Fred Astaire
Have you ever wished you could dance like Fred Astaire? America's icon of elegance, easy style, optimism, and songs with a smile, Astaire succeeded in vaudeville, Broadway, television, and Hollywood. Born in 1899 in Omaha, Nebraska as Frederick Austerlitz, the family moved to New York in 1905. The effects of the temperance movement closed the brewing factory where his father had been a salesman in Nebraska. Led by his older sister, Adele, Fred began performing in vaudeville before he was a teenager. Adele and Fred became a successful vaudeville team, which led to their string of Broadway successes in Over the Top (1917), Passing Show (1918), Apple Blossoms (1919), For Goodness Sake (1921), Lady, Be Good! (1924), with music by George and Ira Gershwin, and Funny Face (1927). Adele retired in 1931 to marry. Astaire's last stage appearance was in Gay Divorcee (1932), which included the classic song, "Night and Day," by Cole Porter. In the thirties and forties, Astaire moved to Hollywood and dominated movie musicals, sharing the limelight with his dancing partner, Ginger Rogers. Their films, including Flying Down to Rio (1933), Top Hat (1935) (which featured the Irving Berlin songs "Cheek to Cheek," "Top Hat," "White Tie and Tails," "Isn't this a Lovely Day," and "No Strings"), and Swing Time (1936) provided Depression era audiences an escape into a world of style, wit, and song. Astaire anchored thirty-one movie musicals from 1933 to 1968. In 1947 he announced that he would retire, but decided to come back when Gene Kelly broke his foot and had to be replaced for an MGM musical, Easter Parade. His television productions, An Evening with Fred Astaire, earned Emmy awards, and he won a special Oscar for his "unique artistry" in 1949, as he did not fit into any particular Academy Award category. In the seventies and eighties, Astaire appeared in television shows and films, including receiving his only Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor for the 1974 disaster flick, The Towering Inferno. The two-part series, That's Entertainment (1974, 1976), featuring fred Astaire and Gene Kelly as presenters, not only reminded audiences of the power of movie musicals, but also captured Astaire's grace in performance and collaboration. Fred Astaire died in 1987.
