Fred Astaire (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 seventy-six years, during which he made thirty-one musical films. He is particularly associated with Ginger Rogers, with whom he made ten films.
According to another major innovator in filmed dance, Gene Kelly, "The history of dance on film begins with Astaire." Beyond film and television, many classical dancers and choreographers, Nureyev and Robbins among them, also acknowledged his importance and influence. He was named the fifth Greatest Male Star of All Time by the American Film Institute.
Frederick Austerlitz was born in Omaha, Nebraska. He actually entered the world of show biz at the tender age of 4 1/2, although he didn't know it at the time; he was only accompanying his parents and his sister Adele to New York. Adele was to have dancing lessons, and she soon had an initially reluctant partner in her younger brother. The team gave their first professional performance in November 1905 in Keyport, New Jersey. Fred was 6 1/2 years old, Adele 9.
Fred and Adele grew up dancing together in vaudeville, and were bonafide stars while still in their teens and twenties, with smash hits on the New York and London stages. When Adele left the theatre to marry in 1932, Fred went out on his own. He scored a major success in "The Gay Divorce" in New York and in London the following year. Soon, however, Astaire agreed to test for films. One studio executive's report on this screen test has been quoted many times over the years, but it is still just too good to pass up here: "Can't act. Slightly bald. Also dances." Despite this priceless commentary, Astaire did receive a contract and he and his brand new wife Phyllis headed for Hollywood in 1933.
Although his contract was with RKO Studios, Fred's first appearance on film was in MGM’s Dancing Lady, which starred Clark Gable, Joan Crawford, and Franchot Tone. Fred played himself, introduced by Gable as "the dancer from New York." Upon completion of this cameo appearance, Fred began his first film under his RKO contract, Flying Down to Rio. Rio starred Dolores Del Rio and Gene Raymond, and for the second leads, Fred was paired with a young RKO contract player by the name of...Ginger Rogers. The two literally stole the show when they put their foreheads together and danced the steamy (for 1933) "Carioca." ("It's really nothing like the Polka"!)
RKO knew a lucrative team when they saw one, and Fred and Ginger were immediately given their own starring vehicle, The Gay Divorcee, released in 1934. The movie was a huge success, and like it or not, Astaire and Rogers were America's dancing sweethearts, forever linked in the public's mind. Each had a chemistry with the other that was not there with anyone else. As Katharine Hepburn put it: "He gives her class, she gives him sex appeal." The two would make a total of 10 films together, 9 in the 1930's, plus a reunion in 1949.
Fred and his wife Phyllis had a home built in Beverly Hills. Phyllis had a son from a previous marriage, Peter, and she and Fred had two children of their own, Fred, Jr., born in 1936, and daughter Ava, born in 1942. In 1946, upon completing the film Blue Skies, Fred announced to everyone's horror that he was retiring. For almost 2 years he devoted his time to his family, to his racehorses, to the Fred Astaire Dance Studios, to golf and hunting and fishing. However, in 1948, when Gene Kelly injured himself while rehearsing, Fred stepped in to star opposite Judy Garland in Easter Parade, and that was the end of the retirement.
In 1958 Fred took on a new medium, television. Again, he was immensely successful, especially with the three shows where his partner was his new discovery -- the electrifying Barrie Chase. He continued to appear in movies as well as television shows throughout the 60's and 70's. For his performance in 1974's The Towering Inferno he was nominated for an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor. He was also reunited with Gene Kelly in That's Entertainment, Part 2 where he did his last on-screen dancing, at the age of 77. (Although he was quoted as saying, "That wasn't dancing, that was just moving around.").
Robyn & Fred |
In 1978 Fred was a recipient of the Kennedy Centre Honours, and in 1981 he received the American Film Institute's prestigious Life Achievement Award. Fred met and fell in love with Robyn Smith, a young woman who shared his devotion to race horses (she was a jockey). Despite the 45-year age difference the two decided to marry in 1980. It was a very happy union, lasting the rest of his life. He died on June 22, 1987, from complications arising from pneumonia.
(Edited mainly from themave.com)
3 comments:
For ”Fred Astaire - Dancing Cheek to Cheek: His 56 Finest
1926-1952 (2008 Retrospective)” go here:
https://krakenfiles.com/view/HntFwK4xhw/file.html
1 Cheek To Cheek
2 No Strings
3 Isn t This A Lovely Day?
4 Top Hat, White Tie And Tails
5 The Piccolino
6 Fascinating Rhythm (With Adele Astaire) - Astaire, Fred & Adele
7 The Half Of It, Dearie, Blues
8 My One And Only
9 Not My Girl
10 Puttin On The Ritz
11 Crazy Feet!
12 Night And Day
13 We re In The Money
14 Flying Down To Rio
15 Music Makes Me
16 Let s Face The Music And Dance
17 I m Putting All My Eggs In One Basket
18 We Saw The Sea
19 Let Yourself Go
20 I d Rather Lead A Band
21 I m Building Up To An Awful Let-Down
22 The Way You Look Tonight
23 Never Gonna Dance
24 Pick Yourself Up
25 A Fine Romance
26 Bojangles Of Harlem
27 They Can t Take That Away From Me
28 They All Laughed
Disc: 2
1 I ve Got Beginner s Luck
2 Let s Call The Whole Thing Off
3 Shall We Dance?
4 Slap That Bass
5 A Foggy Day In London Town
6 Things Are Looking Up
7 Nice Work If You Can Get It
8 I Can't Be Bothered Now
9 Change Partners
10 I Used To Be Colour Blind
11 The Yam
12 Who Cares?
13 Just Like Taking Candy From A Baby
14 Poor Mister Chisholm
15 So Near And Yet So Far
16 Dream Dancing
17 You re Easy To Dance With
18 I m Old-Fashioned
19 Dearly Beloved
20 You Were Never Lovelier
21 If Swing Goes, I Go Too
22 A Couple Of Song And Dance Me (With Bing Crosby) - Astaire, Fred / Crosby, Bing
23 A Couple Of Swells (With Judy Garland) - Astaire, Fred / Garland, Judy
24 The Liar Song (With Jane Powell - Astaire, Fred / Powell, Jane
25 I Wanna Be A Dancin Man
26 Steppin Out With My Baby
27 I Won t Dance
28 The Continental
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FOR “FRED ASTAIRE - THE COMPLETE STUDIO RECORDINGS,
1955-1962 (2020 Jasmine)” GO HERE:
https://www.upload.ee/files/14128536/Fred_Astaire_-_Complete_55-62.rar.html
1. SOMETHING'S GOTTA GIVE
2. SLUEFOOT
3. THEY CAN'T TAKE THAT AWAY FROM ME
4. I WON'T DANCE
5. HELLO BABY
6. THERE'S NO TIME LIKE THE PRESENT
7. SWEET SORROW
8. JUST LIKE TAKING CANDY FROM A BABY
9. THAT FACE
10. CALYPSO HOORAY
FRED ASTAIRE - NOW (1959 ALBUM)
11. CHANGE PARTNERS
12. ISN'T THIS A LOVELY DAY (TO BE CAUGHT IN THE RAIN?)
13. A FOGGY DAY
14. MEDLEY:
THE GIRL ON THE MAGAZINE COVER
I LOVE TO QUARREL WITH YOU
ALONG CAME RUTH
15. THE AFTERBEAT
16. THEY CAN'T TAKE THAT AWAY FROM ME
17. THEY ALL LAUGHED
18. I'LL WALK ALONE
19. ONE FOR MY BABY (AND ONE MORE FOR THE ROAD)
20. MEDLEY:
OH, LADY BE GOOD!
PUTTIN' ON THE RITZ
TOP HAT, WHITE TIE AND TAILS
21. LADY OF THE EVENING
22. SOMETHING'S GOTTA GIVE
MORE SINGLES AND RARITIES
23. DEARLY BELOVED
24. THE NOTORIOUS LANDLADY
25. THE MARTINI
26. YOU WORRY ME
27. IT HAPPENS EVERY SPRING
BONUS TRACK - ORIGINAL UNEDITED RECORDING
28. SOMETHING'S GOTTA GIVE (BIG BAND VERSION) / SLUEFOOT
Whilst FRED ASTAIRE'S recordings from the 1930s & 40s have been re-issued many times, his releases from the mid 50s and early 60s are often overlooked. This compilation collects together all of Fred's recordings made specifically for record releases from this period and originally released on RCA, Verve, Kapp, Choreo and Ava, including 'I Won't Dance' and 'They Can't Take that Away From Me' accompanied by Oscar Peterson and several songs written by Astaire including 'Hello Baby' and 'You Worry Me'
All of his single releases in their original mixes - many previous re-issues have had reverb added - along with the full 'Now' LP from 1959 in stereo. Also included is a rare version of 'Dearly Beloved' from the Morris Stolloff album 'Soundtracks Voices and Themes from Great Movies.' The Bonus track is a rare unedited big band medley version of 'Something's Gotta Give / Sluefoot'. (Jasmine notes)
love this thank youuuuuuu
Just made my day BB, thx!
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