Fred Astaire was an American dancer, singer, actor, choreographer and television presenter. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential dancers in the history of film and television musicals.
Background
Fred Astaire was born Friedrich Emanuel Austerlitz on May 10, 1899 in Omaha, Nebraska, the son of Johanna "Ann" (née Geilus) and Frederic "Fritz" Austerlitz. Astaire's mother was born in the United States, to Lutheran German emigrants from East Prussia and Alsace. Astaire's father was born in Linz, Austria, to Jewish parents who had converted to Roman Catholicism.
After arriving in New York City at age 25 on October 26, 1893, and being inspected at Ellis Island, Astaire's father, hoping to find work in his brewing trade, moved to Omaha, Nebraska, and landed a job with the Storz Brewing Company. Astaire's mother dreamed of escaping Omaha by virtue of her children's talents, after Astaire's sister, Adele Astaire, early on revealed herself to be an instinctive dancer and singer. She planned a "brother and sister act," which was common in vaudeville at the time. Although Astaire refused dance lessons at first, he easily mimicked his older sister's steps and took up piano, accordion, and clarinet.
When their father suddenly lost his job, the family moved to New York City in 1905.
Education
His family moved to New York City in 1905, to launch the show business career of the children, who began training at the Alviene Master School of the Theatre and Academy of Cultural Arts.
Career
Fred Astaire began performing in vaudeville with his sister, Adele, in 1905. The Astaires eventually became featured performers, and in 1917 they moved to the musical stage where they appeared in ten productions, most of them hugely successful, particularly two musical comedies with songs by George and Ira Gershwin (Lady, Be Good in 1924 and Funny Face in 1927) and a revue with songs by Arthur Schwartz and Howard Dietz (The Band Wagon in 1931).
When his sister retired from show business in 1932 to marry, Astaire sought to reshape his career. He settled on the featured role in Gay Divorce, a "musical play" with songs by Cole Porter. This show proved Astaire could flourish without his sister, and it also helped establish the pattern of most of his film musicals: it was a light, perky, unsentimental comedy, largely uncluttered by subplot, built around a love story for Astaire and his partner (Claire Luce) that was airy and amusing, but essentially serious— particularly when the pair danced together.
Shortly after his marriage Astaire went to Hollywood. At RKO he had a featured part in the exuberant, fluttery Flying Down to Rio (1933). The film was a hit, and it was obvious Astaire's performance and screen appeal were a major factor in that success. The Gay Divorcee (1934), a film version of Gay Divorce, was the first of Astaire's major pictures with Ginger Rogers, and it scored even better at the box office than Flying Down to Rio. With this and seven more films in the 1930s (the most popular of which was Top Hat of 1935), they reached their full development as a team—one of the legendary partnerships in the history of dance, characterized by breathless high spirits, emotional richness, bubbling comedy, and beguiling romantic compatibility.
For these films Astaire created a rich series of romantic and playful duets for the team, as well as an array of dazzling and imaginative solos for himself. Astaire's musicality, together with the opportunity of working on such a classy, highly profitable project, made his films attractive to many of the top popular-song composers of the day: Irving Berlin, Jerome Kern, and the Gershwins.
By the end of the 1930s the revenues from the films with Rogers were beginning to decline and, after a disagreement over fees with the studio, Astaire left. The next years were nomadic but successful ones for Astaire. He made nine films at four different studios and continued to fashion splendid dances. He appeared with a variety of partners— tap virtuoso Eleanor Powell, Paulette Goddard, Rita Hayworth, Joan Leslie, and Lucille Bremer—and he also did a pair of films with Bing Crosby. Musically, Astaire continued to attract the best: Porter, Berlin, Kern, Harold Arlen, Harry Warren, and lyricist Johnny Mercer.
In 1946 Astaire retired from motion pictures to create a chain of dancing schools, a venture that was eventually proved to be successful. In 1947 he returned to movies to make the highly profitable Easter Parade at MGM, opposite Judy Garland. Nine more musicals followed. His partners in these included Ginger Rogers for one picture, as well as Vera-Ellen, Cyd Charisse, Leslie Caron, Betty Hutton, Jane Powell, and Audrey Hepburn.
By the mid-1950s the era of the classic Hollywood musical as Astaire had experienced it—indeed, defined it— was coming to an end, and Astaire moved into other fields. On television he produced four multiple award-winning musical specials with Barrie Chase as his partner. He also tried his hand at straight acting roles with considerable success in eight films between 1959 and 1982. Over the years he played a number of characters on television— usually suave ones—in dramatic specials and series.
Astaire died of pneumonia on June 22, 1987, at the age of 88. His body was buried at Oakwood Memorial Park Cemetery in Chatsworth, California. One of his last requests was to thank his fans for their years of support.
Astaire was a conservative and a lifelong Republican Party supporter, though he never made his political views publicly known. Along with Bing Crosby, George Murphy, Ginger Rogers, and others, he was a charter (founding) member of the Hollywood Republican Committee. He was churchgoing, supportive of American military action, and dismissive of the increasing open sexuality in movies of the 1970s.
Views
Quotations:
"The hardest job kids face today is learning good manners without seeing any."
"I just put my feet in the air and move them around."
"The higher up you go, the more mistakes you are allowed. Right at the top, if you make enough of them, it's considered to be your style."
"This search for what you want is like tracking something that doesn't want to be tracked. It takes time to get a dance right, to create something memorable."
"Old age is like everything else. To make a success of it, you've got to start young."
"I don't want to be the oldest performer in captivity... I don't want to look like a little old man dancing out there."
Shortly before his death, Astaire said: "I didn't want to leave this world without knowing who my descendant was, thank you Michael"—referring to Michael Jackson.
Personality
Astaire remained a male fashion icon even into his later years, eschewing his trademark top hat, white tie, and tails (for which he never really cared) in favor of a breezy casual style of tailored sports jackets, colored shirts and slacks—the latter usually held up by the idiosyncratic use of an old tie or silk scarf in place of a belt.
A perfectionist, Astaire spent weeks working out his choreography. Although his perfectionism, his propensity to worry, his shyness, and his self-doubt could make him difficult, even exasperating, to work with, he was an efficient planner and worker. His courtesy, enormous professionalism, and tireless struggle for improvement earned him the admiration of his co-workers.
Quotes from others about the person
"Once after a dinner party, Gregory Peck and I drove Fred Astaire home. Fred lived in a colonial house that had a long porch with many pillars. When we dropped him off, he danced along the whole front porch, then opened the door, tipped his hat to us, and disappeared. Wow! Greg and I couldn't speak for a few minutes. It was a beautiful way to say thank you." Kirk Douglas.
"Of all the actors and actresses I've ever worked with, the hardest worker is Fred Astaire. He behaved like he was a young man whose whole destiny depended on being successful in his first film. He rehearses between takes, after takes - there's no limit to his professionalism." Rouben Mamoulian
"He is a truly complex fellow, not unlike the Michelangelos and da Vincis of the Renaissance period. He's a supreme artist but he is constantly filled with doubts and self-anger about his work--and that is what makes him so good. He is a perfectionist who is never sure he is attaining perfection." Rouben Mamoulian
His friend, David Niven, described him as "a pixie—timid, always warm-hearted, with a penchant for schoolboy jokes."
Interests
He remained physically active well into his eighties. At age seventy-eight, he broke his left wrist while riding his grandson's skateboard.
Sport & Clubs
Astaire was a lifelong golf and thoroughbred horse racing enthusiast. In 1946 his horse Triplicate won the Hollywood Gold Cup and San Juan Capistrano Handicap.
Connections
Astaire married 25-year-old Phyllis Potter in 1933 (formerly Phyllis Livingston Baker; born 1908, died September 13, 1954), a Boston-born New York socialite and former wife of Eliphalet Nott Potter III (1906–1981), after pursuing her ardently for about two years, and despite his mother and sister's objections. Phyllis's death from lung cancer, at the age of 46, ended 21 years of a blissful marriage and left Astaire devastated. Astaire attempted to drop out of the film Daddy Long Legs (1955), which he was in the process of filming, offering to pay the production costs to date, but was persuaded to stay.
In addition to Phyllis Potter's son, Eliphalet IV (known as Peter), the Astaires had two children. Fred, Jr. (born January 21, 1936), who appeared with his father in the movie Midas Run and later became a charter pilot and rancher instead of an actor. Their daughter Ava Astaire (born March 19, 1942; married Richard McKenzie) remains actively involved in promoting her late father's legacy. Fred Astaire was a devoted father and would often dance down the stairs of the family's home every morning, simply to entertain his two children.
On June 24, 1980, at the age of 81, he married a second time. Robyn Smith (born August 14, 1944), was 45 years his junior and a jockey who rode for Alfred G. Vanderbilt II and appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated July 31, 1972.