1952
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Jun 15, 2017 · While all music and songs were known to be dubbed (recorded before filming), his tap dancing was dubbed also. He “over-dubbed” his taps – recording them live as he danced to the previously recorded taps.
- Brad Rosenberg
Fred Astaire (born Frederick Austerlitz, [1] May 10, 1899 – June 22, 1987) was an American dancer, actor, singer, musician, choreographer, and presenter, whose career in stage, film, and television spanned 76 years.
Feb 13, 2012 · Indeed, the film, released 55 years ago today (on February 13, 1957), was not a hit. Yet today, it's regarded as a visually sumptuous classic, with Fred Astaire dancing with impossible grace at 58 and Audrey Hepburn in one of her most stylish, iconic performances. Still, as beloved as "Funny Face" is, many viewers may not know of the real-life ...
- 3 min
- Gary Susman
- SWING TIME (1936) Directed by George Stevens. Screenplay by Howard Lindsay and Allan Scott, from a story by Edwin S. Gelsey. Starring Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, Victor Moore, Helen Broderick, Eric Blore, Betty Furness, George Metaxa.
- THE BAND WAGON (1953) Directed by Vincente Minnelli. Written by Betty Comden and Adolph Green. Starring Fred Astaire, Cyd Charisse, Oscar Levant, Nanette Fabray, Jack Buchanan.
- TOP HAT (1935) Directed by Mark Sandrich. Screenplay by Dwight Taylor and Allan Scott, story by Taylor. Starring Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, Edward Everett Horton, Helen Broderick, Erik Rhodes, Eric Blore, Lucille Ball.
- FUNNY FACE (1957) Directed by Stanley Donen. Written by Leonard Gershe. Starring Audrey Hepburn, Fred Astaire, Kay Thompson, Michel Auclair, Robert Flemyng.
- Overview
- Early career
- Astaire and Rogers
- Later musicals: Easter Parade, Royal Wedding, and The Band Wagon
- Awards and other films
Fred Astaire (born May 10, 1899, Omaha, Nebraska, U.S.—died June 22, 1987, Los Angeles, California) was an American dancer onstage and in motion pictures who was best known for a number of highly successful musical comedy films in which he starred with Ginger Rogers. He is regarded by many as the greatest popular-music dancer of all time.
Astaire studied dancing from the age of four, and in 1906 he formed an act with his sister, Adele, that became a popular vaudeville attraction. The two made their Broadway debut in Over the Top (1917–18). They achieved international fame with stage hits that included For Goodness Sake (1922), Funny Face (1927–28), and The Band Wagon (1931–32). When Adele retired after marrying Lord Charles Cavendish in 1932, Astaire made a screen test, reportedly receiving an unencouraging verdict from executives: “Can’t act, can’t sing. Balding. Can dance a little.” He was nevertheless cast as a featured dancer in the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer production Dancing Lady (1933), which starred Joan Crawford, Clark Gable, and the Three Stooges.
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Also in 1933 Astaire was paired with Ginger Rogers in the RKO Radio Pictures production Flying Down to Rio. They were a sensation, stealing the picture from stars Delores del Rio and Gene Raymond. Public demand compelled RKO to feature the pair in a classic series of starring vehicles throughout the 1930s, with The Gay Divorcee (1934), Top Hat (1935), and Swing Time (1936) often cited as the best of the lot. Although Astaire worked well with several leading ladies throughout his career, his partnership with Rogers had a special chemistry. Their respective elegance (Astaire) and earthiness (Rogers) rubbed off on one another, and it has often been said that he gave her class and she gave him sex appeal. Their dance routines, often in the midst of sumptuous Art Deco settings, were intricate tap or graceful ballroom numbers that served as sophisticated statements of romantic love. Only once—in Carefree (1938)—did Astaire and Rogers share an on-screen kiss, and then only in a dream sequence.
Astaire’s immensely popular dancing style appeared relaxed, light, effortless, and largely improvised. In reality, he was a hardworking perfectionist who tirelessly rehearsed routines for hours on end. Working in collaboration with legendary choreographer Hermes Pan for his films with Rogers, Astaire eschewed the then-popular Busby Berkeley approach to filmed musicals and its emphasis on special effects, surreal settings, and chorus girls in ever-changing kaleidoscope patterns. Instead, Astaire revolutionized the movie musical by simplifying it: solo dancers or couples were shot in full-figure, and dances were filmed with a minimum of edits and camera angles. He is regarded as a pioneer in the serious presentation of dance on film.
After the last RKO Astaire-Rogers film, The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle (1939), Astaire appeared with various other partners, such as Eleanor Powell, Rita Hayworth (whom Astaire cited as his favourite on-screen partner), and Lucille Bremer. He retired temporarily in 1946 but returned to the screen in 1948 and appeared in a series of Technicolor musicals for MGM that, next to his films with Rogers, constitute his most highly regarded body of work. Several of Astaire’s most-famous dance routines appear in these films, such as the slow-motion dance in Easter Parade (1948), which also featured Judy Garland; the dance with empty shoes in The Barkleys of Broadway (1949), which was his 10th and final film with Rogers; the ceiling dance and the duet with a hat rack in Royal Wedding (1951); and the dance on air in The Belle of New York (1952). The best of Astaire’s films during this period was The Band Wagon (1953), often cited as one of the greatest of film musicals; it featured Astaire’s memorable duet with Cyd Charisse to the song “Dancing in the Dark.”
Astaire’s run of classic MGM musicals ended with Silk Stockings (1957), after which his screen appearances were mostly in nondancing character roles. He continued to dance with new partner Barrie Chase for several Emmy Award-winning television specials throughout the 1950s and ’60s, and he danced again on-screen in Finian’s Rainbow (1968) and for a few steps with Gene Kelly in That’s Entertainment, Part II (1976).
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Astaire’s most-notable dramatic roles were in On the Beach (1959); The Pleasure of His Company (1962); The Towering Inferno (1974), for which he received an Oscar nomination for best supporting actor; and Ghost Story (1981), his final film. He was awarded an honorary Academy Award for his contributions to film in 1950, and he received a Life Achiev...
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
The Band Wagon is a 1953 American musical romantic comedy film directed by Vincente Minnelli, starring Fred Astaire and Cyd Charisse. It tells the story of an aging musical star who hopes a Broadway show will revive his career.
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Although having the same title as the 1927 Broadway musical Funny Face by the Gershwin brothers, and featuring the same male star (Fred Astaire), the plot is completely different and only four of the songs from the stage musical are included.
