Fred Astaire

Fred Astaire
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
Occupations	Dancer actor singer choreographer presenter
Years active	1904–1981
Spouses	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

Fred and Adele Astaire in 1921

Fred Astaire (born Frederick Austerlitz,^[1] 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.^[2] 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.^[3][4]

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.^[5]

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.

References

1. Billman, Larry (1997). Fred Astaire: A Bio-bibliography. Connecticut: Greenwood Press. ISBN 0-313-29010-5.
2. Fred Astaire at the Encyclopædia Britannica
3. "1981 Fred Astaire Tribute" afi.com
4. "AFI'S 100 Years...100 Stars" Archived October 25, 2014, at the Wayback Machine afi.com. Retrieved October 11, 2017
5. Oxford illustrated encyclopedia. Judge, Harry George., Toyne, Anthony. Oxford [England]: Oxford University Press. 1985–1993. p. 25. ISBN 0-19-869129-7. OCLC 11814265.

Sources

• Astaire, Fred (1959). Steps in Time. Harper Collins. ISBN 978-0-06-156756-8. OCLC 422937.
• Bernier, Michelle (December 2015). "Fred Astaire's Site-Specific Choreography: High Art for the Low-Art Consumer". Studies in Musical Theatre. 9 (3): 255–63. doi:10.1386/smt.9.3.255_1.
• Billman, Larry (1997). Fred Astaire: A Bio-bibliography. Greenwood Press. ISBN 0-313-29010-5.
• Boyer, Bruce G. (2005). Fred Astaire Style. Assouline. ISBN 2-84323-677-0.
• Croce, Arlene (1974). The Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers Book. Galahad Books. ISBN 0-88365-099-1.
• Crouse, Jeffrey (2003). "Letting His Wish Provide the Occasion: Fred Astaire in Top Hat". Film International. 1 (5): 32–41. doi:10.1386/fiin.1.5.32. ISSN 1651-6826.
• Decker, Todd (2011). Music Makes Me: Fred Astaire and Jazz. University of California Press.
• Freeland, Michael (1976). Fred Astaire: An Illustrated Biography. Grosset & Dunlap. ISBN 0-448-14080-2.
• Garofalo, Alessandra (2009). Austerlitz sounded too much like a battle: The roots of Fred Astaire family in Europe. Editrice UNI Service. ISBN 978-88-6178-415-4.
• Giles, Sarah (1988). Fred Astaire: His Friends Talk. Bloomsbury, London: Doubleday. ISBN 0-7475-0322-2.
• Green, Benny (1980). Fred Astaire. Bookthrift Co. ISBN 0-89673-018-2.
• Green, Stanley; Goldblatt, Burt (1973). Starring Fred Astaire. Dodd. ISBN 0-396-06877-4.
• Hyam, Hannah (2007). Fred and Ginger: The Astaire–Rogers Partnership 1934–1938. Brighton: Pen Press Publications. ISBN 978-1-905621-96-5.
• Jarman, Colin (2010). Dancing On Astaire: The Quotable Fred Astaire. London: Blue Eyed Books. ISBN 978-1-907338-08-3.
• Jewell, Richard B. (2012). RKO Radio Pictures: A Titan is Born. University of California Press.
• Jewell, Richard B. (2016). Slow Fade to Black: The Decline of RKO Radio Pictures. University of California Press.
• Lamparski, Richard (2006). Manhattan Diary. BearManor Media. ISBN 1-59393-054-2.
• Monioudis, Perikles (2016). Frederick (a novel, in German). dtv. ISBN 978-3-423-28079-2.
• Mueller, John (1985). Astaire Dancing – The Musical Films of Fred Astaire. Knopf. ISBN 0-394-51654-0.
• Mueller, John (2010). Astaire Dancing – The Musical Films of Fred Astaire (25th Anniversary Edition – Digitally Enhanced ed.). The Educational Publisher. ISBN 978-1-934849-31-6.
• Satchell, Tim (1987). Astaire, The Biography. London: Hutchinson. ISBN 0-09-173736-2.
• Sutton, Damian (2015). "'Let the Dance Floor Feel Your Leather': Set Design, Dance, and the Articulation of Audiences in RKO Radio's Astaire-Rogers Series" (PDF). Journal of Popular Film & Television. 43 (1): 2–13. doi:10.1080/01956051.2014.961997. S2CID 55843269. Archived from the original (PDF) on February 2, 2020. Retrieved February 2, 2020.
• Thomas, Bob (1985). Astaire, the Man, The Dancer. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson. ISBN 0-297-78402-1.
• 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
• 70759 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. Archived from the original on February 23, 2007.
• Corliss, Richard (June 22, 2002). "That Old Feeling: A Stellar Astaire". Time. Archived from the original on January 15, 2004.
• 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