Fred Astaire had passed on a chunk to his two children because he wasn't expecting to marry again so long after the death of his first wife, Phyllis, in 1954. So Fred left Robyn the jewel of his estate - the right to manage his intellectual property and buff the sheen on his legacy.
Then he met Robyn Smith, a lithe, young jockey who had broken the sex barrier in thoroughbred racing. They were married June 24, 1980, when he was 81 and she was 35. The marriage astonished Hollywood and appalled Fred's sister, Adele, and daughter, Ava. But it endured.
In 1954, Astaire was about to start work on a new musical, Daddy Long Legs (1955) with Leslie Caron at 20th Century-Fox. Then, his wife Phyllis became ill and died of lung cancer.
In 1973, he met Robyn Smith, a jockey, who filled the empty space left by his wife's death. The two were married in 1980, and many credit Smith for Astaire's happiness in his last years. He died in her arms at age 88 of pneumonia.
In 1931, Astaire met and soon fell in love with Phyllis Livingston Potter, a woman who came from one of Boston's most aristocratic families and who had never seen him on the stage; they were married in July 1933 and had two children: Fred Jr., born in 1936, and Ava, born in 1942.
Why didn't Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers get along?
Rogers was interested in more dramatic roles than those she was offered with Astaire. Meanwhile, Astaire, who worked with many dancers throughout his career, wished to be known as a dancer in his own right, rather than always being paired with one permanent partner.
“Fred and I were colleagues… and we worked together beautifully,” Rogers writes. “True, we were never bosom buddies off screen, we were different people with different interests. We were a couple only on film.”
Was allergic to champagne. He is considered by some to be the greatest American composer of the twentieth century. His last words were, "Fred Astaire".
Did Vera Ellen and Fred Astaire ever dance together?
Vera-Ellen(1921-1981)
She danced with Fred Astaire in Three Little Words (1950) and with Gene Kelly in On the Town (1949). Blonde, slim of build, and a dancing sensation, she appeared in a string of light-hearted but successful films.
The closest he may have come to identifying a possible favorite was in Interview magazine in June 1973 where he said: "Barrie Chase is the best partner - she's the latest partner that I've had, and believe me, that girl has got it - that girl can dance."
While walking with his family on a warm Hollywood night, silver-screen legend Fred Astaire noticed a nail lying on the sidewalk. “He kicked it and it landed on its head,” recounts his grandson Tyler McKenzie. “He interacted with space and time in a way that was as unique as he was.”
In 1933, Adele gave birth prematurely to a daughter, who did not survive. Two years later, she gave birth to stillborn twin sons. She struggled with periods of depression and an increasingly difficult home life.
Rogers married and divorced five times. She did not have children. On March 29, 1929, Rogers married for the first time at age 17 to her dancing partner Jack Pepper (real name Edward Jackson Culpepper). They divorced in 1932, having separated soon after the wedding.
How old was Fred Astaire when he married Robyn Smith?
She went on to marry Astaire on June 24, 1980, at the Astaire home in Beverly Hills, California. At the time of their marriage, Astaire was 81 and Smith was 35. After Astaire's death in 1987, Smith became embroiled in a series of legal battles over the use of her late husband's image.
Their mutual desire for independence after a slew of pictures caused speculation that the two did not get along. While they were never close friends off-screen, they were more than cordial and maintained enormous respect for each other.
She had planned to make more appearances but a stroke left her partially paralysed and wheelchair bound. She never went to a doctor or even a hospital, in accordance with her beliefs. On April 25th, 1995, Ginger Rogers died at her Rancho Mirage home at the age of 83.
What was the truth about Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers?
The truth was off-screen Astaire and Rogers were always platonic. Both were married and highly professional toward one another. Despite their dates from their pre-Hollywood days, their careers now were all about working together and creating a magic on-screen for audiences.
He was typically paired up with Ginger. Rogers, but, when he was asked about it, he secretly. confessed that his favorite dance partner just. happened to be Rita Hayworth.
Fred stopped dancing in nineteen seventy. He was more than seventy years old at the time. He said a dancer could not continue dancing forever. He said he did not want to disappoint anyone, even himself.
How old was Fred Astaire when he did Royal Wedding?
The film stars Astaire and Powell as a brother-sister performing team who travel to England for Princess Elizabeth's wedding. Astaire was 51 when this was filmed to Powell's 22, but if you can get past that, the two are surprisingly convincing as siblings.
