He was born as Fred Austerlitz near the turn of the century and is considered to be one of the greatest tap dancers that ever lived. Having performed on Broadway, he brought a great deal of grace and style to bear that greatly influenced how future dancers would view their work.
He performed first on Vaudeville with his sister, Adele. After she married and retired from the stage, he went on to concentrate on working in film. Despite less than stellar screen tests, he was able to get RKO studio Head of Production, David O. Selznick to take a chance on him. Fred Astaire turned this opportunity into a string of successful movie appearances, some of which included him performing with Ginger Rogers.
Though Fred Astaire always appeared to be improvising his steps, dancers that worked with him revealed that he actually spent countless hours choreographing each of his movements. Because his movies earned so much money, he was given complete choreographic autonomy. Taking advantage of this freedom, he introduced innovations to how dancers were shown on film, demanding that the entire body be included in each frame without having the camera switch to closeups of the face, feet, or anything else. Moreover, Fred Astaire felt that it was important that dance moved the plot of the film forward, rather than just featuring the moves. Pulling together dance steps and acting made the segments more appealing to Depression-era audiences. Through his incredible genius he became a leader in making tap an important part of Hollywood productions!
Fred Astaire died of pneumonia on June 22, 1987. He was interred wearing a smoking jacket, black pants, and patent leather shoes. Fred Astaire’s life will likely never be portrayed on film as this would be against his wishes. He felt that any such portrayal would misinterpret his life and fail to honor his truth. Footage of him dancing was allowed to be used in a Dirt Devil vacuum commercial in accord with his wish that he only be seen dancing with an electrical appliance after his death.
Fred Astaire’s impact on the world’s of dance and film cannot be denied. He was a true film legend!
See Fred Astaire and many of the fastest tap dancers that ever lived at www.FamousTapDancers.com. It’s a great collection of tap video clips that will keep you enthralled for hours
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