Fred astaire biography rko
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Author: Hesbon Osoro. Fred Astaire was born on May 10, in Omaha, Nebraska. The end of the partnership was traumatic for Astaire but stimulated him to expand his range. Free of the brother-sister constraints of the former pairing and working with new partner Claire Luce , Fred created a romantic partnered dance to Cole Porter 's " Night and Day ", which had been written for Gay Divorce.
Luce stated that she had to encourage him to take a more romantic approach: "Come on, Fred, I'm not your sister, you know.
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According to Hollywood folklore, a screen test report on Astaire for RKO Radio Pictures , now lost along with the test, is reported to have read: "Can't sing. Can't act. Can dance a little. Berman , claimed he had never heard the story in the s and that it only emerged years afterward. Slightly bald.
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Also dances. Selznick , who had signed Astaire to RKO and commissioned the test, stated in a memo, "I am uncertain about the man, but I feel, in spite of his enormous ears and bad chin line, that his charm is so tremendous that it comes through even on this wretched test. However, this did not affect RKO's plans for Astaire. They lent him for a few days to MGM in for his significant Hollywood debut in the successful musical film Dancing Lady.
In the movie, he appeared as himself dancing with Joan Crawford. In a review, Variety magazine attributed its massive success to Astaire's presence:. He's assuredly a bet after this one, for he's distinctly likable on the screen, the mike is kind to his voice and as a dancer, he remains in a class by himself.
The latter observation will be no news to the profession, which has long admitted that Astaire starts dancing where the others stop hoofing. Having already been linked to his sister Adele on stage, Astaire was initially very reluctant to become part of another dance team. He wrote his agent, "I don't mind making another picture with her, but as for this 'team' idea, it's 'out!
The partnership, and the choreography of Astaire and Hermes Pan , helped make dancing an important element of the Hollywood film musical. Six out of the nine Astaire—Rogers musicals became the biggest moneymakers for RKO; all of the films brought a certain prestige and artistry that all studios coveted at the time.
Their partnership elevated them both to stardom; as Katharine Hepburn reportedly said, "He gives her class and she gives him sex appeal. Astaire revolutionized dance on film by having complete autonomy over its presentation. This gave the illusion of an almost stationary camera filming an entire dance in a single shot. Astaire famously quipped: "Either the camera will dance, or I will.
Astaire's style of dance sequences allowed the viewer to follow the dancers and choreography in their entirety. This style differed strikingly from those in the Busby Berkeley musicals. Those musicals' sequences were filled with extravagant aerial shots, dozens of cuts for quick takes, and zooms on areas of the body such as a chorus row of arms or legs.
Astaire's second innovation involved the context of the dance; he was adamant that all song and dance routines be integral to the plotlines of the film. Instead of using dance as a spectacle as Busby Berkeley did, Astaire used it to move the plot along. Typically, an Astaire picture would include at least three standard dances. One would be a solo performance by Astaire, which he termed his "sock solo".
Another would be a partnered comedy dance routine. Finally, he would include a partnered romantic dance routine. Rogers was outstanding among Astaire's partners not because she was superior to others as a dancer, but because, as a skilled, intuitive actress, she was cagey enough to realize that acting did not stop when dancing began She faked it an awful lot.
She couldn't tap and she couldn't do this and that She got so that after a while everyone else who danced with me looked wrong. She made everything work for her. Actually, she made things very fine for both of us and she deserves most of the credit for our success. In , British talk-show host Michael Parkinson asked Astaire who his favorite dancing partner was, on Parkinson.
At first, Astaire refused to answer but ultimately he said "Excuse me, I must say Ginger was certainly, [uh, uh,] the one. You know, the most effective partner I ever had. Everyone knows. Rogers described Astaire's uncompromising standards extending to the whole production: "Sometimes he'll think of a new line of dialogue or a new angle for the story No loafing on the job on an Astaire picture, and no cutting corners.
Despite their success, Astaire was unwilling to have his career tied exclusively to any partnership. He negotiated with RKO to strike out on his own with A Damsel in Distress in with an inexperienced, non-dancing Joan Fontaine , unsuccessfully as it turned out. Astaire was reunited with Rogers in at MGM for their final outing, The Barkleys of Broadway , the only one of their films together to be shot in Technicolor.
Astaire left RKO in to freelance and pursue new film opportunities, with mixed though generally successful outcomes. Throughout this period, Astaire continued to value the input of choreographic collaborators. Unlike the s when he worked almost exclusively with Hermes Pan, he tapped the talents of other choreographers to innovate continually.
His first post-Ginger dance partner was the redoubtable Eleanor Powell , considered the most exceptional female tap-dancer of her generation. They starred in Broadway Melody of , in which they performed a celebrated extended dance routine to Cole Porter's " Begin the Beguine ". In his autobiography Steps in Time , Astaire remarked, "She 'put 'em down' like a man, no ricky-ticky-sissy stuff with Ellie.
She really knocked out a tap dance in a class by herself. But, in spite of the enormous financial success of both, he was reportedly dissatisfied with roles where he lost the girl to Crosby. The former film is memorable for his virtuoso solo dance to "Let's Say it with Firecrackers". The latter film featured " Puttin' On the Ritz ", an innovative song-and-dance routine indelibly associated with him.
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Other partners during this period included Paulette Goddard in Second Chorus , in which he dance-conducted the Artie Shaw orchestra. He made two pictures with Rita Hayworth. He next appeared opposite the seventeen-year-old Joan Leslie in the wartime comedy The Sky's the Limit In it, he introduced Arlen and Mercer 's " One for My Baby " while dancing on a bar counter in a dark and troubled routine.
Astaire choreographed this film alone and achieved modest box office success. It represented a notable departure for Astaire from his usual charming, happy-go-lucky screen persona, and confused contemporary critics. His next partner, Lucille Bremer , was featured in two lavish vehicles, both directed by Vincente Minnelli.
The fantasy Yolanda and the Thief featured an avant-garde surrealistic ballet.
Fred astaire biography ginger rogers: Fred Astaire's prowess as a singer is overshadowed by his unequaled artistry in dance; however many of his contemporaries admired Astaire's lyricism and phrasing.
While Follies was a hit, Yolanda bombed at the box office. Always insecure and believing his career was beginning to falter, Astaire surprised his audiences by announcing his retirement during the production of his next film, Blue Skies He nominated "Puttin' on the Ritz" as his farewell dance. After announcing his retirement in , Astaire concentrated on his horse-racing interests and in founded the Fred Astaire Dance Studios , which he subsequently sold in Astaire's retirement did not last long.
Both of these films revived Astaire's popularity and in he starred in two musicals. Let's Dance with Betty Hutton was on loan-out to Paramount. While Three Little Words did quite well at the box office, Let's Dance was a financial disappointment. The Band Wagon received rave reviews from critics and drew huge crowds. However, because of its high cost, it failed to make a profit on its first release.
Soon after, Astaire, along with most of the other remaining stars at MGM, was dismissed by the studio due to the advent of television and the streamlining of film production. Then, his wife Phyllis became ill and died of lung cancer. Astaire was so desolate that he wanted to shut down the picture and offered to pay the production costs out of his own pocket.
However, Johnny Mercer , the film's composer, and Fox studio executives convinced him that continuing to work would be the best thing for him. Daddy Long Legs was only moderately successful at the box office. Despite the sumptuousness of the production and the good reviews from critics, the movie failed to recover its cost.
Astaire's next film, Silk Stockings , in which he co-starred with Cyd Charisse and his final musical for MGM, also lost money at the box office. Afterward, Astaire announced that he was retiring from dancing in films. His legacy at this point was 30 musical films in 25 years.
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Astaire did not retire from dancing altogether. He made a series of four highly rated Emmy Award -winning musical specials for television in , , , and Each featured Barrie Chase , with whom Astaire enjoyed a renewed period of dance creativity. Fred and Phyllis remained a couple until her death in Astaire shocked friends and family when he remarried in His second wife was Robyn Smith, a famous jockey.
Despite a more than year age difference, the pair's mutual interest in horses and racing turned into romance. After his death in , his widow has been a fierce protector of his name and image. She has filed numerous lawsuits to prevent any unauthorized uses of his likeness or name. In , however, she granted permission for film clips of Astaire to be changed and used for a series of vacuum cleaner commercials.
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