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Funny Face Today Biography

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Biography for
Fred Astaire More at IMDbPro »
Date of Birth
10 May 1899, Omaha, Nebraska, USA

Date of Death
22 June 1987, Los Angeles, California, USA (pneumonia)

Birth Name
Frederic Austerlitz Jr.

Height
5' 9" (1.75 m)

Mini Biography

The son of an Austrian immigrant, Fred Astaire entered show business at age 5. He was successful both in vaudeville and on Broadway in partnership with his sister, Adele Astaire. After Adele retired to marry in 1932, Astaire headed to Hollywood. Signed to RKO, he was loaned to MGM to appear in Dancing Lady (1933) before starting work on RKO's Flying Down to Rio (1933). In the latter film, he began his highly successful partnership with Ginger Rogers, with whom he danced in 9 RKO pictures. During these years, he was also active in recording and radio. On film, Astaire later appeared opposite a number of partners through various studios. After a temporary retirement in 1945-7, during which he opened Fred Astaire Dance Studios, Astaire returned to film to star in more musicals through 1957. He subsequently performed a number of straight dramatic roles in film and TV.
anked #73 in Empire (UK) magazine's "The Top 100 Movie Stars of All Time" list. [October 1997]

Interred at Oakwood Memorial Park, Chatsworth, California, USA, the same cemetery where long-time dancing partner, Ginger Rogers, is located.

Had a son, Fred Astaire Jr. (born on Tuesday, January 21st, 1936) and a daughter, Ava Astaire-McKenzie (born on Saturday, March 28th, 1942) with his first wife, Phyllis Livingston Potter. Fred Astaire Junior was born 2,258 days (322 weeks and 4 days), before Ava Astaire-McKenzie.

The evaluation of Astaire's first screen test: "Can't act. Can't sing. Balding. Can dance a little."

Astaire disguised his very large hands by curling his middle two fingers while dancing.

First met lifelong best friend Irving Berlin on the set of Top Hat (1935).

After Blue Skies (1946), New York's Paramount Theater generated a petition of 10,000 names to persuade him to come out of retirement.

Born at 9:16pm-CST

The only time he and Gene Kelly ever danced together on screen (other than the linking-segments in the 1976 compilation movie, That's Entertainment, Part II (1976)) was in one routine, titled "The Babbitt and the Bromide" in the 1946 movie Ziegfeld Follies (1945).

Appears on the sleeve of The Beatles' "Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" album.

One of the first Kennedy Center Honorees in 1978.

Don McLean's song "Wonderful Baby" was written with Astaire in mind; Astaire reportedly loved the song, and recorded it for an album.

Made a cameo appearance in John Lennon and Yoko Ono's Imagine (1972) film, escorting Yoko through a doorway; after one successful take, he asked to try again, believing he could do a better job.

In the year 2000 the following album was released as a tribute to him: "Let Yourself Go: Celebrating Fred Astaire". All songs were performed by Stacey Kent.

He was voted the 19th Greatest Movie Star of all time by Entertainment Weekly.

His legs were insured for one million dollars.

Famously wore a necktie around his waist instead of a belt, an affectation he picked up from his friendship with actor Douglas Fairbanks but often mistakenly attributed to Astaire alone.

He was voted the 23rd Greatest Movie Star of all time by Premiere Magazine.

Named the #5 greatest actor on The 50 Greatest Screen Legends by the American Film Institute

Born only 18 months after his sister Adele Astaire.

Is one of the many movie stars mentioned in Madonna's song "Vogue"

He and Ginger Rogers acted in 10 movies together: The Barkleys of Broadway (1949), Carefree (1938), Flying Down to Rio (1933), Follow the Fleet (1936), The Gay Divorcee (1934), Roberta (1935), Shall We Dance (1937), The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle (1939), Swing Time (1936) and Top Hat (1935)

Although he spent most of his childhood touring on the vaudeville circuit, he would occasionally settle down with his family and their neighbors and friends, who were almost all families of Austrian immigrants.

Aside from starring in the film Funny Face (1957), he also starred in the original 1927 Broadway version of the George Gershwin & Ira Gershwin musical "Funny Face". Although he was the male lead in the show, he did not play the same character he does in the film, and the storyline of the original stage musical was entirely different from the one in the film. Both play and film used many of the same songs. The studio may have felt that the original plot of "Funny Face" could not be properly adapted into a movie as it was an "ensemble" musical with people dropping out and parts changing all the time. Apparently the studio bought the rights to the title just so they could use the song. The plot of this movie is actually that of the unsuccessful Broadway musical "Wedding Bells" by Leonard Gershe. His character in the film is based on photographer Richard Avedon, who in fact, set up most of the photography shown in the film. The soggy Paris weather played havoc with the shooting of the wedding dress dance scene. Both Astaire and Audrey Hepburn were continually slipping in the muddy and slippery grass.

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.

Wore his trademark top hat and tails in his very first movie appearance, Dancing Lady (1933).

Good friend of actress Carol Lynley.

His father was born in Austria, to parents who had converted from Judaism to Catholicism. His mother was born in Nebraska, to Lutheran immigrants from Germany.

Biography in: "The Scribner Encyclopedia of American Lives". Volume Two, 1986-1990, pages 36-38. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1999.

Inducted into the International Tap Dance Hall of Fame in 2002 (inaugural class).

For Daddy Long Legs (1955), Leslie Caron told Fred that she wanted to create her own costumes for the film. Fred Astaire told her: "OK, but no feathers, please", recalling the troubles he had with one of Ginger Rogers' elaborate ostrich feathered gowns in a dance from Top Hat (1935). A feather broke loose from Ginger Rogers dress and stubbornly floated in mid air around Astaire's face. The episode was recreated to hilarious effect in a scene from Easter Parade (1948) in which Fred Astaire danced with a clumsy, comical dancer portrayed by Judy Garland.

Tony Martin the husband of MGM star/dancer Cyd Charisse said he could tell who she had been dancing with that day on an MGM set. If she came home covered with bruises on her, it was the very physically-demanding Gene Kelly, if not it was the smooth and agile Fred Astaire.

Owned Blue Valley Ranch, a Thoroughbred horse breeding farm in the San Fernando Valley. He maintained a racing stable of four or five horses which competed at racetracks in California. His most famous racehorse was Triplicate, winner of the 1946 Hollywood Gold Cup.

Profiled in "American Classic Screen Interviews" (Scarecrow Press). [2010]

When Ginger Rogers received a Kennedy Center Honor in 1992, Robyn Smith, widow of Fred Astaire, withheld all rights to clips of Rogers' scenes with Astaire, demanding payment. The Kennedy Center refused and Rogers received her honor without the retrospective show.

Founder of Ava Records. Joining ASCAP in 1942, he collaborated with Johnny Mercer and Gladys Shelly. His popular song compositions include "I'm Building Up to an Awful Let-Down"; "Blue Without You"; "If Swing Goes, I Go Too"; "Just Like Taking Candy from a Baby"; "Just One More Dance, Madame"; "I'll Never Let You Go"; "Oh, My Achin' Back"; and "Sweet Sorrow".

Founder of Ava Records, named for his daughter, Ava Astaire-McKenzie.

Joining ASCAP in 1942, he collaborated with Johnny Mercer and Gladys Shelly. His popular song compositions include "I'm Building Up to an Awful Let-Down"; "Blue Without You"; "If Swing Goes, I Go Too"; "Just Like Taking Candy from a Baby"; "Just One More Dance, Madame"; "I'll Never Let You Go"; "Oh, My Achin' Back"; and "Sweet Sorrow".

Was the very first name entered on IMDB (nm0000001).

Politically, Astaire was a conservative and a lifelong Republican Party supporter, though he never made his political views publicly known. Along with Bing Crosby, George Murphy, Ginger Rogers, and others, he was a charter (founding) member of the Hollywood Republican Committee.