Biography

Fred Astaire, was born Frederick Austerlitz on May 10, 1899 in Omaha, Nebraska.  His father, an Austrian emigre, had made quite a success as a beer salesman and had married the charming and beautiful Ann Gelius.  From the beginning the young couple surrounded Fred and his older sister Adele with music.  Adele was the first to be hit by the "showbiz bug".  When she was six years old she was signed up for dance classes and, although at first reluctant, Four-and-a-half year old "Freddie" would soon be tagging along. Adele and Freddie learned quickly and soon their parents began to dream of bigger and better things for their children.
               No more than a year after they began dance classes, Fred and Adele made their debut as the "Astaires". It was their mother who suggested the name change, she felt Austerlitz sounded too much like a battle.  Astaire was his paternal grandmother's maiden name.  The Astaires first appeared in a small theater in Keyport, N.J.   They were an instant success.  The local newspaper called them, "...the greatest child act in Vaudeville."  The children began to tour on the local Vaudeville circuit.  The act was hailed and they were a favorite in every town they came to.  Unfortunately five years later nature took it's course and Adele began to blossom and grow.  Freddie, however, was still a lanky boy.  Dancing together became, for the time, impossible.  So, the Astaires were forced into hiatus while they waited for Fred to :"catch up" to Adele. 
               It wasn't long before the two were back out on the circuit entertaining again.  The act had grown as well.  During their break they were privilleged to have been under the tutilege of an expert showman name Aurelia Coccia.  They were even greater than before.  So great, in fact, that they had outgrown the Vaudeville circuit.   beckoned them.  They were spotted by several producers and enjoyed a very successful carreer both on Broadway and in London.  They were the toast of both the towns.  It was in London that Adele met and was courted by Lord Cavendish, the second son of the Duke of Devonshire.  In 1932 she married Lord Cavendish and quit the stage to begin a family.   The Astaires were no more.
               Fred was not about to give up.  The road ahead was going to be rough and he knew it.   However, he would not have to go through it alone.  In New York he had met a pretty young socialite named Phyllis Potter.  The two soon fell in love and were married.  It was at this time that Fred had begun to test for motion pictures.   It was after one of these tests at Universal that a producer gave him this now famous verdict: "Can't act, can't sing, balding, Can dance a little".   Nevertheless, Fred was signed to a movie contract.
                In his second film, "Flying Down to Rio" he was teamed up with another Hollywood newcomer named Ginger Rogers.  The two hit the screen like lightning and ignited an exciting string of hits including, "The Gay Divorce," "Roberta," "Top Hat," "Follow the Fleet," "Swing Time," "Shall We Dance?," "Carefree," and "The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle".   It is these films films that fans look back on as the best years of his career.   There was something about his partnership with Rogers that was magical.  He stared with a number of wonderful leading ladies in his carreer including, Rita Haywork, Cyd Charisse, Judy Garland, and Leslie Caron.  But it is his numbers with Rogers that we all remember.  Katherine Hepburn said it best when she explained why the team was so well matched, "Astaire gave her class; Rogers gave him sex." .
                  Fred enjoyed a very succesful movie carreer for several years starring in some of Hollywood's most unforgetable movies.  But it seems as though all good things must come to an end.  In 1946 after filming "Blue Skies" he announced to the world his retirement.  However, this retirement was short lived.  In 1948 his colleague and good friend Gene Kelly injured himself while rehearsing for a film to be called "Easter Parade".  Fred stepped in to star opposite Judy Garland in what would be one of his most memorable films ever.  Easter Parade was a hit and Fred was back.  Like it or not the silver screen called to him and he would not leave it again.
                Astaire completed several more memorable films incluiding "Daddy Long Legs" in 1954.   It was during the filming of this film that his beloved wife Phylis died of cancer.   Fred was crushed.  He and his wife had been very much in love and for the rest of his life he could not talk of her death without wincing.  His carreer, however, could not have been better.  Fred continued to dance in movies, and also broadened his horizons to the fastly expanding medium of television.  He was immensley successful on the small screen especially in a series of shows he did with his new dancing partner Barrie Chase. 
                 Fred enjoyed a wide range of success all throughout the 60s and 70s.  In 1974 he was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role in "The Towering Inferno".   He also teamed up again with his friend Gene Kelly in 1978 for the tremendously successful "That's Entertainment Part 2".   That same year he was honored as a recipient of the Kennedy Center Honors.  It was during these years that Fred had begun a relationship with a young female jockey named Robyn Smith.  The much younger Smith had been enjoying a very successful carreer as a jockey when she met Fred.  The two fell in love and in 1980 they married.
               The two enjoyed a very happy life together full of the comforts of retirement.  In 1981 Fred Astaire was honored by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences with the prestigious Lifetime Achievment Award. He lived out the rest of his life enjoying his marriage to Robyn.  The two were very happy together and shared many wonderful times.  
               Fred enjoyed a full life, a life that few really get.  So it was with a heavy heart and fond farewell that Fred left us on June 22, 1987.  He died of complications from pneumonia in the arms of his wife.  He left behind two children and one of thousand memories of a carreer not yet paralleled by another.  Fred Astaire was the embodiment of class and style.  He is a reminder of a time too often forgotten in this modern era.  In the words of Mikhail Baryshnikov, "He will be a never-ending legend."

Special thanks to Brad Darrach for his wonderful article "He Made us Feel Like Dancing" from wich much of the above information is obtained.