He brought an unprecedented refinement to dance: Who is Fred Astaire?

Fred Astaire changed the quality of American musical films and provided the unity of music and subject matter.

By David Foster Published on 21 Şubat 2023 : 17:09.
He brought an unprecedented refinement to dance: Who is Fred Astaire?

American dancer, and film actor. He brought innovations to American musical films with the dance techniques he developed. He was born on May 10, 1899, in Omaha, Nebraska. His real name is Frederick Austerlitz. He successfully danced in various vaudevilles for years with the duo he formed with his sister Adele at a young age.

Fred Astaire (born Frederick Austerlitz May 10, 1899 – June 22, 1987) was an American dancer, choreographer, actor, and singer. He is often called the "greatest popular-music dancer of all time".

Beginning in 1917, they achieved international fame with the musicals they played on Broadway.

When his sister got married and left the stage, Fred Astaire accepted the proposal of RKO Film Studio and went to the cinema in 1933 with his small role in the movie Dancing Lady.

In the same year, the famous duo of musicals was born when their dance called carioca in the movie Flying Down to Rio, which he translated with Ginger Rogers, was an extraordinary success.

The duo achieved their greatest success with the operetta adaptation The Gay Divorcee, Top Hat, and Swing Time.

Fred Astaire worked with actors such as Judy Garland, Cyd Charisse, and Leslie Caron after 1939. Working with a different understanding from Ginger Rogers, his most important films with these actresses are Easter Parade, The Band Wagon, and musicals such as Daddy Longlegs, an adaptation of a famous children's novel.

In the 1950s, he began to take roles in non-musical films such as On The Beach, but he still sang and danced occasionally. Describing his life in theater and cinema in his book Steps in Time in 1959, Fred Astaire won an Oscar in 1949 for his "authentic acting and innovations he brought to motion picture techniques".

Fred Astaire, who evaluated the technical mastery he had developed by dancing since his childhood, in his first films, changed the quality of American musical films and ensured the unity of music and subject. He prepared most of the choreographies for himself and his fellow actors and brought unprecedented refinement to the dance.