Fred Astaire's Biography
Who is Fred Astaire?
Fred Astaire, was born Frederick Austerlitz, in Omaha, Nebraska on 10 May 1899 and died on 22 June 1987.Fred Astaire was a great dancer, who early on in his life danced on-stage with his sister, Adele.
His start in films came when he was 34 with "Dancing Lady" with Joan Crawford, but he was at his best when partnering Ginger Rogers, which he did in nine films.
Gilbert Adair, in an article entitled "Come back to the NFT, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean", wrote of Fred Astaire's star quality:
"If one were to watch one of Astaire's musical-comedy numbers on a video recorder and press the freeze-frame button on any randomly selected frame, one would find the image thereby arrested and suspended to be of such impeccable physical grace and harmony that it could instantly serve as the jacket illustration of some expensive album on the history of the American cinema. I repeat on any frame whatever."
Fred Astaire came 81st in Channel 4's Top 100 movie stars.
In 1960 Fred Astaire published his autobiography, Steps in Time.
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