Fred Astaire

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Fred Astaire with his sister Adele (1919)

Fred Astaire (born May 10, 1899 in Omaha , Nebraska , † June 22, 1987 in Los Angeles , California ; actually Frederick Austerlitz ) was an American dancer , choreographer , singer and actor . His career in film, television and theater spanned a total of 76 years. Together with Ginger Rogers , he formed a world-famous screen couple in ten dance films . He is considered a formative figure in the development of dance and musical films . He was especially famous for his tap dance numbers . Fred Astaire was named 5th on the list of the 25 Greatest Male Film Legends by the American Film Institute .

Life

Astaire was born in Omaha, Nebraska, to Johanna "Ann" Austerlitz, née Geilus, (1878–1975) and Friedrich Emanuel "Fritz" Austerlitz (1868–1924). Astaire's mother was born in the United States to Protestant German immigrants originally from East Prussia and Alsace. His father was an immigrant from Linz in what was then Austria-Hungary with Jewish roots.

Fred Astaire with his sister (around 1906)

Astaire started dancing as a child. He attended two dance schools and performed with sister Adele (1896–1981) on cabaret , vaudeville and concert hall stages. They conquered Broadway in 1917 with the play Over the Top . When Adele married Lord Charles Cavendish in 1931 , she ended her artistic career. Fred was forced to perform alone. After the first audition in Hollywood, the criticism is said to have been: “ Can't sing, can't act, is slightly balding, but can dance a little. "(In German: " Can't sing, can't act, has a slightly bald head, but can dance a little. " ).

The film company RKO Pictures signed him in 1933 and initially loaned him to MGM for the film Dancing Lady with Joan Crawford and Clark Gable . Then in the same year RKO shot with him and Ginger Rogers in supporting roles in the film Flying Down to Rio , which made Dolores del Río big, was a success at the box office and was the real breakthrough in Astaire's film career. The positive reaction to Flying Down to Rio was so great that Astaire and Rogers shot a total of nine other films together in which their characters fall in love after an initial dislike and perform dance and song numbers together. Astaire and Rogers made it into the top ten box office stars in the 1930s and are still the best-known dance duo in film history. The two sang hits from popular composers such as George Gershwin , Irving Berlin and Cole Porter in their films . Astaire always sang himself and, unlike many of his colleagues, consistently refused vocal doubles and dubbing. He also recorded numerous records. Of her nine Astaire Rogers films, I dance into your heart (1935) by Mark Sandrich and Swing Time (1936) by George Stevens are particularly singled out.

From the late 1930s onwards, Ginger Rogers concentrated more and more on her solo career, and Astaire shot with other partners: With Rita Hayworth in Reich You Will Never Be (1941) and You Were Never More Enchanting (1942), with Eleanor Powell in Broadway Melody of 1940 (1940), Joan Leslie in The Sky's the Limit (1943) and Lucille Bremer in the fantasy comedy Yolanda and the Thief (1945), directed by Vincente Minnelli . After the huge failure of Yolanda and the box office thief , Astaire temporarily withdrew from the film business.

As early as 1948 Astaire had his comeback at the side of Judy Garland in Easter Walk ; then a very successful time at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer , during which he worked with Jane Powell at the Royal Wedding (1951) and Cyd Charisse at the curtain! (1953) and Leslie Caron filmed for Daddy Langbein (1955). He played one of his last musical roles in 1957 alongside Audrey Hepburn as fashion photographer Dick Avery in Funny Face by Stanley Donen . Astaire was now, next to Gene Kelly , with whom he only worked once (at Ziegfeld Follies from 1946), as the greatest film dancer of his time. Astaire not only worked out all of his choreographies himself, he also brought new ideas with regard to tracking shots during his often breakneck and seemingly weightless dance interludes. His dancing style was characterized by an apparent lightness, great elegance of movement and by his ability to implement quick changes in tempo and rhythm in the music.

In the late 1950s, the popularity of musical films declined significantly. The now 60-year-old Astaire increasingly refrained from dance roles, although he was still appearing in television dance specials in the 1960s, which have won several Emmy Awards . From the 1960s, his presence in the cinema was limited to acting. In 1968 he appeared in Francis Ford Coppola's work The Golden Rainbow on the side of Petula Clark . In 1974, he saved Jennifer Jones ' little cat in Flaming Inferno , which earned him an Oscar nomination. In addition to his supporting roles in the cinema, he also appeared in television series: In your appearance, Al Mundy , he played the father of Al Mundy. Fred Astaire has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame . In the star-studded movie Das mauve taxi / Un taxi mauve (1977) with Philippe Noiret and Charlotte Rampling , he played a supporting role as a mysterious taxi driver. Astaire remained active as an actor until shortly before his death.

In 1947 he opened the Fred Astaire Dance Studios , which he owned until 1966 and which still operate worldwide as a chain of dance studios. In 1962 he founded the music label AVA Records (member of ASCAP ), named after his daughter's first name.

Private life

Fred Astaire was married to Phyllis Livingston Potter from 1933 until her death in 1954. The marriage was considered extremely happy. They had two children together. The entertainer was married to Robyn Smith from 1980 until his death.

Fred Astaire died on June 22, 1987 at the age of 88 of complications from pneumonia . He found his final resting place in Oakwood Memorial Park Cemetery in Chatsworth, California , USA .

synchronization

Fred Astaire's first film to be dubbed in German was I dance into your heart ; it was shown in German cinemas in 1950, 15 years after its first performance. With the exception of this film, Erik Ode Astaire's standard voice was in those years , followed by Hans Nielsen and Friedrich Joloff . Later voice actors for the cinema were Leo Bardischewski and Friedrich W. Bauschulte . Most of his films, which were made between 1933 and 1952, were dubbed in the 1980s on behalf of television, mostly by Eckart Dux .

Filmography (selection)

Awards

Fred Astaire's hand and footprints outside Grauman's Chinese Theater

various

In the film satire Ginger and Fred by Federico Fellini from 1986, in which the over-commercialized TV show business is drastically parodied, an aging dance couple plays the main role (played by Giulietta Masina and Marcello Mastroianni ), who were once called Rogers-Astaire imitations had made a career by imitating tap dances.

literature

  • Stephen Harvey: Fred Astaire. His films - his life. (Original title: Fred Astaire .) 4th edition, Heyne, Munich 1991, ISBN 3-453-86043-8 .
  • Neal Gabler: A realm of its own. How Jewish emigrants invented Hollywood. Translated from the American: Klaus Binder , Bernd Leineweber. Berlin Verlag, Berlin 2004, ISBN 3-8270-0353-9 .
  • Peter J. Levinson: Puttin 'On the Ritz: Fred Astaire and the Fine Art of Panache. A biography. St. Martin's Press, New York 2009, XIV, 477 pp., ISBN 978-0-312-35366-7 .
  • Kathleen Riley: The Astaires: Fred & Adele. Oxford University Press, Oxford [u. a.] 2012, ISBN 978-0-19-973841-0 .
Fiction

Documentaries

  • Fred Astaire sets the tone. (OT: Fred Astaire donne le "la". ) Documentary film, France, 2017, 42:42 min., Script and direction: Yves Riou and Philippe Pouchain, production: Zadig productions, Lobster Films, arte France, series: arte Concert , First broadcast: December 24, 2017 by arte, table of contents by arte.
  • Fred Astaire, poet of dancing feet. (OT: Fred Astaire - L'homme aux pieds d'or. ) Documentary, France, 2017, 52:02 min., Script and direction: Yves Riou and Philippe Pouchain, production: Zadig productions, Lobster Films, arte France, first broadcast : December 24, 2017 at arte, table of contents by ARD .

Web links

Commons : Fred Astaire  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Fred Astaire (1899-1987) aka Frederick Austerlitz. ( Memento of the original from January 2, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. In: germanhollywood.com .  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.germanhollywood.com
  2. ^ The Religious Affiliation of Adele Astaire, great American actor and dancer. In: adherents.com , September 20, 2005.
  3. ↑ Peter J. Levinson: Puttin 'On the Ritz: Fred Astaire and the Fine Art of Panache, A Biography , St. Martin's Press, New York 2009, XIV, 477 pp., ISBN 978-0-312-35366-7 .
  4. ↑ Celebs who went from failures to success stories . July 25, 2012 ( cbsnews.com [accessed March 14, 2018]).
  5. ↑ Fred Astaire | Biography, Movie Highlights and Photos | AllMovie. Retrieved March 14, 2018 .
personal data
SURNAME Astaire, Fred
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Austerlitz, Frederick (real name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American dancer, singer and actor
DATE OF BIRTH May 10, 1899
PLACE OF BIRTH Omaha , Nebraska
DATE OF DEATH June 22, 1987
Place of death Los Angeles , California