Fred Astaire

Fred Astaire (born Frederick Austerlitz, May 10, 1899 – June 22, 1987), was an American dancer, actor, singer, choreographer and presenter. He was the most famous stage, movie and television dancer of his time. He has gotten many honors. He won a Honorary Academy Award, three Primetime Emmy Awards, a BAFTA Award, two Golden Globe Awards, and a Grammy Award. He was put into the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1960, American Theatre Hall of Fame in 1972, and the Television Hall of Fame in 1989. In 1999, the American Film Institute said Astaire was the fifth-greatest male star of Classic Hollywood cinema in 100 Years... 100 Stars.

Fred Astaire
File:Astaire, Fred - Never Get Rich.jpg Astaire in 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.
Resting place	Oakwood Memorial Park Cemetery
Occupation	Dancer actor singer choreographer presenter
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
Instruments	Vocals percussion piano accordion clarinet
Labels	MGM Records RCA Victor Decca Records Columbia Records Brunswick Records

File:AdeleFred1921.jpg

Fred and Adele Astaire in 1921

Astaire's career was 76 years long. He starred in over 10 Broadway and West End musicals. He made 31 musical movies. He was also a dancer. He had very good rhythm and creativity.

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 & Adele Astaire, ca. 1906.jpg

  Fred and his sister Adele in 1906

• Top-Hat-Rogers-Astaire.jpg

  Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire in Top Hat (1935)

• Astaire-Hayworth-dancing.JPG

  With Rita Hayworth in You Were Never Lovelier (1942)

• Astaire, Fred - Daddy.jpg

  In Daddy Long Legs (1955)

• Fred Astaire 1962.JPG

  Publicity photo of Fred Astaire from the television program Premiere.

• Astaire - You're All the World to Me.jpg

  Astaire dancing on the walls and ceiling for "You're All the World to Me" from Royal Wedding (1951)

• Astaire singing in Second Chorus.jpg

  Astaire singing in Second Chorus (1940)

Sources

• The Astaire Family Papers, The Howard Gotleib Archival Research Center, Boston University, MA

Other websites

• Fred Astaire at the American Film Institute Catalog
• Fred Astaire at AllMovie
• Fred Astaire at the Internet Broadway Database
• Fred Astaire on IMDb
• Fred Astaire at the TCM Movie Database
• Astaire biography at AlsoDances.Net
• Schickel, Richard (July 6, 1987). "The Great American Flyer". Time. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,964929,00.html. 
• Corliss, Richard (June 22, 2002). "That Old Feeling: A Stellar Astaire". Time. http://www.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,265339-1,00.html. 
• 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)
• Radio Interview—Fred Astaire—1968
• "Fred Astaire and the art of fun": an essay on the Oxford Fred Astaire conference from TLS, July 16, 2008.
• Photographs and literature at Virtual History