It was younger brother Fred who taught older brother Gene to tap dance in order to earn extra money for college, and also so Gene could impress the girls. From grades seven through twelve in Pittsburgh, Fred starred in a show for children at the Warner theaters in Pittsburgh.
(See also dance.) Eugene Curran Kelly was born on Aug. 23, 1912, in Pittsburgh, Pa. He grew up loving sports, especially ice hockey, but at his mother's urging also took dance lessons.
The tap and acrobatics instilled in Mr. Kelly as a child were, as he put it, ''a piece of cake,'' by the time he found a mentor in the Broadway choreographer Robert Alton - an unsung innovator of the Broadway musical.
When he was eight, Kelly's mother enrolled him and his brother James in dance classes, along with their sisters. As Kelly recalled, they both rebelled: "We didn't like it much and were continually involved in fistfights with the neighborhood boys who called us sissies ...
Judy Garland, in 1942, was Kelly's first dance partner on the big screen. Later came Fred Astaire, Rita Hayworth, Frank Sinatra, Leslie Caron, Reynolds, Donald O'Connor, Shirley MacLaine and many others.
Gene Kelly: To Live and Dance | Biography, Documentary | Full Movie
Where did Gene Kelly learn how do you dance?
Insecure about his small stature, he compensated by becoming a fierce sportsman, combining athleticism with ruthless competitiveness. At age eight and at his mother's insistence, he was enrolled with his older brother James in the Fairgreaves School of Dance.
Born Eugene Curran Kelly, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in August 1912, Kelly gained an early start to performing when his mother enrolled him in dance classes, and then later encouraged him and his siblings to perform dance routines at amateur vaudeville nights.
Fortunately for him, though, Kelly soon took the crooner under his wing and decided to transform him into a credible dancer. Since he was both starring in Anchors Aweigh and directing its dance sequences, Gene figured that if he helped Frank rather than punish him, they would both come out the better for it.
Gene and Fred danced together twice in their careers, once in 1945 in the movie Ziegfeld Follies and then again in the 1976 movie That's Entertainment II. Fred announced his retirement in 1946 and the media declared it was because he could not compete with Kelly. Fred retired, but not because of Kelly.
Gene Kelly was officially 5 ft 7 in., and that is accepted as true. Fred Astaire claimed to be 5 ft 9 in., but many people who worked with him claim that 5 ft 7 in. is closer to the truth.
He studied ballet and other dance forms. Kelly majored in journalism at Pennsylvania State College (now University) and economics at the University of Pittsburgh (A.B., 1933), but the allure of performing proved too strong to resist.
Kelly's widow, Patricia Ward Kelly, clarified his feelings. “Gene loved Barbra Streisand,” she said. “And he felt that she was a tremendous asset and a great actor. He went to his buddy Willie Wyler (director of Funny Girl) and asked, 'What's she like?
Gene Kelly possessed a unique tenor voice and great control of his sound, and he more than ably serenaded his many leading ladies. The next time you watch him in a movie—while you'll likely always gravitate to his dancing first—perhaps also pay attention to Kelly's singing voice.
The Jack Reacher star never steered away from performing his own stunts and challenged himself by risking his life to film his action sequences. Many filmmakers revealed that he's the one who always insists on performing several white-knuckle stunts in the movies (particularly in the Mission Impossible franchise).
Gene Kelly (actor, dancer; born August 23, 1912 Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; died February 2, 1996) He could sing, dance, act, and direct--and he could do these all well.
As respected as he was likable, Kelly “died peacefully in his sleep” in his Beverly Hills home with wife Patricia at his bedside, according to his publicist, Warren Cowan. Kelly had suffered strokes in 1994 and 1995 and had been in ill health since.
'If I was black and blue, it was Gene. And if it was Fred, I didn't have a scratch'.” Despite the two men's differing styles, Charisse was complementary about both of her dancing partners. She once said: “To sum it up, I'd say they were the two greatest dancing personalities who were ever on screen.
What was the age difference between Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly?
And we thought we'd ask the question: was Gene Kelly the greatest dancer and innovator in American movie musical history, or was Fred Astaire - who was 13 years older than Kelly? Historian and theater and dance critic Iris Fanger told Here & Now, "They were both great...
I think Kerry is one of the luckiest little girls in the world. In this Person to Person interview with Edward R. Murrow (1958), Gene shows off a picture that Kerry, at age nine, drew for him (about 3 min in). As of this writing, Kerry and her husband work as child psychologists in Michigan.
Did Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly ever star in a movie together?
As of the date of the film's release in May 1976, Astaire had just attained his 77th year a week earlier, and Kelly was to turn 64 that August. One of only two films in which Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly danced together. The other was Ziegfeld Follies (1945).
When his mother took sister Adele to New York in 1904 for professional training, young Fred came along and both were enrolled in Claude Alvienne's dancing school.
His mother, herself an actress and dancer, enrolled him in a drama school in New York, where he studied voice, dancing and acting. He decided to combine all three of these skills and become a musical comedy performer.
What is the difference between the dancing of Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly?
Astaire is the embodiment of grace, Kelly of athleticism. For Astaire, dance is the vertical expression of horizontal feelings for another; for Kelly, it is the expression of self. Astaire made dancing look easy; Kelly made it look like a workout. Astaire begot Michael Jackson; Kelly begot Patrick Swayze.
