Frederick Austerlitz
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Fred Astaire began performing at age 5 and gained success with sister Adele on Broadway. After her marriage in 1932, he moved to Hollywood, where he partnered with Ginger Rogers in nine RKO musicals, starting with Flying Down to Rio 1933. He later took dramatic roles, including The Towering Inferno 1974, and received a special Academy Award in 1949.
Names, aliases, and relatives of Fred Astaire — birth name, kin, and personal ties.
Fred Astaire by the numbers — life, work, and family.
Fred Astaire — early life, career, personal life, and legacy.
Fred Astaire, born Frederick Austerlitz on May 10, 1899, in Omaha, Nebraska, began his stage career at age 5 with his sister Adele, performing in vaudeville and Broadway. His father, Fritz Austerlitz, was an Austrian immigrant, and his mother, Ann Astaire, was of German Lutheran descent.
He and Adele formed a successful partnership on Broadway. They achieved success before Adele retired to marry in 1932, prompting Fred to head to Hollywood.
After Adele’s marriage, Astaire moved to Hollywood and signed with RKO. He was loaned to MGM for Dancing Lady 1933 before beginning his partnership with Ginger Rogers in Flying Down to Rio 1933. Over the next decade, they made nine films together, including Top Hat 1935, Swing Time 1936, and Shall We Dance 1937.
Astaire later danced with other partners like Cyd Charisse and Audrey Hepburn in films such as The Band Wagon 1953 and Funny Face 1957. He also took dramatic roles, earning an Academy Award nomination for The Towering Inferno 1974.
Astaire received numerous honors, including a special Academy Honorary Award in 1949 for his contributions to musical film.
Fred Astaire married twice. His first wife, Phyllis Livingston Potter, died of lung cancer in 1954 while he was filming Daddy Long Legs 1955. They had two children: Fred Astaire Jr. born 1936 and Ava Astaire-McKenzie born 1942. In 1980, he married Robyn Smith, a jockey he first saw in a horse race. Astaire died of pneumonia on June 22, 1987, in Los Angeles, California, at age 88.
The American Film Institute named Fred Astaire the 5th Greatest Male Screen Legend. His films Top Hat 1935, Swing Time 1936, and The Band Wagon 1953 were added to the National Film Registry. Astaire received an Academy Honorary Award in 1949 for his contributions to musical films and an AFI Life Achievement Award in 1980. He was inducted into the International Tap Dance Hall of Fame in 2002. His partnership with Ginger Rogers remains a defining element of film history.
Browse the complete filmography of Fred Astaire — every film, TV show, and documentary credit, ranked by popularity.
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Every award, honor, and recognition received by Fred Astaire — Grammys, hall-of-fame inductions, civic honors, lifetime achievements.
Fred Astaire's bibliography — every authored, edited, and co-written book, ranked by edition count.
A wall of memorable lines from Fred Astaire — lyrics, interviews, and off-the-cuff remarks captured over a lifetime.
I Have Never Had Anything That I Can Remember in the Business and That Includes All the Movies and the Stage Shows and Everything That I Didn’t Enjoy. I Didn’t Like Some of the Small Time Vaudeville, Because We Weren’t Going on and Getting Better. Aside from That, I Didn’t Dislike Anything.
I Had Some Ballet Training but Didn’t Like It. It Was Like a Game to Me.
People Think I Was Born in Top Hat and Tails.
The Hardest Job Kids Face Today Is Learning Good Manners Without Seeing Any.
It’s Nice That All the Composers Have Said That Nobody Interprets a Lyric Like Fred Astaire. but When It Comes to Selling Records I Was Never Worth Anything Particularly Except as a Collector’s Item.
I Suppose I Made It Look Easy, but Gee Whiz, Did I Work and Worry.
Dancing Is a Sweat Job.
I Don’t Want to Be the Oldest Performer in Captivity… I Don’t Want to Look Like a Little Old Man Dancing Out There.
I’m Just a Hoofer with a Spare Set of Tails.
All the Girls I Ever Danced with Thought They Couldn’t Do It. so They Always Cried. All Except Ginger. No, No, Ginger Never Cried.
What I Think Is the Really Dangerous Approach Is the Let’s Be Artistic Attitude. I Know That Artistry Just Happens.
When Working on My Choreography I Am Not Always Receptive to Outside Suggestions or Opinions. I Believe That If You Have Something in Mind in the Way of a Creation, Such as a New Dance, a Sequence, or an Effect, You Are Certain to Come up with Inaccurate Criticism and Damaging Results If You Go Around Asking for Opinions.
I Do Nothing That I Don’t Like, Such as Inventing up to the Arty or Down to the Corny. I Happen to Relish a Certain Type of Corn.
I Make Love by Dancing.
Little-known facts about Fred Astaire — origins, oddities, and behind-the-scenes details from a public life.
Fred Astaire’s first screen test drew the evaluation: Can’t act. Can’t sing. Balding. Can dance a little.
Cyd Charisse’s husband Tony Martin could identify her dance partner by her bruises: Gene Kelly left them, Fred Astaire did not.
Astaire insured his legs for one million dollars.
In his seventies, Astaire took up skateboarding and earned a life membership in the National Skateboard Society.
He first met lifelong friend Irving Berlin on the set of Top Hat 1935.
Astaire wore his trademark top hat and tails in his very first movie appearance, Dancing Lady 1933.
Don McLean’s song Wonderful Baby was written with Astaire in mind, and Astaire recorded it for an album.
For Daddy Long Legs 1955, Leslie Caron wanted to design her own costumes; Astaire requested no feathers, recalling a floating feather from Ginger Rogers’ dress in Top Hat 1935.
Astaire famously wore a necktie around his waist as a belt, an affectation from his friendship with Douglas Fairbanks.
Astaire appears on the cover of The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band album.
All music and songs in his films were dubbed before filming; his tap dancing was also overdubbed.
Astaire became a father for the first time at age 36 when his son Fred Astaire Jr. was born on January 21, 1936.
After Blue Skies 1946, a petition of 10,000 names was gathered to persuade him out of retirement.
Astaire disguised his large hands by curling his middle two fingers while dancing.
He always wore a toupee unless wearing a hat, which is why he so often wore hats in films.
Astaire was interred at Oakwood Memorial Park in Chatsworth, California, near Ginger Rogers.
He and Ginger Rogers appeared in 10 movies together, including Flying Down to Rio 1933 and The Barkleys of Broadway 1949.
Astaire made a cameo in John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s film Imagine 1972 and asked to redo his scene.
When Ginger Rogers received a Kennedy Center Honor in 1992, Astaire’s widow Robyn Smith withheld rights to clips of their dances, but the Kennedy Center refused payment.
Astaire named Swing Time 1936 as his favorite film with Ginger Rogers.
The only screen dance with Gene Kelly was The Babbitt and the Bromide in Ziegfeld Follies 1945.
Astaire was one of the first Kennedy Center Honorees in 1978.
Politically, Astaire was a conservative Republican and a charter member of the Hollywood Republican Committee.
He was interested in playing Willy Wonka in Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory 1971 but was deemed too old.
First wife Phyllis Potter died of lung cancer at age 46 while Astaire filmed Daddy Long Legs 1955.
His daughter Ava Astaire-McKenzie was born on March 28, 1942.
Astaire’s paternal grandparents were Czech Jews who converted to Catholicism; his mother’s family were German Lutheran immigrants.
Gene Kelly broke his ankle after losing a volleyball game, leading to Astaire replacing him in Easter Parade 1948.
Astaire was actually 5 foot 7 and wore 2-inch heels to appear 5 foot 9.
He was voted the 23rd Greatest Movie Star of All Time by Premiere magazine.
Three of his films were selected for the National Film Registry: Top Hat, Swing Time, and The Band Wagon.
He received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6756 Hollywood Boulevard on February 8, 1960.
The American Film Institute named him the 5th Greatest Male Screen Legend.
His only Oscar nomination was for the disaster film The Towering Inferno 1974.
Astaire was a notorious perfectionist and often believed he had no business as a dancer.
He died on June 22, 1987, exactly 18 years after Judy Garland, his co-star in Easter Parade.
Astaire was inducted into the International Tap Dance Hall of Fame in 2002 as part of the inaugural class.
During his childhood, he toured on the vaudeville circuit but occasionally settled with his family among Austrian immigrant neighbors.
He wrote in his autobiography Steps in Time that he met Ginger Rogers in New York while both were stage performers and danced together at a nightclub.
Astaire was an accomplished pianist and drummer, showcasing these skills in films like Follow the Fleet 1936 and A Damsel in Distress 1937.
George Gershwin’s dying words were reportedly Fred Astaire.
Astaire first saw his second wife Robyn Smith when she was a jockey in a horse race.
He was considered for the role of Max Detweiler in The Sound of Music 1965.
Astaire owned Blue Valley Ranch, a thoroughbred horse breeding farm, and his most famous racehorse was Triplicate, winner of the 1946 Hollywood Gold Cup.
He founded Ava Records, named for his daughter.
Astaire starred in both the 1927 Broadway version and the 1957 film version of Funny Face, though the plots differ.
In 1949, he received a special Academy Award for his unique artistry and contribution to the technique of musical pictures.
He was offered the role of George M. Cohan in Yankee Doodle Dandy 1942 but turned it down; James Cagney won an Oscar for it.
Astaire joined ASCAP in 1942 and collaborated with Johnny Mercer and Gladys Shelly, composing songs including I’m Building Up to an Awful Let-Down and Sweet Sorrow.
Quick answers to the questions readers ask most about Fred Astaire.
Celebrities similar to Fred Astaire — same craft, ranked by reach.
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