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 All About Art
Fred Astaire: Great American Dancer
published: May 2007
By Tamar Burris, Contributing Writer
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To many people, Fred Astaire will always be the great American dancer. With his surefooted grace and dapper style, Astaire brought a combination of tap, ballet, ballroom dance, and theatrics to Hollywood musicals.
 Fred Astaire was born on May 10, 1899, in Omaha, Nebraska. His father was an Austrian immigrant, and his mother was a U.S. citizen born to German parents. At just five years of age he and his family moved to New York City, where Fred and his sister Adele (shown in this picture with Fred) received professional dance training. Together they starred in vaudeville shows and worked on Broadway before Adele retired to marry in 1932.
While Adele had been the star of their show, Fred continued performing on-stage and decided to have a go at Hollywood. In 1933, he danced as himself in a Joan Crawford movie, Dancing Lady. After the success of that first film, Astaire was paired on screen with Ginger Rogers. The American public loved the duo, and so Astaire and Rogers were cast in 10 movies together! Their style and on screen magic helped make dance an important part of the Hollywood musical. It was no longer just about the music and singing!
Astaire made a total of 33 musical films throughout his career. Co-starring with some of the biggest Hollywood names of his time, Astaire also created four Emmy-award-winning musical specials for television and acted in a few non-dancing comedic and dramatic roles. Astaire was honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award by the American Film Academy in 1981. Never one to shy away from learning new things, Astaire continued to make headlines at the age of 78 when he broke his wrist skateboarding!
Astaire was always known as a gentleman with perfect manners. He was 88 years old when he died on June 22, 1987.
Written by Tamar Burris, a former elementary school teacher who now works as a freelance writer and curriculum developer for PBS, the Discovery Channel and other education-related companies. Sources: Fred Astaire Biography at Fred Astaire Dance Studio, www.fredastaire.com; Fred Astaire on Wikipedia, en.wikipedia.org; Some Famous Nebraskan Entertainers: Fred Astaire, info.neded.org/stathand/parttwo/entertai.html; That Old Feeling: A Stellar Astaire, June 22, 2002, Time Magazine.
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