Fred Astaire
Date of birth: 1899-05-10
Place of birth: Omaha, Nebraska, USA
Known for: Acting
Also known as: Frederic Austerlitz Jr., Frederick Austerlitz
Biography
Fred Astaire (May 10, 1899 – June 22, 1987) was an American dancer, singer, actor and choreographer. He is widely regarded as the most influential dancer in the history of film. Born as Frederick Austerlitz in Omaha, Nebraska, on May 10, 1899, to Johanna (Geilus) and Fritz, a brewer, he entered show business at age 5. He was successful in vaudeville and on Broadway as well as in London's West End together with his sister Adele, a partnership that lasted 27 years. After Adele retired to marry in 1932, Astaire headed to Hollywood. Signed to RKO, he was loaned to MGM to appear in Dancing Lady (1933) before starting work on RKO's Flying Down to Rio (1933). In the latter film, he was teamed with Ginger Rogers, with whom he worked in 9 RKO pictures. Astaire later appeared opposite a number of partners, including Cyd Charisse, Rita Hayworth, Vera-Ellen and Barrie Chase. Astaire remained active well into old age, starring in musicals through 1968, and also performed a number of straight dramatic roles in film and TV. Throughout his career, he was also active in recording and radio. He died of pneumonia on June 22, 1987 in Los Angeles.
Movie Credits
Top Hat
1935-08-29
Showman Jerry Travers is working for producer Horace Hardwick in London. Jerry demonstrates his new
Swing Time
1936-08-28
Lucky is tricked into missing his own wedding to Margaret and has to make $25,000 so her father will
The Towering Inferno
1974-12-14
At the opening party of a colossal—but poorly constructed—skyscraper, a massive fire breaks out, thr
The Easter Bunny Is Comin' to Town
1977-04-06
The Mailman decides to stop another deluge of letters by answering questions about the Easter Bunny:
Shall We Dance
1937-05-07
Ballet star Petrov arranges to cross the Atlantic aboard the same ship as the dancer and musical sta
Roberta
1935-03-07
Football player John Kent tags along as Huck Haines and the Wabash Indianians travel to an engagemen
Ghost Story
1981-12-18
Four successful elderly gentlemen, members of the Chowder Society, share a gruesome, 50-year-old sec
Second Chorus
1941-01-03
Danny O'Neill and Hank Taylor are rival trumpeters with the Perennials, a college band, and both men
Daddy Long Legs
1955-05-05
Wealthy American, Jervis Pendleton has a chance encounter at a French orphanage with a cheerful 18-y
Flashing Spikes
1962-10-04
An old ballplayer, thrown out of baseball due to a bribery scandal, becomes friends with a young phe
Funny Face
1957-02-13
A shy Greenwich Village book clerk is discovered by a fashion photographer and whisked off to Paris
Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town
1970-12-13
A postman, S.D. Kluger, decides to answer some of the most common questions about Santa Claus, and t
Holiday Inn
1942-01-01
Lovely Linda Mason has crooner Jim Hardy head over heels, but suave stepper Ted Hanover wants her fo
Follow the Fleet
1936-02-20
When the US Navy fleet docks at San Francisco, sailor Bake Baker tries to rekindle the flame with hi
Flying Down to Rio
1933-12-22
An American bandleader woos a Brazilian beauty who is already engaged to his employer. His friends
The Gay Divorcee
1934-10-12
Seeking a divorce from her absentee husband, Mimi Glossop travels to an English seaside resort. Ther
On the Beach
1959-12-17
In 1964, atomic war wipes out humanity in the northern hemisphere; one American submarine finds temp
You'll Never Get Rich
1941-09-25
A Broadway choreographer gets drafted and coincidentally ends up in the same army base as the boyfri
The Band Wagon
1953-08-07
A Broadway artiste turns a faded film star's comeback vehicle into an artsy flop.
Easter Parade
1948-07-08
On the day before Easter in 1911, Don Hewes is crushed when his dancing partner (and object of affec
Carefree
1938-09-02
Dr. Tony Flagg's friend Steven has problems in the relationship with his fiancée Amanda, so he persu
The Barkleys of Broadway
1949-05-04
Josh and Dinah Barkley are a successful musical-comedy team, known for their stormy but passionate r
Finian's Rainbow
1968-10-09
An Irishman and his daughter arrive in the American South with a stolen pot of gold, hoping to make
Three Little Words
1950-07-12
Song-and-dance man Bert Kalmar can't continue his stage career after an injury, so he has to earn hi
Silk Stockings
1957-06-28
After three bumbling Soviet agents fail in their mission to retrieve a straying Soviet composer from
The Belle of New York
1952-02-22
In squeaky-clean New York at the turn of the century, playboy Charlie Hill falls so much in love tha
Ziegfeld Follies
1945-08-26
The late, great impresario Florenz Ziegfeld looks down from heaven and ordains a new revue in his gr
Yolanda and the Thief
1945-11-22
Johnny Riggs, a con man on the lam, finds himself in a Latin-American country named Patria. There, h
The Sky's the Limit
1943-07-13
Flying Tiger Fred Atwell sneaks away from his famous squadron's personal appearance tour and goes in
You Were Never Lovelier
1942-11-19
An Argentine heiress thinks a penniless American dancer is her secret admirer.
Broadway Melody of 1940
1940-02-09
Johnny Brett and King Shaw are an unsuccessful dance team in New York. A producer discovers Brett as
Dancing Lady
1933-11-24
Janie lives to dance and will dance anywhere, even stripping in a burlesque house. Tod Newton, the r
A Damsel in Distress
1937-11-19
Lady Alyce Marshmorton must marry soon, and the staff of Tottney Castle have laid bets on who she'll
Royal Wedding
1951-03-08
A brother and sister dance act encounter challenges and romance when booked in London during the Roy
The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle
1939-03-29
In 1911, minor stage comic, Vernon Castle meets the stage-struck Irene Foote. A few misadventures la
The Notorious Landlady
1962-04-13
An American junior diplomat in London rents a house from, and falls in love with, a woman suspected
Showbiz Goes to War
1982-12-31
While a few Hollywood celebrities such as James Stewart and Clark Gable saw combat during World War
Blue Skies
1946-10-15
Jed Potter looks back on a love triangle conducted over the course of years and between musical numb
The World Premiere of 'Finian's Rainbow'
1968-01-01
This documentary has interviews with actors and the director as they arrive for the 1968 New York wo
That's Entertainment, Part II
1976-05-16
Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire present more golden moments from the MGM film library, this time includi
The Over-the-Hill Gang Rides Again
1970-11-16
Walter Brennan is back as the clever and funny over the hill Texas Ranger Nash Crawford. This time t
The Purple Taxi
1977-05-25
With his mauve taxi, the old philosopher Dr. Seamus Scully runs around the small green roads of the
Hollywood: The Dream Factory
1972-01-10
A documentary about the glorious history of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios and its decline leading to t
The Pleasure of His Company
1961-06-01
Biddeford "Pogo" Poole, an urbane charmer, has been absent for most of the life of his daughter, Jes
The Amazing Dobermans
1976-11-24
An ex-con man and his five trained Dobermans help a Treasury Dept. agent stop a racketeer and his ga
Doris Day: It's Magic
1998-10-18
When the cameras rolled, Doris Day wore a happy face, never hinting at the pain she endured in her p
Let's Dance
1950-11-29
Years after the death of her husband, Kitty McNeil takes her son and flees from the home of her weal
George Stevens: A Filmmaker's Journey
1985-03-03
Biography of the legendary filmmaker directed by his son.
Midas Run
1969-05-07
A veteran secret service officer from Britain hijacks a government shipment of $15 million of gold o
The Man in the Santa Claus Suit
1979-12-23
The mysterious owner of a costume shop rents a Santa Claus suit to three very different men: a math
Screen Snapshots (Series 22, No. 10)
1942-01-01
The edition of Screen Snapshots celebrates 25 years of production. It looks at the content of editio
A Family Upside Down
1978-04-09
An elderly married couple find that as their physical and mental health deteriorates, they find them
Going Hollywood: The '30s
1984-01-01
Robert Preston hosts this documentary that shows what people of the 1930s were watching as they were
You're the Top: The Cole Porter Story
1990-07-23
Biographical portrait of one of Broadway's most brilliant songwriters. Told through the use of archi
Dance Crazy in Hollywood
1990-01-01
American dancer and choreographer Hermes Pan recalls his life and work as he relives the glorious hi
"All -Singing All-Dancing" Before And After
2006-10-10
The development of sound and song dance production techniques, and how they come together in 'Holida
The Men Who Made the Movies: Vincente Minnelli
1973-01-01
Easter Parade: On the Avenue
2005-03-15
This documentary tells the story of the making of Irving Berlin's Easter Parade.
Cole Porter in Hollywood: Begin the Beguine
2003-01-02
An overview of Cole Porter’s musical contributions to the film Broadway Melody of 1940.
Cole Porter in Hollywood: Satin and Silk
2003-04-22
This documentary short subject details the making of the 1957 MGM musical, "Silk Stockings". Hosted
That's Entertainment!
1974-06-21
Various MGM stars from yesterday present their favorite musical moments from the studio's 50 year hi
Get Aboard! 'The Band Wagon'
2005-03-15
Documentary on the 1953 musical "The Band Wagon."
Audrey Hepburn: Remembered
1993-08-11
Audrey Hepburn was one of the movies' best-loved stars, blessed with beauty, talent, an elegant soph
A Bing Crosby Christmas
1998-01-01
The program on this DVD is basically a retrospective produced in the early 1990s for public televisi
Perspectives: For the Love of Fred Astaire
2015-01-01
Strictly Come Dancing's Len Goodman shows his softer side in Fred Astaire tribute. Includes intervie
That's Dancing!
1985-01-18
A documentary film about dancing on the screen, from it's orgins after the invention of the movie ca
That's Entertainment! III
1994-07-01
Some of MGM'S musical stars review the studios history of musicals. From The Hollywood Revue of 1929
Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?
1975-08-06
Period music, film clips and newsreel footage combined into a visual exploration of the American ent
Hollywood Musicals of the 40's
2000-09-01
Highlights from the great musicals of the 1940s. Stars featured include Judy Garland, Mickey Rooney,
Astaire Time
1960-09-28
A one-hour live television special starring Fred Astaire.
An Evening with Fred Astaire
1958-10-17
A one-hour live television special starring Fred Astaire.
The Fred Astaire Show
1968-02-07
Ten years after the award winning "An Evening With..." Astaire shows us his "hip" credentials in thi
Another Evening with Fred Astaire
1959-11-04
A one-hour live television special starring Fred Astaire.
Complicated Women
2003-05-06
Looks at the stereotype-breaking films of the period from 1929, when movies entered the sound era, u
Twenty Years After
1944-01-01
This short celebrates the 20th anniversary of MGM. Segments are shown from several early hits, then
Imagine
1972-12-23
A surreal, half-fiction, half real life footage of a day in the life of John lennon and Yoko Ono, co
The Lion Roars Again
1975-01-01
A chronicle of the 1975 International Press Conclave hosted by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer over two days in
La La La
2018-11-25
When the silent cinema learned to speak, the audience was surprised not only by the voices of the ac
Stars of Cabaret
1956-01-01
A collection of amateur films made by photographer Roderic Vickers and friends.
Astaire and Rogers: Partners in Rhythm
2006-10-24
Featuring clips from all 10 films which Fred Astaire & Ginger Rogers made together from 1933 to 1949
1939: Hollywood's Greatest Year
2009-07-02
This documentary focuses on 1939, considered to be Hollywood's greatest year, with film clips and in
Bing Crosby: Rediscovered
2014-12-02
Bing Crosby was, without a doubt, the most popular and influential multi-media star of the first hal
Sid & Judy
2019-06-26
Explore the dramatic career and personal struggles of the talented and tragically short-lived entert
Fred Astaire donne le 'la'
2017-12-24
Success is inevitable for a musical in which Fred Astaire appears - if it was also written by one of
Darcey Bussell: Looking for Fred Astaire
2017-12-21
Documentary in which Darcey Bussell profiles Hollywood dancer Fred Astaire, marking 30 years since h
Reunited at MGM: Astaire and Rogers Together Again
2005-08-16
A cherished remembrance of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers reunited for the film, "The Barkleys of Br
The Fred Astaire Songbook
1991-03-08
A loving tribute to Astaire the singer, hosted by Audrey Hepburn.
Astaire and Rogers Sing the Great American Songbook
2010-04-09
Compilation of memorable songs from the Great American Songbook sung by Fred Astaire and Ginger Roge
S Wonderful, 'S Marvelous, 'S Gershwin
1972-01-17
A musical tribute to brothers George and Ira Gershwin
Sem Título #1: Dance of Leitfossil
2014-06-01
Experimental Short, Brazil
Hollywood Singing and Dancing: A Musical History - The 1930s: Dancing Away the Great Depression
2009-01-01
A two-hour in-depth exploration into the Hollywood musicals of the 1930s.
Hollywood Singing and Dancing: A Musical History - The 1940s: Stars, Stripes and Singing
2009-12-31
This is a two-hour in-depth exploration into the Hollywood musicals of the 1940s.
Gene Kelly - An American in Hollywood
2025-01-02
Gene Kelly is a legend of the heyday of the Hollywood musical. His name stands for masterpieces such
Hooray for Hollywood
1976-01-01
A celebration of Hollywood in the 1930s, featuring a compilation of clips from features and newsreel
Rain Man
1988-12-12
When car dealer Charlie Babbitt learns that his estranged father has died, he returns home to Cincin
Cocoon
1985-06-21
When a group of trespassing seniors swim in a pool containing alien cocoons, they find themselves en