The Golden Age Of Hollywood

Fred Astaire (1899 - 1987)

Fred Astaire

It is nothing new to say Astaire was the greatest dancer who ever lived, certainly the finest ever to appear on film but he was also a fine singer and light comedian. His phrasing was immaculate, Fred probably introduced more song standards then any of the major singers : many of the best songs by Irving Berlin, Cole Porter, Jerome Kern, George and Ira Gershwin, Harold Arlen and Johnny Mercer. In film his natural acting style enlivened many lesser musicals and when he got on the dance floor movie magic was the happy outcome.

Astaire worked in vaudeville and Broadway with his sister Adele for 25 years before his film debut opposite Joan Crawford in Dancing Lady (1933). Adele was in fact thought to be the most talented of the family but she retired from showbusiness to marry into the British aristocracy.

In Hollywood Fred had a timeless partnership with Ginger Rogers which lasted for nine movies in the Thirties and one rather disappointing reunion movie in 1949 (The Barkleys of Broadway). The best of the Astaire-Rogers movies are probably The Gay Divorcee (1934), Top Hat (1935) and Swing Time (1936) but they are all entertaining. Astaire's choreography never seems dated because of his extraordinary grace and style and he insisted the dancer be filmed full figure.

After the Astaire and Rogers partnership broke up at the end of the Thirties Fred found other excellent partners in Eleanor Powell (Broadway Melody of 1940) and two films with Rita Hayworth (You'll Never Get Rich (1941) and You Were Never Lovelier (1942) ). He also co-starred twice with Bing Crosby in Holiday Inn (1942) and Blue Skies (1946).

The Puttin' On The Ritz routine in Blue Skies (1946) was to have been Astaire's swansong but Gene Kelly dropped out of Easter Parade (1948) and Fred came out of retirement and replaced him. The best of his Fifties' musicals was The Band Wagon (1953), his last great film musical Silk Stockings (1957) was also one of the last dance musicals from the Arthur Freed unit at MGM.

Over the next few decades Astaire kept busy with dramatic roles, a TV series and his autobiography. In the Seventies the That's Entertainment movies made him popular once more. His acting might not have won many awards but Fred Astaire movies will continue to entertain audiences when many of the award winners have been forgotten.


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Written content copyright Derek McLellan,2005.
Copyright © The Fedora Chronicles
Fred Astaire image from
en.wikipedia.org/