Fred Astaire

American dancer, choreographer, singer, and actor Fred Astaire (1899-1987) was a unique dancer with his top hat and tails, his uncanny sense of rhythm, perfectionism, and innovation. He began his highly successful partnership with Ginger Rogers in Flying Down to Rio (1933). They danced together in 10 musicals in which he made all song and dance routines integral to the plotlines. Another innovation was that a closely tracking dolly camera filmed his dance routines in as few shots as possible. His career in film, television and theatre spanned a total of 76 years.


British Art Photo postcard, no. 36-2.


British Art Photo postcard, no. 46. Photo: Radio Pictures.


British postcard in the Film Partners Series, London, no. F 195. Photo: Radio (RKO). Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers in Follow the Fleet (Mark Sandrich, 1936).


British 'Real Photograph' postcard, no. 113.B. Photo: Radio Pictures.


British postcard in the Picturegoer Series, London, no. W 773. Photo: Metro Goldwyn Mayer. Fred Astaire in The Barkleys of Broadway (Charles Walters, 1949).

Can't sing. Can't act. Gets a bit bald. Can dance a little

Fred Astaire was born Frederick Austerlitz in 1899 in Omaha, Nebraska, to Johanna (Geilus) and Fritz Austerlitz, a brewer. 'Astaire' was a name that he and his sister Adele had adopted for their vaudeville act when they were about 5 years old. It is said that the name comes from an uncle who had L'Astaire as his surname.

Fred and Adele conquered Broadway in 1917 with the play 'Over the Top'. In the 1920s, Adele and Fred performed regularly in Broadway theatres. Their duo ended in 1932 when she married her first husband, Lord Charles Cavendish, a son of the Duke of Devon.

Astaire headed to Hollywood. There is a famous story about the RKO Pictures screen test of Fred Astaire who was rejected with "Can't sing. Can't act. Gets a bit bald. Can dance a little". Many of the millions of fans of his films thought he could dance quite well after all and Cole Porter wrote a number of songs specifically for him.

Signed to RKO, he was loaned to MGM to appear in the musical Dancing Lady (Robert Z. Leonard, 1933) with Joan Crawford. The film was a breakthrough for Astaire, who appears as himself and dances with Crawford.

He first worked with Ginger Rogers in his second film, Flying down to Rio (Thornton Freeland, 1933). Their characters, after initially disliking each other, fell in love and performed dance and song numbers together. It was a box office success. In their films together, the two sang the hits of popular composers such as George Gershwin, Irving Berlin and Cole Porter in their films.

The combination of the two dancers and the choreography of Hermes Pan made dance an important element of the Hollywood film musical. His films with Rogers include The Gay Divorcee (Mark Sandrich, 1934), Top Hat (Mark Sandrich, 1935), and Carefree (Mark Sandrich, 1938). They danced together in 9 RKO pictures. During these years, he was also active in recording and radio.


American postcard by Fotofolio, N.Y., N.Y., no. NM14. Photo: Nickolas Muray. Collection: International Museum of Photography at George Eastman House. Fred Astaire and Adele Astaire in 'Lady Be Good' (1926).


German postcard by Frohwalt, no. A 639. Photo: Columbia.


British postcard. Photo: RKO Radio. Fred Astaire in Roberta (1935).


British postcard in the Picturegoer Series, London, no. 1084. Photo: R.K.O. Radio. Fred Astaire in Follow the Fleet (Mark Sandrich, 1936).


French postcard by Editions et Publications cinématographiques, no. 89.

The waning popularity of musical films

From the late 1930s, Ginger Rogers concentrated more and more on her solo career, and Fred Astaire danced with other partners. He danced with Rita Hayworth in You'll Never Get Rich (Sidney Lanfield, 1941) and You Were Never Lovelier (William A. Seiter, 1942), with Eleanor Powell in Broadway Melody of 1940 (Norman Taurog, 1940), and with Joan Leslie in The Sky's the Limit (Edward H. Griffith, 1943).

Astaire also worked with Bing Crosby in Holiday Inn (Mark Sandrich, 1942) and Blue Skies (Stuart Heisler, 1946). After the great box-office failure of the fantasy comedy Yolanda and the Thief (Vincente Minnelli, 1945), Astaire temporarily retired from the film business. He soon returned to the big screen to take over the role of the injured Gene Kelly in Easter Parade (Charles Walters, 1948) opposite Judy Garland and Peter Lawford.

Later he starred in The Band Wagon (Vincente Minnelli, 1953) with Cyd Charisse. One of his last musical roles was as fashion photographer Dick Avery alongside Audrey Hepburn in Funny Face (Stanley Donen, 1957). By the end of the 1950s, the popularity of musical films had waned considerably.

Astaire, now in his 60s, increasingly refrained from dance roles, although he still appeared in television dance specials in the 1960s, which won several Emmy Awards. Astaire continued to act, appearing in such films as On the Beach (Stanley Kramer, 1959), Finian's Rainbow (Francis Ford Coppola, 1968) alongside Petula Clark, and The Towering Inferno (John Guillermin, 1974) where he received his only Oscar nomination in the Best Supporting Actor category. His last film was Ghost Story (John Irvin, 1981).

Fred Astaire died of pneumonia in 1987 and, like Ginger Rogers, is buried in the Oakwood Memorial Park Cemetery in Chatsworth, California. He was married twice. He was first married to Phyllis Livingston Potter from 1933 till her death in 1954. They had two children, Ava Astaire-McKenzie and Fred Astaire Jr. From 1980 till his death in 1987, he was married to Robyn Smith.


British postcard in the Film Shots series by Film Weekly. Photo: RKO Radio. Blanche Frederici, Fred Astaire and Dolores Del Rio in Flying Down to Rio (Thornton Freeland, 1933).


French postcard by Fernand Hazan Editeur, Paris, no. 1659 C. Fred Astaire in Swing Time (George Stevens, 1936).


Dutch postcard. Photo: R.K.O. Radio Pictures. Fred Astaire in The Sky’s the Limit (Edward H. Griffith, 1943).


Belgian collectors card by Kwatta, Bois d'Haine, no. C. 171. Photo: M.G.M.Lucille Bremer and Fred Astaire in Yolanda and the Thief (Vincente Minnelli, 1945).


Italian postcard by Bromofoto, Milano, no. 240. Fred Astaire in Easter Parade (Charles Walters, 1948).


Belgian collectors card by Chocolaterie Clovis, Pepinster. Photo: Metro Goldwyn Mayer. Publicity still for Easter Parade (Charles Walters, 1948). Collection: Amit Benyovits.


Italian postcard in the Divi e Divine series by La Casa Usher. Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers in The Barkleys of Broadway (Charles Walters, 1949).


Dutch postcard by Van Leer's Fotodrukindustrie N.V., Amsterdam, no 351. Photo: R.K.O. Vera-Ellen and Fred Astaire on the set of Three Little Words (Richard Thorpe, 1950).


British postcard in the Picturegoer Series, London, no. W 966. Photo: Metro Goldwyn Mayer. Fred Astaire, Jane Powell, Peter Lawford, and Sarah Churchill in Royal Wedding (Stanley Donen, 1951).


French postcard in the Collection Cinéstar. Fred Astaire and Cyd Charisse in Silk Stockings (Rouben Mamoulian, 1957).

Sources: Diana Hamilton (IMDb), Wikipedia (Dutch and German), and IMDb.