Fred Astaire
Fred Astaire, born Frederick Austerlitz (10 May 1899 – 22 June 1987), was an American dancer, actor, singer, choreographer and presenter. He was the most famous stage, movie and television dancer of his day.
Fred Astaire | |
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 In You'll Never Get Rich (1941) | |
| Born | Frederick Austerlitz May 10, 1899 Omaha, Nebraska, U.S. |
| Died | June 22, 1987 (aged 88) Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
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| Years active | 1904–1981 |
| Spouse(s) | Phyllis Livingston Potter (m. 1933; died 1954) Robyn Smith (m. 1980) |
| Children | 2 |
| Relatives | Adele Astaire (sister) |
| Musical career | |
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Life
Astaire started dancing on the stage with his sister Adèle, as a child, in 1905. Their Broadway career lasted from 1917 to 1932. They became world-famous after WWI, and regularly performed on both sides of the Atlantic.
When she married he started a movie partnership with Ginger Rogers. After that, he danced with a succession of talented American dancers on movie and on television. He appeared in 32 movies. His movie partners included Eleanor Powell, Ann Miller, Vera-Ellen, Cyd Charisse: all high-class dancers, and on TV with Barrie Chase. Their An evening with Fred Astaire won nine Emmy Awards in 1958.
Many male dancers of the 20th century were influenced by him, and said so. He owed a lot to the choreography of Hermes Pan, but even more to his own perfectionism and relentless practice.
Astaire was also an excellent actor, and a successful, though personally modest, singer. He introduced some of the most celebrated songs from the Great American Songbook. He married Phyllis Potter in 1933; they had two children. After her death, he remarried in 1980 to Robyn Smith, a female jockey 45 years his junior.
Fred Astaire Media
Fred and his sister Adele in 1906
Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire in Top Hat (1935)
With Rita Hayworth in You Were Never Lovelier (1942)
In Daddy Long Legs (1955)
Publicity photo of Fred Astaire from the television program Premiere.
Astaire dancing on the walls and ceiling for "You're All the World to Me" from Royal Wedding (1951)
Astaire singing in Second Chorus (1940)
Sources
- Astaire, Fred. Steps in Time, 1959, OCLC 422937
- Billman, Larry. Fred Astaire – a bio-bibliography, Greenwood Press 1997, ISBN 0-313-29010-5
- Freeland, Michael. Fred Astaire: an illustrated biography, Grosset & Dunlap, 1976. ISBN 0-448-14080-2
- Thomas, Bob. Astaire, the man, the dancer. Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London, 1985. ISBN 0-297-78402-1
Other websites
- Fred Astaire on IMDb (Astaire is the first biographical entry in the IMDB database.)
- Fred Astaire biography at Allmovie Guide[dead link]
- Fred Astaire tribute site. Archived 2021-03-25 at the Wayback Machine
- Fred Astaire biography at AlsoDances.Net Archived 2007-01-08 at the Wayback Machine
- Time.com: The Great American Flyer Fred Astaire:1899-1987 Archived 2013-08-19 at the Wayback Machine
- Time Magazine archive: Astaire essay by Richard Corliss Archived 2013-05-23 at the Wayback Machine
- Astaire's religious views incl. many extracts from his biographers Archived 2021-04-22 at the Wayback Machine
- Ava Astaire discusses her father's legacy. (BBC Television - Realplayer required)
- Fred Astaire at Find-A-Grave
- "He's in Heaven..." - In Memoriam Fred Astaire