Frederich Asuterliz better known as Fred Astaire was a dancer and a television presenter. He is still considered the greatest dancer in film history. Along with dancing, he also did acting, singing, and choreography. He was born on May 10, 1899, in Omaha, Nebraska.
Fred used to dance with her sister when his father lost his job. Their family started the show business due to which Fred already knew dancing and singing.
He was used to performing in front of an audience from childhood. This helped him a lot during his career as well. Fred learned dancing at the age of 4. After 2 years, he was even performing professionally with his sister Adele. Mostly, the dance was in the Ballet class.
A fun fact about Fred Astaire is that when the audience compared him to his sister, he was less talented.
Early Career of Fred Astaire
Fred was performing for Broadway in 1917. His breaking role was on “Over the Top” which was for the US and allied troops. He then did various roles. Not to mention, he also applied for the test where he failed miserably. The test report said, “Can’t sing, can’t act”. However, he later said that the result didn’t say bad about acting but was still negative.
Thereafter, David O Selznick signed him for RKO. He was lightly uncertain about Fred but still wanted to give him a try. He landed the role in Dancing Lady with Joan Crawford. The performance was too good which then opened a lot of doors for the dancer. Thereafter, he was selected for Flying Down to Rio with Ginger Rogers.
This is when his career began and he came into many moves such as The Gay Divorcee and Top Hat with Ginger. Katharine said that Ginger and Fred were perfect partners as Fred gave a class to Ginger and Ginger gave a physical relationship with Fred.
After doing a few roles, the duo stopped appearing. However, they were united after a few years.
Fred Astaire Facts
- The duo of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers was fascinating. They together made 10 films. The fun fact is that he initially refused to work with Ginger as didn’t want to link to another dancer.
- Fred was well-known for the dance. He even uniquely defined the entire dance sequence.
- He was a big fan of odd Michael Jackson. Even Jackie Chan’s Kung fu scenes were inspired by the dance move.
- Astaire didn’t like new things. He worked with the same choreographer on more than 16 films.
Last Days of Astaire
He died on June 22nd, 1987 due to Pneumonia. The last on-screen dance that he did was for one of the episodes of Battlestar Galactica. It was 8 years before his death. Not to mention, he was addicted to Soap Operas. During his career, he was active for 76 years. He was in more than 10 Broadways, 31 musical films, and was also in 4 televised specials. His dance steps were phenomenal in musicals such as Swing Time, Shall we dance, Top hat, etc.
Our affiliate links and courses on photography
Go to www.picsartsolutions.com
For photography tips and tricks, click here.
For 12 ways to make money with photography, click here.