven in Around the World in 80 Days (1956).
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Carole Lombard
Carole Lombard (October 6, 1908 – January 16, 1942) was an American actress. She was particularly noted for her comedic roles in several classic films of the 1930s, most notably in the 1936 film My Man Godfrey. She is listed as one of the American Film Institute's greatest stars of all time and was the highest-paid star in Hollywood in the late 1930s, earning around US$500,000 per year (more than five times the salary of the US President). Lombard's career was cut short when she died at the age of 33 in the crash of TWA Flight 3.
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Cary Grant
Archibald Alexander Leach (January 18, 1904 – November 29, 1986), better known by his stage name Cary Grant, was an English-American actor. With his distinctive yet not quite placeable Mid-Atlantic accent, he was noted as perhaps the foremost exemplar of the debonair leading man: handsome, virile, charismatic, and charming.
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Catherine Deneuve
http://wn.com/Catherine_Deneuve -
Cecil B. DeMille
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Celeste Holm
Celeste Holm (born April 29, 1917) is an American stage, film, and television actress, known for her Academy Award-winning performance in ''Gentleman's Agreement (1947), as well as for her Oscar-nominated performances in Come to the Stable (1949) and All About Eve'' (1950).
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Charlie Chaplin
actor
http://wn.com/Charlie_Chaplin -
Charlton Heston
Charlton Heston (October 4, 1923 – April 5, 2008) was an American actor of film, theatre and television.
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Christopher Plummer
Christopher Plummer, CC (born December 13, 1929) is a Canadian theatre, film and television actor.
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Claire Luce
Claire Luce (October 15, 1903 – August 31, 1989) was an American stage and screen actress and dancer. Among her few films were Up the River (1930) directed by John Ford and costarring Spencer Tracy and Humphrey Bogart, and Under Secret Orders, the English-language version of G. W. Pabst's Mademoiselle Docteur (1937).
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Clark Gable
William Clark Gable (February 1, 1901 – November 16, 1960) was an American film actor, nicknamed "The King of Hollywood" in his heyday. In 1999, the American Film Institute named Gable seventh among the greatest male stars of all time.
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Claudette Colbert
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Clint Eastwood
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Cole Porter
Cole Albert Porter (June 9, 1891 – October 15, 1964) was an American composer and songwriter. His works include the musical comedies Kiss Me, Kate, Fifty Million Frenchmen, DuBarry Was a Lady and Anything Goes, as well as songs like "Night and Day", "I Get a Kick out of You", "Well, Did You Evah!" and "I've Got You Under My Skin". He was noted for his sophisticated, bawdy lyrics, clever rhymes and complex forms. Porter was one of the greatest contributors to the Great American Songbook. Cole Porter is one of the few Tin Pan Alley composers to have written both the lyrics and the music for his songs.
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Conrad Nagel
Conrad Nagel ( – ) was an American screen actor and matinee idol of the silent film era and beyond. He was also a well-known television actor and radio performer.
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Cyd Charisse
Cyd Charisse (March 8, 1922 – June 17, 2008) was an American actress and dancer.
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Daniel Auteuil
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Danny Kaye
Danny Kaye (January 18, 1913 – March 3, 1987) was an American actor, singer, dancer, and comedian.
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Darryl F. Zanuck
Darryl Francis Zanuck (September 5, 1902 – December 22, 1979) was an American producer, writer, actor, director, and studio executive who played a major part in the Hollywood studio system as one of its longest survivors (the length of his career being rivalled only by that of Adolph Zukor).
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David Lean
Sir David Lean CBE (25 March 190816 April 1991) was a British filmmaker, producer, screenwriter and editor, best remembered for big-screen epics such as The Bridge on the River Kwai, Lawrence of Arabia,
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David Niven
James David Graham Niven (1 March 1910 – 29 July 1983), known as David Niven, was a British actor and novelist, best known for his roles as Phileas Fogg in Around the World in 80 Days and Sir Charles Lytton, a.k.a. "the Phantom," in The Pink Panther. He was awarded the 1958 Academy Award for Best Actor in Separate Tables.
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David O. Selznick
David O. Selznick, born David Selznick (May 10, 1902 – June 22, 1965), was an American film producer. He is best known for producing Gone with the Wind (1939) and Rebecca (1940), both of which earned him an Oscar for Best Picture.
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Diane Keaton
Diane Keaton (born Diane Hall; January 5, 1946) is an American film actress, director, producer, and writer. Keaton began her career on stage, and made her screen debut in 1970. Her first major film role was as Kay Adams-Corleone in The Godfather (1972), but the films that shaped her early career were those with director and co-star Woody Allen beginning with Play It Again, Sam in 1972. Her next two films with Allen, Sleeper (1973) and Love and Death (1975), established her as a comic actor. Her fourth, Annie Hall (1977), won her the Academy Award for Best Actress.
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Dick Powell
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Donald O'Connor
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Donald P. Bellisario
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Duke of Devonshire
Duke of Devonshire is a title in the Peerage of England held by members of the Cavendish family. This branch of the Cavendish family has been one of the richest and most influential aristocratic families in England since the 16th century, and have been rivalled in political influence perhaps only by the Earls of Derby and the Marquesses of Salisbury.
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Dustin Hoffman
Dustin Lee Hoffman (born August 8, 1937) is an American actor with a career in film, television, and theatre since 1960. He has been known for his versatile portrayals of antiheroes and vulnerable types of characters.
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Ed Flanders
Edward Paul Flanders (December 29, 1934 - February 22, 1995) was an American actor best known for his role as Dr. Donald Westphall in the television series St. Elsewhere.
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Eddie Cantor
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Edmond O'Brien
'''Edmond O'Brien' (September 10, 1915 – May 9, 1985) was an American film actor who is perhaps best remembered for his role in D.O.A. (1950). He also co-starred with Richard Rust in the NBC legal drama Sam Benedict'', which aired during the 1962-1963 television season.
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Edward Fox (actor)
Edward Charles Morrice Fox, OBE (born 13 April 1937) is an English stage, film and television actor.
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Eleanor Powell
Eleanor Torrey Powell (November 21, 1912 – February 11, 1982) was an American film actress and dancer of the 1930s and 1940s, known for her exuberant solo tap dancing.
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Elizabeth Taylor
Dame Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor, DBE (born 27 February 1932), also known as Liz Taylor, is an English-American actress. She is known for her acting talent and beauty, as well as her Hollywood lifestyle, including many marriages. Taylor is considered one of the great actresses of Hollywood's golden age.
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Ella Fitzgerald
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Eric Maschwitz
Albert Eric Maschwitz OBE (10 June 1901 – October 1969), known as Eric Maschwitz and sometimes credited as Holt Marvell, was an English entertainer, writer, broadcaster and broadcasting executive.
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Federico Fellini
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Francis Ford Coppola
Francis Ford Coppola (born April 7, 1939) is an American film director, producer and screenwriter. Away from show business, Coppola is also a vintner, magazine publisher and hotelier. He is a graduate of Hofstra University where he studied theatre. He earned an M.F.A. in film directing from the UCLA Film School. He is primarily known for directing the Godfather Trilogy, Apocalypse Now, Dracula, and The Conversation and for writing Patton.
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Frank Capra
Frank Russell Capra (May 18, 1897 – September 3, 1991) was a Sicilian-born American film director and a creative force behind a number of films of the 1930s and 1940s, including It Happened One Night (1934), Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936), Lost Horizon (1937), ''You Can't Take It With You (1938), Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939), Meet John Doe (1941), Arsenic and Old Lace (1944) and It's a Wonderful Life'' (1946).
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Frank Sinatra
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Fred Astaire
Fred Astaire (May 10, 1899 – June 22, 1987), born Frederick Austerlitz, 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.
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Fred Stone
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Fredric March
Fredric March (August 31, 1897 – April 14, 1975) was an American stage and film actor. He won the Academy Award for Best Actor in 1932 for Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and in 1946 for The Best Years of Our Lives.
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Gary Cooper
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Gary Sinise
Gary Sinise (; born March 17, 1955) is an American actor, film director and musician. During his career, Sinise has won an Emmy and a Golden Globe Award and was nominated for an Academy Award. In 1992, Sinise directed, and played the role of George Milton in, the movie adaptation of Of Mice and Men. Sinise was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in 1994 for his role as Lieutenant Dan Taylor in Forrest Gump. He won a Golden Globe award for Best Actor in a TV Movie or Miniseries for his role in Truman. In 1996, he played a corrupt police officer in the dramatic hit Ransom. In 1998, Sinise was awarded an Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or Movie for the television film George Wallace, a portrayal of the late Governor George C. Wallace, Jr., of Alabama.
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Gene Kelly
Eugene Curran "Gene" Kelly (August 23, 1912 – February 2, 1996) was an American dancer, actor, singer, film director and producer, and choreographer. A major exponent of 20th century filmed dance, Kelly was known for his energetic and athletic dancing style, his good looks and the likeable characters that he played on screen.
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George Balanchine
George Balanchine (January 22, 1904 – April 30, 1983), born Georgi Melitonovitch Balanchivadze () in Saint Petersburg, Russia, to a Georgian father and a Russian mother, was one of the 20th century's foremost choreographers, a pioneer of ballet in the United States, co-founder and balletmaster of New York City Ballet: his work created modern ballet, based on his deep knowledge of classical forms and techniques. He was a choreographer known for his musicality; he did not illustrate music but expressed it in dance and worked extensively with Igor Stravinsky.
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George C. Scott
George Campbell Scott (October 18, 1927 – September 22, 1999) was an American stage and film actor, director and producer. He was best known for his bravura stage work, as well as his portrayal of General George S. Patton in the film Patton, and an early flamboyant film performance as General Buck Turgidson in Stanley Kubrick's Dr. Strangelove. He has also widely been known for his rather gravelly voice.
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George Chakiris
George Chakiris (born September 16, 1934) is an American dancer, singer and film actor.
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George Cukor
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George Gershwin
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George Lucas
George Walton Lucas, Jr. (born May 14, 1944) is an American film producer, screenwriter, director and founder/chairman of Lucasfilm Ltd. He is best known for being the creator of the science fiction franchise Star Wars and joint creator of the archaeologist-adventurer character Indiana Jones. Today, Lucas is one of the American film industry's most financially successful independent directors/producers, with an estimated net worth of $3.25 billion as of 2010.
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George Murphy
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Gig Young
Gig Young (November 4, 1913 – October 19, 1978) was an American film, stage, and television actor.
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Ginger Rogers
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Grace Kelly
http://wn.com/Grace_Kelly -
Gregory Hines
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Gregory Peck
Gregory Peck (April 5, 1916 – June 12, 2003) was an American actor.
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Greta Garbo
Greta Garbo (18 September 1905 - 15 April 1990) was a Swedish actress primarily known for her work in the United States during Hollywood's silent film period and part of its subsequent Golden Age. Once moving to Hollywood, she appeared in only 27 movies, yet she remains one of the most popular and recognizable Hollywood stars. The MGM marketing ploy "Garbo talks" became a catch-phrase of the 1930s. Her popularity with the Depression-era audiences allowed her to dictate the terms of her contract in 1932, and she became increasingly choosy about her roles. After 1941, she accepted no more roles, and retired to an apartment in New York City.
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Hal B. Wallis
Hal B. Wallis, C.B.E. (born Harold Brent Wallis; September 14, 1898 – October 5, 1986) was an American motion picture producer.
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Hal Holbrook
Harold Rowe "Hal" Holbrook, Jr. (born February 17, 1925) is an American actor. His television roles include Abraham Lincoln in the 1976 TV series Lincoln, Hays Stowe on and Capt. Lloyd Bucher on Pueblo. He is also known for his role in the 2007 film Into the Wild, for which he was nominated for a Screen Actors Guild Award and an Academy Award. He has also done a one man show as Mark Twain.
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Harold Arlen
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Harrison Ford
Harrison Ford (born July 13, 1942) is an American film actor and producer. Ford is best known for his performances as Han Solo in the original Star Wars trilogy and as the title character of the Indiana Jones film series. He is also known for his roles as Rick Deckard in Blade Runner, John Book in Witness and Jack Ryan in Patriot Games and Clear and Present Danger. His four-decade career also includes roles in several other Hollywood blockbusters, including Presumed Innocent, The Fugitive, Air Force One, and What Lies Beneath. At one point, four of the top five box-office hits of all time included one of his roles. Five of his films have been inducted into the National Film Registry.
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Harry Warren
Harry Warren (December 24, 1893 – September 22, 1981) was an American composer and lyricist. Warren was the first major American songwriter to write primarily for film. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Song eleven times and won three Oscars for composing "Lullaby of Broadway", "You'll Never Know" and "On the Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe". He wrote the music for the first blockbuster film musical, 42nd Street, directed and choreographed by Busby Berkeley, with whom he would collaborate on many musical films.
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Henry Fonda
Henry Jaynes Fonda (May 16, 1905 – August 12, 1982) was an American film and stage actor.
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Heywood Broun
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Hume Cronyn
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Humphrey Bogart
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Ingrid Bergman
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Ira Gershwin
http://wn.com/Ira_Gershwin -
Irene Castle
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Irving Berlin
Irving Berlin (May 11, 1888September 22, 1989) was an American composer and lyricist, widely considered one of the greatest songwriters in history.
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Jack Benny
http://wn.com/Jack_Benny -
Jack Buchanan
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Jack Lemmon
John Uhler "Jack" Lemmon III (February 8, 1925 – June 27, 2001) was an American actor. He starred in more than 60 films including Some Like It Hot, The Apartment, Mister Roberts (for which he won the 1955 Best Supporting Actor Academy Award), Days of Wine and Roses, The Great Race, Irma la Douce, The Odd Couple, Save the Tiger (for which he won the 1973 Best Actor Academy Award), The Out-of-Towners, The China Syndrome, Missing, Glengarry Glen Ross, Grumpy Old Men and Grumpier Old Men.
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Jack Nicholson
John Joseph "Jack" Nicholson (born April 22, 1937) is an American actor, film director and producer. He is renowned for his often dark-themed portrayals of neurotic characters.
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Jack Warner
:This article is about Jack Warner, the head of Warner Brothers. For other people named Jack Warner, see Jack Warner (disambiguation).
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James (band)
James are an English rock band from Manchester. They formed in 1982 and were active throughout the 1980s, but most successful during the 1990s. Their hit singles include "Sit Down" and "Laid". Following the departure of lead singer Tim Booth in 2001, the band became inactive but re-formed in January 2007, returning for a new album and international tour.
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James Cagney
James Francis Cagney, Jr. (July 17, 1899 – March 30, 1986) was an American film actor. Although he won acclaim and major awards for a wide variety of roles, he is best remembered for playing "tough guys." In 1999, the American Film Institute ranked him eighth among the Greatest Male Stars of All Time.
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James Dean
person
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James Franciscus
http://wn.com/James_Franciscus -
James Mason
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James Stewart
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Jane Fonda
Jane Fonda (born December 21, 1937) is an American actress, writer, political activist, former fashion model, and fitness guru. She rose to fame in the 1960s with films such as Barbarella and Cat Ballou. She has won two Academy Awards and received several other awards and nominations. After 15 years of retirement, she returned to film in 2005 with Monster in Law followed by Georgia Rule two years later. She also produced and starred in several exercise videos released between 1982 and 1995.
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Jane Powell
Jane Powell (born Suzanne Lorraine Burce; April 1, 1929) is an American singer, dancer and actress.
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Jason Robards
Jason Nelson Robards, Jr. (July 26, 1922 – December 26, 2000) was an American actor on stage and in film and television and a winner of the Tony Award (theatre), two Academy Awards (film) and the Emmy Award (television). He was also a United States Navy combat veteran of World War II.
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Jean Harlow
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Jean Hersholt
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Jennifer Jones
Phylis Lee Isley (March 2, 1919December 17, 2009) better known as her stage name Jennifer Jones, was an American actress. A five-time Academy Award nominee, Jones won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in The Song of Bernadette (1943).
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Jerome Kern
Jerome David Kern (January 27, 1885 – November 11, 1945) was an American composer of musical theatre and popular music. One of the most important American theatre composers of the early 20th century, he wrote more than 700 songs, used in over 100 stage works, including such classics as "Ol' Man River", "Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man", "A Fine Romance", "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes", "All the Things You Are", "The Way You Look Tonight", "Long Ago (and Far Away)" and "Who?". He collaborated with many of the leading librettists and lyricists of his era, including George Grossmith Jr., Guy Bolton, P. G. Wodehouse, Otto Harbach, Oscar Hammerstein II, Dorothy Fields, Johnny Mercer, Ira Gershwin and E. Y. Harburg.
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Jerry Lewis
Jerry Lewis (born Jerome Levitch, March 16, 1926) is an American comedian, actor, film producer, writer, film director and singer. He is best-known for his slapstick humor in stage, radio, screen, recording and television. He was originally paired up with Dean Martin in 1946, forming the comedy team of Martin and Lewis. In addition to the team's popular nightclub work, they starred in a successful series of comedy films for Paramount Pictures. As an innovative filmmaker, Lewis is credited with inventing the video assist system in cinematography. Lewis is also known for his charity fund-raising telethons and position as national chairman for the Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA).
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Jessica Lange
Jessica Phyllis Lange (born April 20, 1949) is an American stage and screen actress. With a career that has spanned thirty-five years with 2 academy awards won and 6 nominations, she may be most notable for her performances in Frances, Tootsie, Sweet Dreams, Blue Sky, and Grey Gardens.
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Jew
http://wn.com/Jew -
Joan Crawford
Joan Crawford (March 23, 1905 – May 10, 1977), born Lucille Fay LeSueur, was an American actress in film, television and theatre. Starting as a dancer in traveling theatrical companies before debuting on Broadway, Crawford was signed to a motion picture contract by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in 1925. Initially frustrated by the size and quality of her parts, Crawford began a campaign of self-publicity and became nationally known as a flapper by the end of the 1920s. In the 1930s, Crawford's fame rivaled MGM colleagues Norma Shearer and Greta Garbo. Crawford often played hardworking young women who find romance and financial success. These "rags-to-riches" stories were well-received by Depression-era audiences and were popular with women. Crawford became one of Hollywood's most prominent movie stars and one of the highest paid women in the United States, but her films began losing money and by the end of the 1930s she was labeled "box office poison".
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Joan Leslie
Joan Leslie (born January 26, 1925 in Detroit, Michigan) is a former American actress.
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Joanne Woodward
Joanne Gignilliat Trimmier Woodward (born February 27, 1930) is an Academy Award-winning American actress, television and theatrical producer, and widow of Paul Newman.
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John Ford
Rear Admiral (reserve)
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John Houseman
John Houseman (September 22, 1902 - October 31, 1988) was a Romanian-born American actor and film producer who became known for his highly publicized collaboration with director Orson Welles from their days in the Federal Theatre Project through to the production of Citizen Kane. But he is perhaps best known for his role as Professor Charles Kingsfield in the TV series The Paper Chase and for his commercials for the brokerage firm Smith Barney. In 1973, he won an Oscar for his Supporting performance in The Paper Chase. He had a distinctive Mid-Atlantic English accent, in common with many actors of his generation.
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John Huston
John Huston (August 5, 1906 – August 28, 1987) was an American film director, screenwriter and actor. He wrote most of the 37 feature films he directed, many of which are today considered "classics": The Maltese Falcon (1941), The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948), Key Largo (1948), The Asphalt Jungle (1950), The African Queen (1951), Moulin Rouge (1952), The Misfits (1960), and The Man Who Would Be King (1975). During his 46-year career, Huston received 15 Oscar nominations, winning twice, and directed both his father, Walter Huston, and daughter, Anjelica Huston to Oscar wins in different films.
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John Mills
Sir John Mills, CBE (22 February 1908 – 23 April 2005) was an English actor, who made more than 120 films in a career spanning seven decades.
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John Mueller
John E. Mueller (born 1937, Saint Paul, Minnesota) is a political scientist in the field of international relations as well as a scholar of the history of dance. He is recognized for his ideas concerning "the banality of ethnic war" and the theory that major world conflicts are quickly becoming obsolete.
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John Wayne
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Joseph E. Levine
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Joseph L. Mankiewicz
http://wn.com/Joseph_L_Mankiewicz -
Judy Garland
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Katharine Hepburn
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Keith Michell
Keith Michell (born 1 December 1928) is an Australian actor.
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Kirk Douglas
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Lauren Bacall
Lauren Bacall (born Betty Joan Perske September 16, 1924) is an American film and stage actress and model, known for her distinctive husky voice and sultry looks.
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Laurence Olivier
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Leo Sayer
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Leslie Caron
Leslie Claire Margaret Caron (; born 1 July 1931) is a French film actress and dancer, who appeared in 45 films between 1951 and 2003. Caron is best known for the musical films An American in Paris (1951), Lili (1953), Daddy Long Legs (1955), Gigi (1958), and for the non-musical films Fanny (1961), The L-Shaped Room (1962), and Father Goose (1964). She received two Academy Award nominations for Best Actress. She speaks French and English. She is one of the few dancers or actresses who can say that they have danced with Gene Kelly, Fred Astaire, Mikhail Baryshnikov, and Rudolf Nureyev.
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Lillian Gish
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Lorenz Hart
Lorenz "Larry" Hart (May 2, 1895 – November 22, 1943) was the lyricist half of the famed Broadway songwriting team Rodgers and Hart. Some of his more famous lyrics include, "Blue Moon", "Isn't It Romantic?", "Mountain Greenery", "The Lady Is a Tramp", "Manhattan", "Where or When", "Bewitched, Bothered, and Bewildered", "Falling in Love with Love", "I'll Tell The Man In The Street" and "My Funny Valentine".
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Lucille Bremer
Lucille Bremer (February 21, 1917 – April 16, 1996) was an American film actress and dancer.
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Marian Anderson
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Marilyn Monroe
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Marlene Dietrich
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Marlon Brando
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Martha Graham
Martha Graham (May 11, 1894 – April 1, 1991) was an American dancer choreographer regarded as one of the foremost pioneers of modern dance, whose influence on dance can be compared to the influence Stravinsky had on music, Picasso had on the visual arts, or Frank Lloyd Wright had on architecture. Graham was a galvanizing performer, a choreographer of astounding moves. She invented a new language of movement, and used it to reveal the passion, the rage and the ecstasy common to human experience. She danced and choreographed for over seventy years, and during that time was the first dancer ever to perform at The White House, the first dancer ever to travel abroad as a cultural ambassador, and the first dancer ever to receive the highest civilian award of the USA: the Medal of Freedom. In her lifetime she received honors ranging from the key to the City of Paris to Japan's Imperial Order of the Precious Crown. She said, "I have spent all my life with dance and being a dancer. It's permitting life to use you in a very intense way. Sometimes it is not pleasant. Sometimes it is fearful. But nevertheless it is inevitable."
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Martin Scorsese
Martin Charles Scorsese (; born November 17, 1942) is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, actor, and film historian. He is the founder of the World Cinema Foundation and a recipient of the AFI Life Achievement Award for his contributions to the cinema, and has won awards from the Oscars, Golden Globe, BAFTA, and Directors Guild of America. Scorsese is president of The Film Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to film preservation.
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Marx Brothers
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Mary Pickford
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Maurice Chevalier
Maurice Auguste Chevalier (September 12, 1888 – January 1, 1972) was a French actor, singer, and popular vaudeville entertainer. Chevalier's signature songs included "Louise", "Mimi", "Valentine", and "Thank Heaven for Little Girls". His trademark was a boater hat, which he always wore on stage with his tuxedo (dinner jacket).
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Mervyn LeRoy
Mervyn LeRoy (October 15, 1900 - September 13, 1987) was an American film director, producer and sometime actor.
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Meryl Streep
Mary Louise "Meryl" Streep (born June 22, 1949) is an American actress who has worked in theatre, television and film. She is widely regarded as one of the most talented and respected actors of the modern era.
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Michael Caine
Sir Michael Caine, CBE (born Maurice Joseph Micklewhite; 14 March 1933) is an English film actor. Caine has appeared in over one hundred films.
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Michael Douglas
Michael Kirk Douglas (born September 25, 1944) is an American actor and producer, primarily in movies and television. He has won three Golden Globes and two Academy Awards, first as producer of 1975's Best Picture, ''One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and as Best Actor in 1987 for his role in Wall Street''. Douglas received the AFI Life Achievement Award in 2009.
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Michael Jackson
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Michael Moriarty
Michael Moriarty (born April 5, 1941) is an American-Canadian actor of stage and screen, and a jazz musician. He played Benjamin Stone for four seasons on the TV series Law & Order.
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Michael Palin
Michael Edward Palin, CBE FRGS (born 5 May 1943) is an English comedian, actor, writer and television presenter best known for being one of the members of the comedy group Monty Python and for his travel documentaries.
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Michael Penn
Michael Penn (born August 1, 1958) is an American singer, songwriter and composer. He is the son of actor/director Leo Penn and actress Eileen Ryan, and the brother of actors Sean Penn and Chris Penn.
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Mickey Rooney
Mickey Rooney (born September 23, 1920) is an American film actor and entertainer whose film, television, and stage appearances span nearly his entire lifetime. During his career he has won multiple awards, including an Honorary Academy Award, a Golden Globe and an Emmy Award. Working as a performer since he was a small child, he was a superstar as a teenager for the films in which he played Andy Hardy, and he has had one of the longest careers of any actor.
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Mike Nichols
Mike Nichols (born November 6, 1931) is a German-born American television, stage and film director, writer, and producer. Nichols is one of only twelve people to have won an all the major American entertainment awards: an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony Award. In 2001, he was awarded the National Medal of Arts. He received the Life Achievement Award from the American Film Institute in 2010.
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Mikhail Baryshnikov
Mikhail Nikolaevich Baryshnikov (, ) (born January 28, 1948) is a Soviet-born Russian American dancer, choreographer, and actor, often cited alongside Vaslav Nijinsky and Rudolf Nureyev as one of the greatest ballet dancers of the 20th century. After a promising start in the Kirov Ballet in Leningrad, he defected to Canada in 1974 for more opportunities in western dance. After freelancing with many companies, he joined the New York City Ballet as a principal dancer to learn George Balanchine's style of movement. He then moved to New York to dance with the American Ballet Theatre, where he later became artistic director.
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Morgan Freeman
Morgan Porterfield Freeman, Jr. (born June 1, 1937) is an American actor, film director, and narrator. He is noted for his reserved demeanor and authoritative speaking voice.
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Nanette Fabray
Nanette Fabray (born October 27, 1920) is an American actress, comedienne, singer, dancer, and activist. She began her career performing in vaudeville as a child and then became a highly praised musical theatre actress during the 1940s and 1950s, winning a Tony Award in 1949 for her performance in Love Life. She became a household name during the mid 1950s as comedy partner to Sid Caesar on ''Caesar's Hour for which she won three Emmy Awards. From 1979-1984 she starred as Grandma Katherine Romano on One Day at a Time''.
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Norman Granz
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Omar Sharif
Omar Sharif (born Michael Demitri Shalhoub; April 10, 1932) is an Arab Egyptian actor who has starred in Hollywood films, most famously in Doctor Zhivago, Funny Girl and Lawrence of Arabia. He has been nominated for an Academy Award and has won three Golden Globe Awards.
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Orson Welles
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Oscar Levant
Oscar Levant (December 27, 1906 – August 14, 1972) was an American pianist, composer, author, comedian, and actor. He was more famous for his mordant character and witticisms, on the radio and in movies and television, than for his music.
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Oscar Peterson
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Pandro S. Berman
Pandro S. "Pan" Berman (March 28, 1905July 13, 1996), known as Pandro S. Berman, was an American film producer.
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Paul Douglas (actor)
Paul Douglas (April 11, 1907 – September 11, 1959) was an American actor.
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Paul Newman
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Paul Scofield
David Paul Scofield, CH, CBE (21 January 1922 – 19 March 2008), better known as Paul Scofield, was an English actor of stage and screen. Noted for his distinctive voice and delivery, Scofield received an Academy Award and a BAFTA Award for his performance as Sir Thomas More in the 1966 film A Man for All Seasons, a reprise of the role he played in the stage version at the West End and on Broadway for which he received a Tony Award.
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Paulette Goddard
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Pauline Kael
Pauline Kael (June 19, 1919 –September 3, 2001) was an American film critic who wrote for The New Yorker magazine from 1968 to 1991. Earlier in her career her works were published by City Lights, ''McCall's and The New Republic''.
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Peter Falk
Peter Michael Falk (born September 16, 1927) is an American actor, best known for his role as Lieutenant Columbo in the television series Columbo. He appeared in numerous films and television guest roles, and has been nominated for an Academy Award twice, and won the Emmy Award on five occasions and the Golden Globe award once. Director William Friedkin, when discussing Falk's role in his 1978 film The Brink's Job said that "Peter has a great range from comedy to drama. He could break your heart or he could make you laugh."
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Peter Firth
Peter Firth (born 27 October 1953) is an English actor. He is well known for a variety of starring roles in film and on television from the 1970s to the 2000s.
http://wn.com/Peter_Firth -
Peter Lawford
Peter Sydney Vaughn Aylen (September 7, 1923 – December 24, 1984), better known as Peter Lawford, was an English-American actor. He was a member of the "Rat Pack," and brother-in-law to President John F. Kennedy, perhaps more noted in later years for his off-screen activities as a celebrity than for his acting. In his earlier professional years (late 1930s through the 1950s) he had a strong presence in popular culture and starred in a number of highly-acclaimed films.
http://wn.com/Peter_Lawford -
Peter Levinson
Peter J. Levinson (July 1, 1934, Atlantic City, New Jersey - October 21, 2008, Malibu) was an American music publicist and biographer, particularly of jazz musicians.
http://wn.com/Peter_Levinson -
Peter Straub
:This article is about the novelist. For the German statesman, see Peter Straub (politician).
http://wn.com/Peter_Straub -
Peter Strauss
Peter Strauss (born February 20, 1947) is an American television and movie actor, known for his roles in several television miniseries in the 1970s and 1980s. Notably, as Abel Roznovski in Kane and Abel, the TV miniseries from Jeffrey Archer's book of the same title. He won an Emmy Award for his role on the 1979 made-for-television movie The Jericho Mile, and starred in a television remake of the classic 1946 film Angel On My Shoulder in 1980. His other noted television miniseries credits include roles in Rich Man, Poor Man, the sequel Rich Man, Poor Man Book II, and Masada. Strauss also played Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr. in the 1977 TV movie Young Joe, the Forgotten Kennedy.
http://wn.com/Peter_Strauss -
Petula Clark
Petula Clark, CBE (born 15 November 1932) is an English singer, actress, and composer whose career has spanned seven decades.
http://wn.com/Petula_Clark -
Ray McAnally
http://wn.com/Ray_McAnally -
Raúl Juliá
http://wn.com/Raúl_Juliá -
Richard Attenborough
Richard Samuel Attenborough, Baron Attenborough, CBE (born 29 August 1923) is an English actor, director, producer and entrepreneur. Attenborough has won two Academy Awards, four BAFTA Awards and three Golden Globes. He is the older brother of naturalist and wildlife filmmaker Sir David Attenborough.
http://wn.com/Richard_Attenborough -
Richard Benjamin
Richard Benjamin (born May 22, 1938) is an American actor and film director. He has starred in a number of productions, including the 1969 film Goodbye, Columbus, based on the novella of the same name by Philip Roth, and with Yul Brynner in Westworld in 1973.
http://wn.com/Richard_Benjamin -
Richard Rodgers
http://wn.com/Richard_Rodgers -
Richard Schickel
Richard Warren Schickel (born February 10, 1933, Milwaukee, Wisconsin) is an author, journalist, and documentary filmmaker. He is a film critic for Time magazine, having also written for Life magazine and the Los Angeles Times Book Review.
http://wn.com/Richard_Schickel -
Rita Hayworth
http://wn.com/Rita_Hayworth -
Robert Altman
http://wn.com/Robert_Altman -
Robert Benchley
http://wn.com/Robert_Benchley -
Robert Cummings
Charles Clarence Robert Orville Cummings (June 9, 1910 – December 2, 1990), known professionally as Bob Cummings, was an American motion picture and television actor.
http://wn.com/Robert_Cummings -
Robert Mitchum
http://wn.com/Robert_Mitchum -
Robert Morse
Robert Morse (born 1931) is an American actor and singer. Morse is best known for his appearances in musicals and plays on Broadway. He has also acted in movies and TV shows.
http://wn.com/Robert_Morse -
Robert Wagner
Robert John Wagner (born February 10, 1930) is an American film and television actor of stage and screen, who starred in movies, soap operas and television.
http://wn.com/Robert_Wagner -
Robert Wise
Robert Earl Wise (September 10, 1914 – September 14, 2005) was an American sound effects editor, film editor, film producer and director. He won Academy Awards as Best Director for The Sound of Music (1965) and West Side Story (1961) as well as nominations as Best Film Editing for Citizen Kane (1941) and Best Picture for The Sand Pebbles (1966).
http://wn.com/Robert_Wise -
Rudolf Nureyev
http://wn.com/Rudolf_Nureyev -
Sammy Davis, Jr.
http://wn.com/Sammy_Davis_Jr -
Samuel Goldwyn
Samuel Goldwyn (August 17, 1879 January 31, 1974) was an American film producer, and founding contributor executive of several motion picture studios.
http://wn.com/Samuel_Goldwyn -
Sean Connery
Sir Thomas Sean Connery KBE (born 25 August 1930), more commonly known as Sean Connery, is a Scottish actor and producer who has won an Academy Award, two BAFTA Awards and three Golden Globes.
http://wn.com/Sean_Connery -
Shirley MacLaine
Shirley MacLaine (born April 24, 1934) is an American film and theater actress, dancer, activist, and author, well-known for her beliefs in new age spirituality and reincarnation. She has written a large number of autobiographical works, many dealing with her spiritual beliefs as well as her Hollywood career. In 1983, she won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her role in Terms of Endearment. She is the elder sister of actor Warren Beatty.
http://wn.com/Shirley_MacLaine -
Shirley Temple
http://wn.com/Shirley_Temple -
Sidney Poitier
Sir Sidney Poitier, KBE ( or ; born February 20, 1927) is a Bahamian American actor, film director, author, and diplomat. He broke through as a star in acclaimed performances in American films and plays, which, by consciously defying racial stereotyping, gave a new dramatic credibility for black actors to mainstream film audiences in the Western world.
http://wn.com/Sidney_Poitier -
Sophia Loren
Sophia Loren (born Sofia Villani Scicolone; September 20, 1934) is an Italian actress.
http://wn.com/Sophia_Loren -
Spencer Tracy
Spencer Bonaventure Tracy (April 5, 1900 – June 10, 1967) was an American theatrical and film actor, who appeared in 74 films from 1930 to 1967. In 1999, the American Film Institute ranked Tracy ninth among the Greatest Male Stars of All Time. He was nominated for nine Academy Awards for Best Actor in all, winning two.
http://wn.com/Spencer_Tracy -
Stanley Tucci
Stanley Tucci (born November 11, 1960) is an American actor, writer, film producer and film director. He has been nominated for several notable film awards, including an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, for his performance in The Lovely Bones (2009).
http://wn.com/Stanley_Tucci -
Stephen Boyd
Stephen Boyd (4 July 1931 – 2 June 1977), born William Millar, was an Irish actor from Glengormley, Northern Ireland, who appeared in 60 films, most notably in the role of Messala in the 1959 film Ben-Hur.
http://wn.com/Stephen_Boyd -
Steven Spielberg
Steven Allan Spielberg, (born December 18, 1946) is an American film director, screenwriter, film producer and video game designer. In a career spanning six decades, Spielberg's films have covered many themes and genres. Spielberg's early science-fiction and adventure films were seen as an archetype of modern Hollywood blockbuster filmmaking. In later years, his films began addressing such issues as the Holocaust, slavery, war and terrorism. He is considered one of the most influential filmmakers in the history of cinema. He is also one of the founders of DreamWorks.
http://wn.com/Steven_Spielberg -
Susan Sarandon
Susan Sarandon (born October 4, 1946) is an American actress. She has worked in films and television, since 1969, and won an Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in the 1995 film Dead Man Walking. She was nominated for the award for four films, before that, and has received other recognition for her work. She is also noted for her social and political activism for a variety of liberal causes.
http://wn.com/Susan_Sarandon -
Tennessee Williams
Tennessee Williams (March 26, 1911 – February 25, 1983) born Thomas Lanier Williams, was an American playwright who received many of the top theatrical awards for his works of drama. He moved to New Orleans in 1939 and changed his name to "Tennessee", the Southeastern U.S. state, his father's birthplace.
http://wn.com/Tennessee_Williams -
Thelma Ritter
http://wn.com/Thelma_Ritter -
Tom Ewell
http://wn.com/Tom_Ewell -
Tom Hanks
Thomas Jeffrey "Tom" Hanks (born July 9, 1956) is an American actor, producer, writer and director. Hanks worked in television and family-friendly comedies, gaining wide notice in 1988's Big, before achieving success as a dramatic actor in several notable roles, including Andrew Beckett in Philadelphia, the title role in Forrest Gump, Commander James A. Lovell in Apollo 13, Captain John H. Miller in Saving Private Ryan, Joe Fox in ''You've Got Mail and Chuck Noland in Cast Away. Hanks won consecutive Best Actor Academy Awards, in 1993 for Philadelphia and in 1994 for Forrest Gump''. U.S. domestic box office totals for his films exceed $3.9 billion. He is the father of actor Colin Hanks.
http://wn.com/Tom_Hanks -
Tommy Lee Jones
Tommy Lee Jones (born September 15, 1946) is an American actor and director.
http://wn.com/Tommy_Lee_Jones -
Tony Randall
http://wn.com/Tony_Randall -
Vera-Ellen
Vera-Ellen (February 16, 1921 – August 30, 1981) was an American actress and dancer, principally celebrated for her filmed dance partnerships with Fred Astaire, Gene Kelly, and Donald O'Connor.
http://wn.com/Vera-Ellen -
Vernon Castle
http://wn.com/Vernon_Castle -
Vincente Minnelli
Vincente Minnelli (February 28, 1903 – July 25, 1986), born Lester Anthony Minnelli, was a Hollywood director and stage director. He was married to Judy Garland from 1945 until 1951; they were the parents of Liza Minnelli.
http://wn.com/Vincente_Minnelli -
Vivien Leigh
http://wn.com/Vivien_Leigh -
Walt Disney
http://wn.com/Walt_Disney -
Warren Beatty
Warren Beatty (, ; born March 30, 1937) is an American actor, producer, screenwriter and director.
http://wn.com/Warren_Beatty -
William Holden
actor
http://wn.com/William_Holden -
William Wyler
http://wn.com/William_Wyler -
Yves Montand
Yves Montand (; 13 October 1921 – 9 November 1991) was an Italian-born French actor and singer.
http://wn.com/Yves_Montand
Astaire, Fred Filmography
- Wogan on Wodehouse (2011)
- Never Sleep Again: The Elm Street Legacy (2010)
- The 82nd Annual Academy Awards (2010)
- 1939: Hollywood's Greatest Year (2009)
- The Legendary Bing Crosby (2009)
- Johnny Mercer: The Dream's on Me (2009)
- Hollywood Singing and Dancing: A Musical History - The 1930s: Dancing Away the Great Depression (2009)
- Hollywood Singing & Dancing: A Musical History - 1970's (2009)
- Hollywood Singing and Dancing: A Musical Treasure (2008)
- Waiting for Hockney (2008)
- Royal Wedding: June, Judy and Jane (2007)
- Michael Parkinson's Greatest Entertainers (2007)
- Chacun son cinéma ou Ce petit coup au coeur quand la lumière s'éteint et que le film commence (2007)
- Follow the Fleet: The Origins of Those Dancing Feet (2005)
- Ban the Sadist Videos! (2005)
- Nelson Freire (2003)
- Begin the Beguine (2003)
- Satin and Silk (2003)
- The 100 Greatest Musicals (2003)
- Complicated Women (2003)
- Petula Clark: This Is My Song (2001)
- Bourne to Dance (2001)
- 72nd Annual Academy Awards Pre-Show (2000)
- The Lady with the Torch (1999)
- ABC 2000: The Millennium (1999)
- A Bing Crosby Christmas (1998)
- The Churchills (1996)
- Legends of Entertainment Video (1995)
- The Fantasy Worlds of Irwin Allen (1995)
- The First 100 Years: A Celebration of American Movies (1995)
- That's Entertainment! III (1994)
- That's Entertainment! III (1994)
- Hollywood on Parade (1990)
- South of Reno (1988)
- The American Film Institute Salute to Jack Lemmon (1988)
- The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson 25th Anniversary Special (1987)
- Le cinéma dans les yeux (1987)
- That's Dancing! (1985)
- The American Film Institute Salute to Gene Kelly (1985)
- Cocoon (1985)
- George Stevens: A Filmmaker's Journey (1984)
- The American Film Institute Salute to Lillian Gish (1984)
- Showbiz Goes to War (1982)
- The 1982 Annual Vision Awards (1982)
- Ghost Story (1981)
- The American Film Institute Salute to Fred Astaire (1981)
- Fred Astaire: Change Partners and Dance (1980)
- Bob Hope's Overseas Christmas Tours: Around the World with the Troops - 1941-1972 (1980)
- Fred Astaire: Puttin' on His Top Hat (1980)
- The Magic of Dance (1979)
- The Man in the Santa Claus Suit (1979)
- The Man in the Santa Claus Suit (1979)
- The Man in the Santa Claus Suit (1979)
- The 36th Annual Golden Globes Awards (1979)
- The Man in the Santa Claus Suit (1979)
- The Man in the Santa Claus Suit (1979)
- The Man in the Santa Claus Suit (1979)
- The Man in the Santa Claus Suit (1979)
- The Man in the Santa Claus Suit (1979)
- The 50th Annual Academy Awards (1978)
- The 30th Annual Emmy Awards (1978)
- Bing Crosby: His Life and Legend (1978)
- A Family Upside Down (1978)
- Un taxi mauve (1977)
- The Easter Bunny Is Comin' to Town (1977)
- That's Entertainment, Part II (1976)
- Friars Club Tribute to Gene Kelly (1976)
- That's Entertainment, Part II (1976)
- The Amazing Dobermans (1976)
- Brother Can You Spare a Dime (1975)
- At Long Last Cole (1975)
- Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire: A Couple of Song and Dance Men (1975)
- Hooray for Hollywood (1975)
- The 29th Annual Tony Awards (1975)
- The 47th Annual Academy Awards (1975)
- The Lion Roars Again (1975)
- Fred Astaire Salutes the Fox Musicals (1974)
- The 1974 Annual Entertainment Hall of Fame Awards (1974)
- Just One More Time (1974)
- That's Entertainment! (1974)
- The Towering Inferno (1974)
- That's Entertainment! (1974)
- That's Entertainment! (1974)
- The American Film Institute Salute to John Ford (1973)
- Magnavox Presents Frank Sinatra (1973)
- 'S Wonderful, 'S Marvelous, 'S Gershwin (1972)
- Hollywood: The Dream Factory (1972)
- Make Mine Red, White and Blue (1972)
- Imagine (1972)
- The 42nd Annual Academy Awards (1970)
- Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town (1970)
- The Over-the-Hill Gang Rides Again (1970)
- Hollywood: The Selznick Years (1969)
- Midas Run (1969)
- The Fred Astaire Show (1968)
- The Fred Astaire Show (1968)
- Finian's Rainbow (1968)
- The World Premiere of 'Finian's Rainbow' (1968)
- The Fred Astaire Show (1968)
- The 39th Annual Academy Awards (1967)
- The 37th Annual Academy Awards (1965)
- The 34th Annual Academy Awards (1962)
- The Notorious Landlady (1962)
- The 14th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards (1962)
- The Pleasure of His Company (1961)
- The Pleasure of His Company (1961)
- Astaire Time (1960)
- Astaire Time (1960)
- The 11th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards (1959)
- On the Beach (1959)
- Another Evening with Fred Astaire (1959)
- Another Evening with Fred Astaire (1959)
- The 30th Annual Academy Awards (1958)
- An Evening with Fred Astaire (1958)
- An Evening with Fred Astaire (1958)
- Funny Face (1957)
- Silk Stockings (1957)
- Funny Face (1957)
- Daddy Long Legs (1955)
- Daddy Long Legs (1955)
- Daddy Long Legs (1955)
- The Band Wagon (1953)
- The Belle of New York (1952)
- The 23th Annual Academy Awards (1951)
- Royal Wedding (1951)
- Let's Dance (1950)
- Three Little Words (1950)
- Three Little Words (1950)
- Some of the Best: Twenty-Five Years of Motion Picture Leadership (1949)
- The Barkleys of Broadway (1949)
- Easter Parade (1948)
- Easter Parade (1948)
- Blue Skies (1946)
- Yolanda and the Thief (1945)
- Ziegfeld Follies (1945)
- The Sky's the Limit (1943)
- The Sky's the Limit (1943)
- You Were Never Lovelier (1942)
- Holiday Inn (1942)
- You Were Never Lovelier (1942)
- You'll Never Get Rich (1941)
- Broadway Melody of 1940 (1940)
- Second Chorus (1940)
- Second Chorus (1940)
- The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle (1939)
- Carefree (1938)
- Shall We Dance (1937)
- A Damsel in Distress (1937)
- A Damsel in Distress (1937)
- Follow the Fleet (1936)
- Swing Time (1936)
- Roberta (1935)
- Roberta (1935)
- Top Hat (1935)
- Top Hat (1935)
- The Gay Divorcee (1934)
- Dancing Lady (1933)
- Flying Down to Rio (1933)
karaoke
Doctor what is happening to me?
Palpitations, my mind is diseased
Even my vision is impaired
I'm losing my hair
Cause when I hold her in my arms I feel like Fred Astaire
Lovesick, my temperature's high
Just met a girl, who believes we can fly
I'm a bull, not a bear
I'm a millionaire
Cause when I hold her in my arms, I feel like Fred Astaire
I believe in happiness
I believe in love
I believe she fell to earth from somewhere high above
I believe in Hollywood
Don't believe that love must bring despair
Cause when I hold her in my arms, I feel like Fred Astaire
Who said love is just a disease
A plague for the naive
These days no one believes
Meteors may strike the earth
Nations live and die
I'm the boy who got the girl
And now we're gonna fly
We can cross the race divide
Bridge a gap that wasn't really there
Cause when I hold her in my arms, I feel like Fred Astaire
I'm gonna hold her in my arms, just like Fred Astaire
I'm gonna hold her in this charm, like Fred Astaire
Like Fred Astaire
Like Fred Astaire
Like Fred Astaire
Romance me...dance me
'til I don't care
you haven't lived until you've danced on air
whisper nothings if you dare
won't you please, be my Fred Astaire
(Jam):
Everybody up...everybody up
everybody up on the dance floor now
everybody up...everybody up
everybody up on the dance floor now
I know they call you Mr. Lonely Heart
but you're the leading man to play the part
you don't have to be a millionaire
all you have to do is be my Fred Astaire
(Chorus):
Get up now...get up now
get up now...be my Fred Astaire (x2)
(Jam):
When you move it's like a melody
serenading...the very heart of me
I'll be your Ginger Rogers on the floor
swirl me. twirl me 'til I just can't
take no more
(Chorus):
Boy if you could only read my mind
you've been in my dreams a thousand time
(Jam):
(Chorus Jam):
Everybody up
(get up now)
everybody up
(get up now)
everybody up
(be my Fred Astaire).
You can call it anything you want the fact remains the same
I never got to be your Fred Astaire
You can lie to yourself and all your friends and pretend that you don't care
But circumstance gets in the way
You have so many opportunities I never had
Don't push so hard, nothing is ever easy
And this talent that you take for granted, it's a gift from god
Don't pass it up, nothing is ever easy
Are you ready to work real hard
Are you tired it's just the start
Listen to me son, I'll take you far
You can call it anything you want the fact remains the same
I never got to be your Fred Astaire
You can lie to yourself and all your friends and pretend that you don't care
But circumstance gets in the way
Heel, toe, heel, toe, side to side AGAIN, gonna get it right
Don't push so hard, nothing is ever easy
Don't forget your please and thank you's, don't forget to smile
Don't pass this up, nothing is ever easy
Their pushing these children for all the wrong reasons
So far man you're crushing down their spirits
Suffocate, emancipate, turn their backs and walk away eventually
Seeking, one of these paths
You're wasting time --- I call it living
To the world what are you giving
You're wasting time…
RELEASE
ALBUMS
- Since I Kissed My Baby Goodbye
- So Near and Yet So Far
- Wedding Cake Walk
- Dream Dancing
- I Can't Tell a Lie
- You're Easy to Dance With
- I'll Capture Your Heart Singing
- Dearly Beloved
- Doing the 'Shorty George'
- Wedding in the Spring
- I'm Old Fashioned
- Yor Were Never Lovelier
- This Heart of Mine
- Puttin' On the Ritz
- A Couple of Song and Dance Men
- If Swing Goes I Go Too
- Let's Call the Whole Thing Off
- The Way You Look Tonight
- Fascinating Rhythm
- They Can't Take That Away From Me
- Funny Face
- Top Hat, White Tie And Tails
- Night And Day
- Let Yourself Go
- Easter Parade
- Cheek To Cheek
- Puttin' On The Ritz
- Let's Face The Music And Dance
- Foggy Day
- I'm Putting All My Eggs In One Basket
- Nice Work If You Can Get It
- Cheek to Cheek
- Let's Face the Music and Dance
- Let's Call the Whole Thing Off
- Never Gonna Dance
- A Fine Romance
- They All Laughed
- The Way You Look Tonight
- A Foggy Day (in London Town)
- Nice Work If You Can Get It
- Let Yourself Go
- I'm Putting All My Eggs in One Basket
- Top Hat, White Tie and Tails
- Isn't This a Lovely Day?
- Change Partners
- They Can't Take That Away From Me
- I Can't Be Bothered Now
- Things Are Looking Up
- Pick Yourself Up
- Slap That Bass
- (I've Got) Beginner's Luck
- Bojangles of Harlem
- No Strings
- The Piccolino
- We Saw the Sea
- Shall We Dance?
- Shall We Dance
- Night and Day
- A Foggy Day
- Hang on to Me
- Funny Face
- Me One and Only
- New Sun in the Sky
- They Can't Take That Away From Me
- I've Got You on my Mind
- Fascinating Rhythm
- Nice Work If You Can Get It
- The Rabbit and the Bromide
- Let's Call the Whole Thing Off
- Putting on the Ritz
- High Hat
- Crazy Feet
select all
add to playlist
Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire, Volume 3: Shall We Dance / Carefree
Released 2000
Released 2000
- Shall We Dance (overture)
- Slap That Bass
- (I've Got) Beginner's Luck
- They All Laughed
- Let's Call the Whole Thing Off
- They Can't Take That Away From Me
- Shall We Dance (finale)
- Carefree (overture)
- Since They Turned Loch Lomond Into Swing
- I Used to Be Color Blind
- The Yam
- Change Partners
- Change Partners (reprise)
- Carefree (finale)
- I Used to Be Color Blind
- Nice Work If You Can Get It
- Let's Face the Music and Dance
- Top Hat, White Tie and Tails
- Things Are Looking Up
- A Foggy Day (In London Town)
- Nice Work If You Can Get It
- The Way You Look Tonight
- They All Laughed
- They Can't Take That Away From Me
- Let's Call the Whole Thing Off
- Dearly Beloved
- I'm Putting All My Eggs in One Basket
- Cheek to Cheek
- You Were Never Lovelier
- Pick Yourself Up
- A Fine Romance
- Never Gonna Dance
- Slap That Bass
- Shall We Dance
- One for My Baby (And One More for the Road)
- Beginner's Luck
- Change Partners
- Isn't This a Lovely Day
- Let Yourself Go
- Night and Day
- Puttin' on the Ritz
- Flying Down to Rio
- A Needle in a Haystack
- Night and Day
- The Continental
- No Strings (I'm Fancy Free)
- Isn't This a Lovely Day (To Be Caught in the Rain?)
- Top Hat, White Tie and Tails
- Cheek to Cheek
- Let's Begin
- I'll Be Hard to Handle
- I Won't Dance
- I'm Putting All My Eggs in One Basket
- Let's Face the Music and Dance
- I'd Rather Lead a Band
- Let Yourself Go
- Let's Face the Music and Dance
- I'm Putting All My Eggs in One Basket
- Cheek to Cheek
- Top Hat, White Tie and Tails
- The Yam
- Never Gonna Dance
- A Foggy Day
- Nice Work If You Can Get It
- Let's Call the Whole Thing Off
- Shall We Dance
- Slap That Bass
- The Way You Look Tonight
- They All Laughed
- Poor Mr. Chisholm
- Hang on to Me
- Fascinating Rhythm
- The Other Half of It Dearie, Blues
- I'd Rather Charleston
- Funny Face
- The Babbit and the Bromide
- High Hat
- My One and Only
- They Can't Take That Away From Me
- They All Laughed
- (I've Got) Beginner's Luck
- Let's Call the Whole Thing Off
- Shall We Dance?
- Slap That Bass
- A Foggy Day
- Things Are Looking Up
- Nice Work If You Can Get It
- I Can't Be Bothered Now
- Isn't This a Lovely Day
- Puttin' on the Ritz
- I Used to Be Color Blind
- The Continental
- Let's Call the Whole Thing Off
- Change Partners
- 's Wonderfull
- Lovely to Look At
- They All Laughed
- Cheek to Cheek
- Steppin' Out With My Baby
- The Way You Look Tonight
- I've Got My Eyes on You
- Dancing in the Dark
- The Carioca
- Nice Work If You Can Get It
- New Sun in the Sky
- I Won't Dance
- Fast Dances
- No Strings
- Let's Call The Whole Thing Off
- Top Hat, White Tie And Tails
- A Fine Romance
- Let Yourself Go
- I Can't Be Bothered Now
- The Way You Look Tonight
- (I've Got) Beginner's Luck
- I'm Putting All My Eggs In One Basket
- The Piccolino
- Bojangles Of Harlem
- Slap That Bass
- I'd Rather Lead a Band
- Things Are Looking Up
- Shall We Dance
- Pick Yourself Up
- Puttin' on the Ritz
- Fascinatin' Rhytm
- Funny Face
- Night and Day
- Crazy Feet!
- My One and Only
- I Love Louisa
- Louisiana
- I've Got You On My Mind
- White Heat/Dancing in the Dark
- Swiss Miss
- Not My Girl
- New Sun in the Sky
- High Hat
- The Babbit and the Bromide
- I'd Rather Charleston!
- Top Hat, White Tie and Tails
- Hang on to Me
- Cheek to Cheek
- The Half of It, Dearie, Blues
- The Whichness of the Whatness
- Oh Gee Oh Gosh
- Hang on to Me
- Fascinating Rhythm
- The Half of It, Dearie, Blues
- I'd Rather Charleston
- Swiss Miss
- Funny Face
- The Babbit and the Bromide
- High Hat
- My One and Only
- Not My Girl
- Louisiana
- Puttin' on the Ritz
- Crazy Feet
- After You, Who?
- Night and Day
- Flying Down to Rio
- Music Makes Me
- Heigh-Ho, the Gang's All Here
- Please Don't Monkey With Broadway
- I've Got My Eyes on You
- Here's to the Girls
- This Heart of Mine
- If Swing Goes, I Go Too (outtake)
- Yolanda
- Steppin' Out With My Baby
- It Only Happens When I Dance With You
- A Couple of Swells
- Easter Parade
- You'd Be Hard to Replace
- Shoes With Wings On
- A Weekend in the Country
- They Can't Take That Away From Me
- Manhattan Downbeat
- Where Did You Get That Girl?
- So Long, Oo-Long
- Nevertheless (I'm in Love With You)
- Medley: My Sunny Tennessee / Who's Sorry Now / So Long, Oo-Long / Thinking of You / Three Little Words
- Every Night at Seven
- How Could You Believe Me
- You're All the World to Me
- I Left My Hat in Haiti
- Bachelor Dinner Song
- Oops
- Seeing's Believing
- Baby Doll
- I Wanna Be a Dancin' Man
- By Myself
- A Shine on Your Shoes
- That's Entertainment
- Got a Bran' New Suit (outtake)
- Triplets
- I Guess I'll Have to Change My Plan
- Paris Loves Lovers
- All of You (extended version)
- Fated to Be Mated (extended version)
- The Ritz Roll and Rock
- Cheek to Cheek
- No Strings
- Isn't This a Lovely Day?
- Top Hat, White Tie and Tails
- The Piccolino
- Let's Face the Music and Dance
- I'm Putting All My Eggs in One Basket
- We Saw the Sea
- I'm Building Up to an Awful Let-Down
- Let Yourself Go
- I'd Rather Lead a Band
- The Way You Look Tonight
- Never Gonna Dance
- Pick Yourself Up
- A Fine Romance
- Bojangles of Harlem
- They Can't Take That Away From Me
- They All Laughed
- Lady Be Good
- Cheek to Cheek
- This Is a Fine Romance
- They Can't Take That Away From Me
- Nice Work If You Can Get It
- A Foggy Day
- I Won't Dance
- Something's Gotta Give
- Night and Day
- Puttin' on the Ritz
- Fascinatin' Rhythm
- Dancing in the Dark
- Dearly Beloved
- Top Hat, White Tie and Tails
- Let's Face the Music and Dance
- The New Carioca
- The Continental
- One More for the Road
- By Myself
- Miss Otis Regrets
- The Letter
- The Weekend
- Funny Face
- Louisa
- Flying Down to Rio
- I'm Putting All My Eggs in One Basket
- They All Laughed
- Lovely to Look At
- Let's Call the Whole Thing Off
- Easter Parade
- Put a Shine on Your Shoes
- Fascinating Rhythm (From Lady Be Good)
- Hang on to Me (From Lady Be Good)
- Half of It (From Lady Be Good)
- I'd Rather Charleston (From Lady Be Good)
- Swiss Miss (From Lady Be Good)
- Funny Face
- The Babbitt and the Bromide
- High Hat
- My One and Only
- Not My Girl
- Louisiana
- Puttin' on the Ritz (From Blue Skies)
- Crazy Feet (From Blue Skies)
- I Love Louisa (From Band Wagon)
- New Sun in the Sky (From Band Wagon)
- White Heat (Dancing in the Dark) (From Band Wagon)
- Night and Day (From the Gay Divorcee)
- I've Got on You (From Band Wagon)
- Cheek to Cheek (From Top Hat)
- A Fine Romance (From Swing Time)
- I Cant't Be Bothered Now (From a Damsel in Distress)
Born: 1899-05-10
Died: 1987-06-22
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Fred Astaire - Puttin' On the Ritz (DVD Quality)
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 4:50
- Published: 09 Oct 2007
- Updated: 10 Sep 2012
Blue Skies - 1946.
http://wn.com/Fred_Astaire_Puttin'_On_the_Ritz_DVD_Quality
Fred Astaire - Royal Wedding - Famous Ceiling Dance
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 5:38
- Published: 10 Jul 2009
- Updated: 08 Sep 2012
Extraído do filme Núpcias Reais, de 1951. A famosa dança no telhado.
http://wn.com/Fred_Astaire_Royal_Wedding_Famous_Ceiling_Dance
Fred Astaire and Eleanor Powell (good quality)
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 2:51
- Published: 05 Nov 2007
- Updated: 09 Sep 2012
Fred Astaire and Eleanor Powell - Begin the Beguine from The Broadway Melody of 1940
http://wn.com/Fred_Astaire_and_Eleanor_Powell_good_quality
Fred Astaire's Famous Ceiling Dance
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 3:02
- Published: 30 May 2006
- Updated: 08 Sep 2012
Personal favorite of mine, this is a Wonderful Astaire "Ceiling" Dance Number by means of a literally revolving set on the 1951 MGM Classic Film 'Royal Wedding'.
http://wn.com/Fred_Astaire's_Famous_Ceiling_Dance
Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers - Smoke Gets In Your Eyes
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 3:00
- Published: 25 Jun 2007
- Updated: 10 Sep 2012
My favorite Astaire/Rogers dance, the Smoke Gets In Your Eyes number from Roberta. I also included the wedding proposal (well, I suppose "acceptance").
http://wn.com/Fred_Astaire_and_Ginger_Rogers_Smoke_Gets_In_Your_Eyes
Swing Time - Rogers and Astaire
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 2:26
- Published: 24 Jul 2007
- Updated: 10 Sep 2012
In this Swing Time clip, Lucky, Astaire, saves Penny's, Rogers, job by showing how much she has taught him. The first true dance number with the two, the other being with Fred fumbling and pretending to be a terrible dancer. Both scenes, however, go to the same song, Pick Yourself Up, this scene without lyrics and much more lively with the other more calm, with lyrics, between the two. Music by Jerome Kern and Lyrics by Dorothy Fields
http://wn.com/Swing_Time_Rogers_and_Astaire
Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly The Babbitt and the Bromide
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 7:18
- Published: 03 Dec 2009
- Updated: 09 Sep 2012
Two geniuses dancing together.I own nothing.No copyright infrightment intented.Enjoy
http://wn.com/Fred_Astaire_and_Gene_Kelly_The_Babbitt_and_the_Bromide
Fred Astaire And Rita Hayworth -- "I'm Old Fashioned"
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 5:03
- Published: 03 Jun 2007
- Updated: 09 Sep 2012
The famous dance under moonlight from their last pairing on screen: "You Were Never Lovelier" in 1942. Jerome Kern wrote the classic song "I'm Old Fashioned", with a lyric by Johnny Mercer, for this film. Looks crazy to hear Astaire (in any role) say "I am strictly from corn!", but he (the actor) really was born in Omaha! ........ Wiki reports: "Although Hayworth had a fine voice, Harry Cohn insisted on her singing being dubbed throughout by Nan Wynn.....Dance director was Val Raset, the one and only time he collaborated with Astaire, and his choreographic input into the film is unclear" Hayworth was born "in Brooklyn....she was trained as a dancer from childhood." ....... Fred Astaire, in his autobiography "Steps In Time" wrote: My first meeting with Rita was in a rehearsal hall at Columbia Studios. It was upstairs in one of the buildings and, as I recall, the stairway led directly into the large rehearsal room. As I came up the last few steps I gave a hurried glance around, expecting to see Rita, as I had been told she would be there. I didn't see her and asked one of the assistants, "Isn't Miss Hayworth going to be here this morning?" he pointed to a remote corner of the room, "Why, yes--she's been here for some time." There she was. Oh yes--a beautiful sight. Bob Alton, choreographer on the picture, brought her over and introduced us. I said, "I'm an old freind of your father's." "Yes, I know," murmured Rita. I then asked how tall she was as I stood alongside of her <b>...</b>
http://wn.com/Fred_Astaire_And_Rita_Hayworth_-_I'm_Old_Fashioned
Fred Astaire: One for My Baby (dance & song)
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 10:03
- Published: 04 Jul 2008
- Updated: 10 Sep 2012
Fred Astaire dancing and singing to "One for My Baby (and One More for the Road)". Song written for him to perform in the movie "The Sky's the Limit" (1943). Words by Johnny Mercer and music by Harold Arlen, dance by Fred Astaire. Song has been recorded multiple times by Frank Sinatra.
http://wn.com/Fred_Astaire_One_for_My_Baby_dance_song
Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 3:28
- Published: 07 Jun 2009
- Updated: 09 Sep 2012
Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire dancing cheeck to cheeck in the film 'Top Hat'.
http://wn.com/Ginger_Rogers_and_Fred_Astaire
Eleanor Powell and Fred Astaire Best Tap dancers ever!
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 2:41
- Published: 30 Jun 2007
- Updated: 08 Sep 2012
Frank Sinatra: You'll never see the likes of this again. From "That's Entertainment!"
http://wn.com/Eleanor_Powell_and_Fred_Astaire_Best_Tap_dancers_ever!
The Band Wagon - Fred Astaire and Cyd Charisse
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 2:26
- Published: 12 Sep 2007
- Updated: 09 Sep 2012
EDIT: At the age of 86 years old, CYD CHARISSE died yesterday...REST IN PEACE CYD... This is a part of "The Band Wagon" movie. I love Fred Astaire movies and i specially love this scene... Hope you like it! The Band Wagon (1953)
http://wn.com/The_Band_Wagon_Fred_Astaire_and_Cyd_Charisse
Fred Astaire -- Lucky Boys Confusion
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 3:58
- Published: 07 Nov 2009
- Updated: 02 Sep 2012
"Fred Astaire" by Lucky Boys Confusion in the album "Throwing the Game"
http://wn.com/Fred_Astaire_-_Lucky_Boys_Confusion
Fred The Genius
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 4:48
- Published: 22 Feb 2007
- Updated: 19 Aug 2012
Fred Astaire from Royal Wedding 1951
http://wn.com/Fred_The_Genius
Fred Astaire & Rita Hayworth
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 0:44
- Published: 10 Jan 2007
- Updated: 08 Sep 2012
A musical act from the 1941 movie "You'll Never Get Rich"
http://wn.com/Fred_Astaire_Rita_Hayworth
Fred Astaire Drum Crazy
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 4:21
- Published: 06 Sep 2007
- Updated: 07 Sep 2012
Drum Crazy from Easter parade
http://wn.com/Fred_Astaire_Drum_Crazy
Michael Jackson/Fred Astaire/Cyd Charisse: The Master & His Teacher
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 4:31
- Published: 28 Dec 2009
- Updated: 09 Sep 2012
Michael Jackson made it no secret that he was inspired by Fred Astaire. As clearly seen in this short video, it wasn't only his dancing that Jackson mirrored. Notice costume and lyrics. The video contains clips of 'The Band Wagon'... Fred Astaire's 1953 Musical, and clips from Michael Jackson's short films 'Smooth Criminal', 'You Rock My World', and live performances of 'Smooth Criminal' from the 1992 'Dangerous World Tour', and 1995 'MTV Video Music Awards' performance of 'Dangerous'. This video is dedicated to two friends who love 'Smooth Criminal'... Joseph McCormick & Richard Jay.
http://wn.com/Michael_Jackson_Fred_Astaire_Cyd_Charisse_The_Master_His_Teacher
The Mo - Fred Astaire
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 2:54
- Published: 27 Apr 2008
- Updated: 07 Sep 2012
Dutch group The Mo performing their second single Fred Astaire on Avro's Toppop in 1981.
http://wn.com/The_Mo_Fred_Astaire
James - Just Like Fred Astaire
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 4:06
- Published: 20 May 2010
- Updated: 09 Sep 2012
Music video by James performing Just Like Fred Astaire. (C) 1999 Mercury Records Limited
http://wn.com/James_Just_Like_Fred_Astaire
Astaire Unwound (ceiling dance from Royal Wedding)
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 3:44
- Published: 02 Apr 2010
- Updated: 09 Sep 2012
This video shows how Fred Astaire's famous "dance around the room" was filmed by Stanley Donen in the 1951 movie "Royal Wedding" (now in public domain). To see a detailed account of how this video was made, visit www.bigfott.com . While the actual filming of this number was apparently entirely undocumented, Donen recreated the effect in 1986 for Lionel Richie's "Dancing on the Ceiling" music video. I've posted a behind the scenes look at that here: www.youtube.com .
http://wn.com/Astaire_Unwound_ceiling_dance_from_Royal_Wedding
Fred Astaire - Ceiling Dance
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 3:43
- Published: 01 Jun 2008
- Updated: 07 Sep 2012
Fred Astaire dances on the ceiling in "Royal wedding" (1951)
http://wn.com/Fred_Astaire_Ceiling_Dance
Fred Astaire - Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 3:31
- Published: 01 Nov 2009
- Updated: 09 Sep 2012
Best viewed at 720p. Clip from the ending of the film "Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town" with the Fred Astaire mailman giving us words of wisdom, followed by the title song.
http://wn.com/Fred_Astaire_Santa_Claus_Is_Comin'_To_Town
Fred Astaire Hat Rack Dance From Royal Wedding
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 4:11
- Published: 05 Jan 2009
- Updated: 05 Sep 2012
A video tribute to the great Fred Astaire who made everyone he danced with look good, even a hat rack. This is from the film Royal Wedding.
http://wn.com/Fred_Astaire_Hat_Rack_Dance_From_Royal_Wedding
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The New York Times
Here is the best time an editor might ever have fact-checking: picking through a 3,700-word essay on the song-and-dance partnership of Fred and Adele Astaire. In her review of a new biography of that partnership — “The Astaires,” by Kathleen Riley — in the Book Review, Toni Bentley describes, at...(size: 10.3Kb)
The State
There's no end to movie books - star memoirs, critical career overviews, coffee table "making of" commemorations ("The Art of John Carter: A Visual Journey" - really?!), sex-laden, scandalous tell-alls. Heck, somebody's even written a book about movie stars on bikes. But is that a bad thing? Of...(size: 6.2Kb)
Lexington Herald-Leader
There's no end to movie books - star memoirs, critical career overviews, coffee table "making of" commemorations ("The Art of John Carter: A Visual Journey" - really?!), sex-laden, scandalous tell-alls. Heck, somebody's even written a book about movie stars on bikes. But is that a bad thing? Of...(size: 6.0Kb)
BBC News
Tom Chambers said last night that he felt honoured that Fred Astaire's daughter was in the audience for the West End opening of the musical Top Hat. The Strictly Come Dancing champion stars with Summer Strallen in the new stage production based on the 1935 RKO film with Astaire and Ginger...(size: 3.6Kb)
| Fred Astaire | |
|---|---|
 in You'll Never Get Rich (1941) |
|
| Born | Frederick Austerlitz (1899-05-10)May 10, 1899 Omaha, Nebraska, U.S. |
| Died | June 22, 1987(1987-06-22) (aged 88) Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Occupation | Actor, dancer, singer, choreographer, percussionist |
| Years active | 1904–1981 |
| Spouse | Phyllis Livingston Potter (m. 1933–1954; her death) Robyn Smith (m. 1980–1987; his death) |
| Relatives | Adele Astaire (sister, deceased) |
Fred Astaire (born Frederick Austerlitz;[1] 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[link]
1899–1917: Early life and career[link]
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).[1][2][3] 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.[1][4][5][6]
After arriving in New York City at age 24 on October 26, 1892, and being inspected at Ellis Island,[7] 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. Fred and Adele's mother suggested they change their name to "Astaire," as she felt "Austerlitz" sounded as though it could be the name of a battle. They were taught dance, speaking, and singing in preparation for developing an act. Family legend attributes the name to an uncle surnamed "L'Astaire".[8]
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."[9]
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.[10]
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.[11] From vaudeville dancer Aurelio Coccia, they learned the tango, waltz and other ballroom dances popularized by Vernon and Irene Castle.
Some sources[12] state that the Astaire siblings appeared in a 1915 film entitled Fanchon, the Cricket, starring Mary Pickford, but the Astaires have consistently denied this.[13][14]:103
Fred Astaire first met George Gershwin, who was working as a song plugger in Jerome H. Remick's, in 1916.[15] 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. The Astaires performed for U.S. and Allied troops at this time too.
1917–1933: Stage career in Broadway and London[link]
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."[16]
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."[17]:5
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."[17]:6 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.[17]:23,26,61 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.[18]
1933–1939: Astaire and Rogers at RKO[link]
According to Hollywood folklore, a screen test report on Astaire for RKO Radio 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.[17]:7 Astaire later insisted that the report had actually read: "Can't act. Slightly bald. Also dances".[19] 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."[17]:7 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, he got fifth billing after fourth billed 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."[17]:7
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."[17]:8 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 appeal."[20]:134
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.[21]
Astaire is credited with two important innovations in early film musicals.[17]:23,26 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."[17]:420 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).[22] 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.
File:Fredginger.jpg
An RKO publicity still of Astaire and Rogers dancing to "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes" in Roberta (1935)
Dance commentators Arlene Croce,[20]:6 Hannah Hyam[23]:146,147 and John Mueller[17]:8,9 consider Rogers to have been Astaire's greatest dance partner, a view shared[24] by Hermes Pan and Stanley Donen.[24] Film critic Pauline Kael adopts a more neutral stance,[25] while Time magazine film critic Richard Schickel writes "The nostalgia surrounding Rogers-Astaire tends to bleach out other partners."[26]
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."[27]
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."[17]:16
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[17]:410 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[link]
File:BroadwayMelody1940.JPG
with Eleanor Powell in Broadway Melody of 1940
In 1939, Astaire left RKO to freelance and pursue new film opportunities, with mixed though generally successful outcomes. Throughout this period, Astaire continued to value the input of choreographic collaborators and, unlike the 1930s when he worked almost exclusively with Hermes Pan, he tapped the talents of other choreographers in an effort to continually innovate. His first post-Ginger dance partner was the redoubtable Eleanor Powell—considered the finest female tap-dancer of her generation—in Broadway Melody of 1940 where they performed a celebrated extended dance routine to Cole Porter's "Begin the Beguine". 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[link]
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."[28]
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[link]
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.[29]
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 (TV special). 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[link]
Further information: Fred Astaire's solo and partnered dances
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."[17]:18 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![17]:15
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.[17]:15
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.[17]:20 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."[17]:16 As Astaire himself observed, "I've never yet got anything 100% right. Still it's never as bad as I think it is."[17]:16
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[link]
Further information: List of songs introduced by Fred Astaire
Extremely modest about his singing abilities (he frequently claimed that he could not sing,[31] but the critics rated him as among the finest), 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[32]—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."[17]:21 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."[33] Jerome Kern considered him the supreme male interpreter of his songs[17]:21 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.[17]:123,128 In his heyday, Astaire was referenced[33] in lyrics of songwriters Cole Porter, Lorenz Hart and Eric Maschwitz and continues to inspire modern songwriters.[34]
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.[35] 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.[36]
Awards, honors and tributes[link]
- 1938: Invited to place his hand and foot prints in cement at Grauman's Chinese Theatre, Hollywood.[37]
- 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 Eastman Award[38] 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".[39]
- 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
- 1989: Posthumous induction into the Television Hall of Fame
- 1991: Posthumous induction into the Ballroom Dancer's Hall of Fame
- 1999: Posthumous award of Grammy Hall of Fame Award for 1952 The Astaire Story album
- 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.[40]
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.[41]
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[link]
Politically, Astaire was a conservative and a lifelong Republican Party supporter,[42] though he never made his political views publicly known.[43] Along with Bing Crosby, George Murphy, Ginger Rogers and others he was a charter (founding) member of the Hollywood Republican Committee.[44] He was churchgoing, supportive of American military action and was dismissive of the more open sexiness of movies in the 1970s.[43]
Always immaculately turned out, he and Cary Grant were called "the best-dressed actor[s] in American movies".[45] Astaire remained a male fashion icon even into his later years, eschewing his trademark top hat, white tie and tails (for which he never really cared)[46] 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 was married for the first time in 1933, to the 25-year-old Phyllis Potter (née Phyllis Livingston Baker; born 1908, died September 13, 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.[47] 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.[48]
In addition to Phyllis Potter's son, Eliphalet IV (known as Peter), the Astaires had two children. Fred, Jr. (born January 1, 1936) appeared with his father in the movie Midas Run, but became a charter pilot and rancher instead of an actor. He married Gale (born 1938) in 1956. Ava Astaire McKenzie (born March 19, 1942; married Richard MacKenzie) 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.[49]
On June 24, 1980, he was married again, to Robyn Smith (born August 14, 1944), a jockey 45 years his junior, who rode for Alfred G. Vanderbilt II.
Astaire died from pneumonia on June 22, 1987. He was 88 years old. He was interred in the Oakwood Memorial Park Cemetery in Chatsworth, California.[50] One last request of his was to thank his fans for their years of support.
Astaire's life has never been portrayed on film.[51] He always refused permission for such portrayals, saying, "However much they offer me—and offers come in all the time—I shall not sell."[52] 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."[53]
Stage, film and television work[link]
Further information: Fred Astaire chronology of performances and Fred Astaire's solo and partnered dances
Musical films[link]
- 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)
- The Notorious Landlady (1962)
- Finian's Rainbow (1968)
- That's Entertainment, Part II (1976) (narrator and performer)
*Performances with Ginger Rogers
See also[link]
Notes[link]
- ^ a b c Billman, Larry (1997). Fred Astaire: A Bio-bibliography. Connecticut: Greenwood Press. ISBN 0-313-29010-5.
- ^ "Fred Astaire (1899-1987) aka Frederick Austerlitz". Hyde Flippo. http://www.germanhollywood.com/astaire.html#pop4. Retrieved 2008-08-24. [dead link]
- ^ "The Religious Affiliation of Adele Astaire". Adherents. 2005-09-20. http://www.adherents.com/people/pa/Adele_Astaire.html. Retrieved 2008-08-24.
- ^ Garofalo, Alessandra (2009). Austerlitz sounded too much like a battle: The roots of Fred Astaire family in Europe. Italy: Editrice UNI Service. ISBN 978-88-6178-415-4. http://www.uni-service.it/austerlitz-sounded-too-much-like-a-battle-the-roots-of-fred-astaire-family-in-europe.
- ^ Levinson, Peter (March 2009). Puttin' On the Ritz: Fred Astaire and the Fine Art of Panache, A Biography. St. Martin's Press. pp. 1–4. ISBN 0-312-35366-9.
- ^ Satchell, p. 8: "'Fritz' Austerlitz, the 23-year-old son of Stephen Austerlitz and his wife Lucy Heller"
- ^ The Statue of Liberty — Ellis Island Foundation, Inc.
- ^ Thomas p. 17
- ^ Bill Adler, Fred Astaire: A Wonderful Life, Carroll & Graf Publishers, 1987, p. 13, ISBN 0-88184-376-8
- ^ Astaire, Fred (1959). Steps in Time. London: Heinemann. ISBN 422937.
- ^ Melissa Hauschild-Mork. "Fred Astaire". http://learn.sdstate.edu/melissa_mork/tech4FredAstaire.htm. Retrieved 2008-06-09. See also Swing Time.
- ^ e.g., Croce, 1st edition, 1972, footnote p. 14, removed at Astaire's request in 2nd edition, 1974—see Giles (p. 24). Satchell pp. 41-43 claims to have detected their presence as extras "Even with the benefit of an editing machine, slow-motion, and stop-frame, the Astaires are almost lost in the mass of bodies"
- ^ Astaire p. 42 and Billman p. 4: "They observed the filming as visitors, but insisted they did not appear in the film."
- ^ "The cast may also have included Fred Astaire, then sixteen, and his sister Adele. There is no proof of this, and they do not surface in surviving reels."—Brownlow, Kevin (1999). Mary Pickford Rediscovered. New York, New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc.. ISBN 0-8109-4374-3.
- ^ Astaire p. 65: "We struck up a friendship at once. He was amused by my piano playing and often made me play for him."
- ^ Bill Adler, Fred Astaire: A Wonderful Life, Carroll & Graf Publishers, 1987, p. 35, ISBN 0-88184-376-8
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u Mueller, John (1986). Astaire Dancing – The Musical Films. London: Hamish Hamilton. ISBN 0-241-11749-6.
- ^ Betsy Baytos. "Footage from the Fred Stone Collection of the Broadway show Gay Divorce (1933)". Fred Astaire: The Conference. The Astaire Conference. http://www.faconference.org/bio_baytos.htm. Retrieved 2008-05-14.
- ^ Astaire made the comment in a 1980 interview on ABC's 20/20 with Barbara Walters. Astaire was balding at the time he began his movie career and thus wore a toupee in all of his films.
- ^ a b Croce, Arlene (1972). The Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers Book. London: W.H. Allen. ISBN 978-0-8109-4374-2.
- ^ The only other entertainer to receive this treatment at the time was Greta Garbo.
- ^ Coppola also fired Hermes Pan from the film. cf. Mueller p. 403
- ^ Hyam, Hannah (2007). Fred and Ginger: The Astaire-Rogers Partnership 1934–1938. Brighton: Pen Press Publications. ISBN 978-1-905621-96-5.
- ^ a b Giles, p. 33 Pan: "I do not think Eleanor Powell was Fred's greatest dancing partner. I think Ginger Rogers was. Not that she was the greatest of dancers. Cyd Charisse was a much finer technical dancer"
- ^ Kael: "that's a bit much", in an otherwise laudatory review of Croce's The Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers Book, writing in The New Yorker, November 25, 1972
- ^ Richard Schickel's obituary of Fred Astaire in Time Magazine
- ^ Satchell p. 127
- ^ Grammy Hall of Fame Database
- ^ "Emmys" by Thomas O'Neil; Perigee Trade; 3 edition 2000; pp. 61-62
- ^ "You're All the World to Me" originated (with different lyrics) as "I Want to Be a Minstrel Man" in the Eddie Cantor musical Kid Millions (1934).
- ^ e.g. Satchell, p. 144
- ^ Thomas p. 118
- ^ a b q:Fred Astaire#Singers and songwriters on Astaire
- ^ e.g., the songs "I Am Fred Astaire" by Taking Back Sunday, "No Myth" by Michael Penn, "Take You on a Cruise" by Interpol, "Fred Astaire" by Lucky Boys Confusion, "Long Tall Glasses" by Leo Sayer, "Just Like Fred Astaire" by James, "After Hours" by "The Bluetones", "Fred Astaire" by Pips, Chips and Videoclips, "Decadence Dance" by Extreme, and appeared on the cover of The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album.
- ^ Billman, p. 287.
- ^ Thomas, p. 135: "I'd love to have been able to do more with my music, but I never had the time. I was always working on dance numbers. Year after year I kept doing that. Somehow or other I always blame myself, because I say, 'Well, I could have found the time; why the hell didn't I do it?'"
- ^ Billman, pgs. 287-90
- ^ George Eastman Award
- ^ Simmons, Matty."About: Liberty's Musical Comedy Star of the Century!", Liberty, The Nostalgia Magazine, Summer 1972, pg. 10 books.google.com, retrieved April 9, 2010
- ^ Kathleen Riley (2008) (PDF). Fred Astaire Conference Flyer. The Astaire Conference. Archived from the original on 2008-04-14. http://web.archive.org/web/20080414080617/http://www.benandbrad.com/astaireflyer.pdf. Retrieved 2008-05-14.
- ^ Wishart, D.J. (2004) Encyclopedia of the Great Plains. University of Nebraska Pres., pg. 259
- ^ Satchell, p.156
- ^ a b Fred Astaire (Icons of America), Joseph Epstein, Yale University Press, 2008, pg. 75
- ^ Billman, p.341
- ^ Schwarz, Benjamin (January/February 2007). "Becoming Cary Grant". The Atlantic. http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2007/01/becoming-cary-grant/5548/. Retrieved 2011-01-18.
- ^ Astaire, Steps in Time, p. 8: "At the risk of disillusionment, I must admit that I don't like top hats, white ties and tails.
- ^ Niven, David: Bring on the Empty Horses, G. Putnam 1975, p. 248, 255: "The combination of Fred and Phyllis was a joy to behold ... Theirs was the prototype of a gloriously happy marriage."
- ^ Billman, p. 22: "Astaire's intense professionalism—and the memory that Phyllis had wanted him to make the film—made him report back for work. The first few weeks were difficult, with most of the time being spent on Leslie's ballets and requiring as little as possible from the grieving man. Caron remembered, "Fred used to sit down during a rehearsal and put his face in his towel and just cry."
- ^ (Thomas p. 301) Astaire was awarded a life membership in the National Skateboard Society (Satchell p. 221). He remarked "Gene Kelly warned me not to be a damned fool, but I'd seen the things those kids got up to on television doing all sorts of tricks. What a routine I could have worked up for a film sequence if they had existed a few years ago. Anyway I was practicing in my driveway." (Satchell p. 221)
- ^ Rogers, who died in 1995, also is interred in the same cemetery.
- ^ In 1986 Federico Fellini released Ginger and Fred, which, although inspired by Astaire and Rogers, portrays an Italian ballroom dancing couple. In 1996 his widow allowed footage of him to be used in a commercial for Dirt Devil vacuum cleaners in which he dances with a vacuum. His daughter stated that she was "saddened that after his wonderful career he was sold to the devil." cf Royal Wedding
- ^ Satchell p. 253
- ^ Satchell p. 254. Billman (p. 26) believes Astaire couldn't countenance the portrayal of his first wife, who suffered from a speech impediment.
References[link]
- Astaire, Fred. Steps in Time, 1959, OCLC 422937
- Billman, Larry. Fred Astaire: A Bio-bibliography, Greenwood Press 1997, ISBN 0-313-29010-5
- Boyer, G. Bruce. Fred Astaire Style, Assouline 2005, ISBN 2-84323-677-0
- Croce, Arlene. The Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers Book, Galahad Books 1974, ISBN 0-88365-099-1
- Crouse, Jeffrey. "Letting His Wish Provide the Occasion: Fred Astaire in Top Hat", Film International, No. 5, 2003.
- Freeland, Michael. Fred Astaire: An Illustrated Biography, Grosset & Dunlap, 1976. ISBN 0-448-14080-2
- Garofalo, Alessandra. Austerlitz sounded too much like a battle: The roots of Fred Astaire family in Europe, Editrice UNI Service, 2009. ISBN 978-88-6178-415-4
- Giles, Sarah. Fred Astaire: His Friends Talk, Bloomsbury, London, 1988, ISBN 0-7475-0322-2
- Green, Benny. Fred Astaire, Bookthrift Co. 1980, ISBN 0-89673-018-2
- Green, Stanley, & Burt Goldblatt. Starring Fred Astaire, Dodd 1973, ISBN 0-396-06877-4
- Hyam, Hannah. Fred and Ginger: The Astaire-Rogers Partnership 1934–1938, Pen Press Publications, Brighton, 2007. ISBN 978-1-905621-96-5
- Jarman, Colin. Dancing On Astaire: The Quotable Fred Astaire. Blue Eyed Books, London. 2010. ISBN 978-1-907338-08-3
- Lamparski, Richard. Manhattan Diary. BearManor Media 2006 ISBN 1-59393-054-2
- Mueller, John. Astaire Dancing: The Musical Films of Fred Astaire, Knopf 1985, ISBN 0-394-51654-0
- Mueller, John. Astaire Dancing - The Musical Films of Fred Astaire, 25th Anniversary Edition—Digitally Enhanced, The Educational Publisher 2010, ISBN 1-934849-31-6
- Satchell, Tim. Astaire, The Biography. Hutchinson, London. 1987. ISBN 0-09-173736-2
- Thomas, Bob. Astaire, the Man, The Dancer. Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London, 1985. ISBN 0-297-78402-1
- The Astaire Family Papers, The Howard Gotleib Archival Research Center, Boston University, MA, U.S.A.
External links[link]
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Fred Astaire |
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Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Fred Astaire |
- Fred Astaire at AllRovi
- Fred Astaire at the Internet Broadway Database
- Fred Astaire at the Internet Movie Database
- Fred Astaire at the TCM Movie Database
- 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.
- Fred Astaire in the 1900 US Census, 1910 US Census, and Social Security Death Index.
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| Persondata | |
|---|---|
| Name | Astaire, Fred |
| Alternative names | Austerlitz, Frederick (birth name) |
| Short description | Dancer, actor |
| Date of birth | May 10, 1899 |
| Place of birth | Omaha, Nebraska, U.S. |
| Date of death | June 22, 1987 |
| Place of death | Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
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