Fred Astaire

Fred Astaire was born in Omaha, Nebraska on May 10, 1899. Fred began dancing at the age of four.

Fred formed a child act with his sister, Adele, that became popular at the time. Their first act was called "Juvenile Artists Presenting an Electric Musical Toe-Dancing Novelty."  Adele eventually married, leaving Astaire to begin his solo career.

He had very large hands, which Astaire disguised by curling his middle two fingers while dancing.

Fred and Adele Astaire in 1921

"Can't sing. Can't act. Slightly balding. Can dance a little." Fittingly, the studio toad who wrote that screen-test evaluation of a young Fred Astaire is long forgotten, but the greatest dancer in movie history is not.

Astaire 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 always wore a toupee unless he was wearing a hat, which is why he so often wore hats in his films.

Astaire was 5 foot 7 and wore 2-inch heels to heighten him to 5 foot 9. 

Studio publicity portrait for film You'll Never Get Rich (1941).

Fred Astaire had his first big screen dance with Ginger Rogers on December 22, 1932 when Flying Down to Rio opened. The pair made nine films together at RKO, including Roberta (1935), in which Astaire also demonstrates his oft-overlooked piano skills with a spirited solo on "I Won't Dance".

Fred Astaire's 1935 song "Cheek To Cheek" spent 11 weeks at #1 in the US, a record for the 1930s.

For the 'drunk' dance in Holiday Inn in 1942, Fred Astaire had two drinks of bourbon before the first take and one before each succeeding take. The seventh and last take was used in the film. He really was drunk!

Fred Astaire's legs were insured for one million dollars.

After a temporary retirement in 1945-7, during which he opened Fred Astaire Dance Studios, Astaire returned to Hollywood to star in more musicals including Easter Parade (1948), The Band Wagon (1953) and Funny Face (1957). 

Astaire was a lifelong golf and Thoroughbred horse racing enthusiast. In 1946 his horse Triplicate won the prestigious Hollywood Gold Cup and San Juan Capistrano Handicap.

He married New York socialite Phyllis Potter in 1933. Phyllis's death from lung cancer, at the age of 46, ended twenty-one years of marriage and left Astaire devastated.

His second wife, jockey Robyn Smith, was forty-five years his junior. He first saw Robyn Smith when she was riding in a horse race. Astaire was 81 when they married on June 24, 1980.

Smith was a successful jockey in her own right, and she was the first woman to win a stakes race in the United States. She retired from racing in 1975, and she and Astaire lived together in Beverly Hills until his death.

After Astaire's death, Smith became a fierce protector of his legacy. She filed numerous lawsuits to prevent any unauthorized uses of his likeness or name. She also wrote a book about their marriage, titled "Fred Astaire: A Remembrance."

Astaire took up skateboarding in his late seventies and at age seventy-eight, he broke his left wrist while riding his grandson's skateboard. He remained physically active well into his eighties.

Fred Astaire died from pneumonia on June 22, 1987, at the age of 88. He is interred at Oakwood Memorial Park, Chatsworth, California, the same cemetery where long-time dancing partner, Ginger Rogers, is located.

After Astaire's death, Robyn Smith became a fierce protector of his legacy. She filed numerous lawsuits to prevent any unauthorized uses of his likeness or name. She also wrote a book about their marriage, titled Fred Astaire: A Remembrance.

There has never been a movie about Fred Astaire and there never will be. Astaire's will included a clause requesting that no such portrayal ever take place.

Source About.com