| Biography | Fred Astaire was an American dancer, singer, actor, choreographer, and television presenter. He is widely considered the most influential dancer in the history of film. As children, Fred and his sister Adele Astaire performed as a brother and sister vaudeville act.
His stage and subsequent film and television careers spanned a total of 76 years. He starred in more than 10 Broadway and London musicals, made 31 musical films, four television specials, and issued numerous recordings. As a dancer, his most outstanding traits were his uncanny sense of rhythm, his perfectionism, and his innovation. His most memorable dancing partnership was with Ginger Rogers, with whom he co-starred in a series of ten Hollywood musicals. The American Film Institute named Astaire the fifth greatest male star of Classic Hollywood cinema in 100 Years... 100 Stars.
Many dancers and choreographers, including Gene Kelly, Rudolf Nureyev, Sammy Davis Jr., Michael Jackson, Gregory Hines, Mikhail Baryshnikov, George Balanchine, Jerome Robbins, Madhuri Dixit, and Bob Fosse, who called Astaire his "idol", acknowledged his influence. |