Fred Astaire
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Fred Astaire (born Frederick Austerlitz ✦ May 10, 1899 – †June 22, 1987) was an American dancer, actor, singer, choreographer, and television presenter. He is widely considered the greatest popular music dancer in history.
His stage and subsequent film and television careers spanned a total of 76 years. He starred in more than 10 Broadway and West End musicals, made 31 musical films, four television specials, and numerous recordings. As a dancer, his outstanding traits were an uncanny sense of rhythm, perfectionism, and innovation. His most memorable dancing partnership was with Ginger Rogers, with whom he co-starred in a series of ten Hollywood musicals during the age of Classical Hollywood cinema, including Top Hat (1935), Swing Time (1936), and Shall We Dance (1937). Among the other notable films in which Astaire gained further popularity and took the genre of tap dancing to a new level were Holiday Inn (1942), Easter Parade (1948), The Band Wagon (1953), Funny Face (1957), and Silk Stockings (1957). The American Film Institute named Astaire the fifth-greatest male star of Classic Hollywood cinema in 100 Years... 100 Stars.
Astaire was a renowned dancer who partnered with his sister (Adele), Ginger Rogers, Rita Hayworth, Eleanor Powell, Lucille Bremer, Bing Cosby, Paulette Goddard, Judy Garland, Ann Miller, Peter Lawford, Cyd Charisse.
In 1957, Astaire announced that he was retiring from dancing in film. His legacy at this point was 30 musical films in 25 years.
Astaire played Julian Osborne (a non-dancing character) in the nuclear war drama On the Beach (1959). He was nominated for a Golden Globe Best Supporting Actor award for his performance, losing to Stephen Boyd in Ben Hur. Astaire appeared in non-dancing roles in three other films and several television series from 1957 to 1969.
- Wikipedia article: Fred Astaire
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Note: Fred Astaire was a volunteer at the Hollywood Canteen |
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