Fred Astaire is probably the most famous male dancer from the golden age of Hollywood’s movie-musicals. He won over the audiences with his song-and-dance routine paired with his classic charm. An unlikely success, he became infamous with an easy and natural approach to his performing.
Fred Astaire’s Childhood in Vaudeville
The second child of Johanna and Frederic Austerlitz, Fred Austerlitz was born May 10, 1899 in Omaha, Nebraska. His elder sister, Adele, was the first performer in the family, singing and dancing at a very early age. Wanting to make a brother-and-sister act for the vaudeville circuits, Johanna encouraged Fred to develop a performance skill. Fred skipped over dancing, and first learned to play musical instruments. The act showed promise, and when the opportunity arose for the family to move, they headed straight to New York City. In 1905, around the same time as the move to the ‘big apple,’ the Austerlitz’s anglo-sized their name to Astaire, said to be the name of a family member.
In NYC, Adele and Fred both took a myriad of performing classes in acting, dancing, and singing and took their act to vaudeville’s Orpheum circuit in 1906. This initial success died down as the two began hitting growth spurts an no longer appearing as ‘matched’ in their act. The two took a two-year break before re-entering the vaudeville stages. Over this break, they still studied dance and were proficient in tap as well as major ballroom dance styles, which they incorporated into their new act. Fred studied ballroom dance with Aurelio Coccia, whom he credits to be one of the most influential people on his dancing.
Fred and Adele’s Broadway Credits
Their success in vaudeville landed both Adele and Fred in a 1917 Broadway show called Over the Top. This show was the beginning of a decade of the Astaire siblings working on Broadway non-stop. Before 1932, the pair had been in another ten shows including Lady Be Good, The Band Wagon, and Smiles. Fred’s dancing was regarded as among the best; he even began choreographing many of his solos or partner dances. After 1932, Adele quit the stage after getting married, and Fred performed in Gay Divorce, his most well-known Broadway performance. It was here that Fred, no longer dancing with his sister, began to develop his dancing for a romantic and affectionate character.
Fred Astaire's Cinema Career with RKO and MGM
After his success on Broadway stages, Astaire did a 'screen test' for the major film production studio, RKO. However, the reaction to this initial screen test was negative, with a report of the test saying that Astaire was a balding man who could not sing or act. Even with this negative report, he was signed at RKO because one of the producers there felt that his charm alone might negate all of the detrimental qualities listed.
Astaire's first Hollywood musical was the MGM film Dancing Lady in 1933, where he danced with Joan Crawford. His first RKO film, Flying Down to Rio (1933), was extremely important because it was the first time Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers were paired together. The two went on to dance in ten more films together, including: The Gay Divorcee, Roberta, Top Hat, Shall We Dance, and Swing Time. In the many movies Astaire did, with numerous leading ladies, he was often had a large say in the choreography of each movie and often paired with Hermes Pan.
Fred Astaire's Later Projects
The post-Rogers movies tend to be overshadowed, but Astaire continued to make movies until his first retirement in 1946. After this retirement, he founded Fred Astaire Dance Studios, which he sold twenty years later. This retirement was short lived, when Astaire got called back to be a replacement actor in Easter Parade. This initiated another string of movies that extended from 1949 - 1957, including Three Little Words (a show that earned Astaire a Golden Globe in 1950), The Band Wagon, and Funny Face. Astaire then retired for a second time, this time to enter dramatic acting with the show On the Beach.
From here, Astaire began to involve himself in both acting for the stage and for the television, but his works in these areas were not as long-lasting as the musical-movies he is known for. Astaire died on June 22, 1987 with the wish that no one ever portray him as a character for fear of his life being misrepresented.
Fred Astaire's Dancing Partners
While Ginger Rogers is the most famous dancer known to pair with Fred Astaire, here is a short list of other famous partners to dance with Fred Astaire.
- Eleanor Powell
- Paulette Goddard
- Rita Hayworth
- Joan Leslie
- Gene Kelly
- Judy Garland
- Cyd Charisse
- Audrey Hepburn
Fred Astaire's Awards
Given his fame and reknown, it is unsurprising that that Astaire has a large and diverse list of awards. He has a long list of well-known awards, here are 8 of the most prestigious.
- In 1938, his hand-prints and footprints were set in cement at the famous Walk of Fame, outside of the Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood.
- Astire won his first Golden Globe in 1950 as "Best Actor in A Motion Picture Musical or Comedy."
- In 1960, Astaire won the Golden Globe's Cecil B DeMille award--an award given for lifetime achievement in motion pictures.
- Liberty Magazine named him the Musical Comedy Star of the Century in 1972.
- In 1978, Astaire was the first artist given the Kennedy Center Honors, which was an award given to performing artists who contributed to American culture.
- Astaire was granted the Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Film Institute in 1981.
- In 1989, 2 years after his death, he was awarded with the Grammy's Lifetime Achievement Award.
- Astaire was inducted into the Ballroom Dancer's Hall of Fame in 1991, 4 years after he died.
More Information on Fred Astaire
More sources of information can be found at:
Fred Astaire at American National Biography Online
"Fred Astaire 1899-1987: The Great American Flyer" by Richard Schickel
"That Old Feeling: A Stellar Astaire" by Richard Corliss
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