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Fred Astaire
Age: 88 (passed away Jun. 22nd, 1987)
Height: 5' 9"
Birth Place: Omaha, Nebraska, USA
Born: Dec. 31st, 1969
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Fred Astaire's Main TV Roles
NOTE: Complete List of Works can be found at
IMDB
BIOGRAPHY: The son of an Austrian immigrant, Fred Astaire entered show business at age 5. He was successful both in vaudeville and on Broadway in partnership with his sister, Adele Astaire. After Adele retired to marry in 1932, Astaire headed to Hollywood. Signed to RKO, he was loaned to MGM to appear in Dancing Lady (1933) before starting work on RKO's Flying Down to Rio (1933). In the latter film, he began his highly successful partnership with Ginger Rogers, with whom he danced in 9 RKO pictures. During these years, he was also active in recording and radio. On film, Astaire later appeared opposite a number of partners through various studios. After a temporary retirement in 1945-7, during which he opened Fred Astaire Dance Studios, Astaire returned to film to star in more musicals through 1957. He subsequently performed a number of straight dramatic roles in film and TV.
TRIVIA:
- Aside from starring in the film _Funny Face (1957)_ (qv), he also starred in the original 1927 Broadway version of the 'George Gershwin' (qv) & 'Ira Gershwin' (qv) musical "Funny Face". Although he was the male lead in the show, he did not play the same character he does in the film, and the storyline of the original stage musical was entirely different from the one in the film. Both play and film used many of the same songs. The studio may have felt that the original plot of "Funny Face" could not be properly adapted into a movie as it was an "ensemble" musical with people dropping out and parts changing all the time. Apparently the studio bought the rights to the title just so they could use the song. The plot of this movie is actually that of the unsuccessful Broadway musical "Wedding Bells" by 'Leonard Gershe' (qv). His character in the film is based on photographer 'Richard Avedon' (qv), who in fact, set up most of the photography shown in the film. The soggy Paris weather played havoc with the shooting of the wedding dress dance scene. Both Astaire and 'Audrey Hepburn' (qv) were continually slipping in the muddy and slippery grass.
- 'Tony Martin (I)' (qv) the husband of MGM star/dancer 'Cyd Charisse' (qv) said he could tell who she had been dancing with that day on an MGM set. If she came home covered with bruises on her, it was the very physically-demanding 'Gene Kelly (I)' (qv), if not it was the smooth and agile 'Fred Astaire' (qv).
- Astaire disguised his very large hands by curling his middle two fingers while dancing.
- Owned Blue Valley Ranch, a Thoroughbred horse breeding farm in the San Fernando Valley. He maintained a racing stable of four or five horses which competed at racetracks in California. His most famous racehorse was Triplicate, winner of the 1946 Hollywood Gold Cup.
- He was voted the 23rd Greatest Movie Star of all time by Premiere Magazine.
- Famously wore a necktie around his waist instead of a belt, an affectation he picked up from his friendship with actor 'Douglas Fairbanks' (qv) but often mistakenly attributed to Astaire alone.
- Good friend of actress 'Carol Lynley' (qv).
- The only time he and 'Gene Kelly (I)' (qv) ever danced together on screen (other than the compilation 1974 movie, _That's Entertainment (1974)_) was in one routine, titled "The Babbitt and the Bromide" in the 1946 movie _Ziegfeld Follies (1945)_ (qv).
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