Gene Kelly
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| Gene Kelly | |
 Gene Kelly |
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| Birth name | Eugene Curran Kelly |
| Born | August 23, 1912 Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA |
| Died | February 2, 1996 (aged 83) Beverly Hills, California, USA |
Eugene Curran Kelly (August 23, 1912 – February 2, 1996), better known as Gene Kelly, was an American dancer, actor, singer, director, producer, and choreographer.
Kelly was a virtuoso dancer, known for his energetic and athletic dancing style, his good looks and the likable characters that he played on screen. He is probably best known today for his performance in Singin' in the Rain. In 1999, the American Film Institute named Kelly among the Greatest Male Stars of All Time, ranking at No. 15.
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[edit] Upbringing
Gene was the third son of James Kelly, a phonograph salesman, and Harriet Curran, who were both children of Irish Roman Catholic immigrants. He was born in the Highland Park neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA and, at the age of eight, was enrolled by his mother in dance classes, along with his older brother James. They both rebelled, and, according to Kelly:" We didn't like it much and were continually involved in fistfights with the neighbourhood boys who called us sissies...I didn't dance again until I was fifteen."[1] Kelly returned to dance on his own initiative and by then was an accomplished sportsman and well able to take care of himself. He graduated from Peabody High School in 1929. He enrolled in Pennsylvania State College to study journalism but the economic crash obliged him to seek employment to help with the family's finances. At this time, he worked up dance routines with his younger brother Fred in order to earn prize money in local talent contests.[1]
In 1931 Kelly enrolled at the University of Pittsburgh (Pitt), to study economics where he joined the Phi Kappa Theta fraternity and earned a Bachelor of Arts in Economics in 1933.[2] In 1930, his family started a dance studio on Munhall Road in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood of Pittsburgh. In 1932, it was renamed The Gene Kelly Studio of the Dance. A second location was opened in Johnstown, Pennsylvania in 1933. While still an undergraduate student and later as a student at Pitt's School of Law, Gene was a teacher at the dance studio. Eventually, though, he decided to pursue his career as a dance teacher and entertainer full-time and so dropped out of law school after two months. In 1937, having successfully managed and developed the family's dance school business, he moved to New York City in search of work as a choreographer.[1]
[edit] Stage career
After a fruitless search, Kelly returned to Pittsburgh, to his first position as a choreographer with the Charles Gaynor musical revue Hold Your Hats at the Pittsburgh Playhouse in April, 1938. Kelly appeared in six of the sketches, one of which, "La Cumparsita", became the basis of an extended Spanish number in Anchors Aweigh eight years later.
His first Broadway assignment, in November 1938, was as a dancer in Cole Porter's Leave It to Me as the American ambassador's secretary who supports Mary Martin while she sings "My Heart Belongs to Daddy". He had been hired by Robert Alton who had staged a show at the Pittsburgh Playhouse and been impressed by Kelly's teaching skills. When Alton moved on to choreograph One for the Money he hired Kelly to act, sing and dance in a total of eight routines. His first career breakthrough was in the Pulitzer Prize-winning The Time of Your Life, which opened on November 11, 1939, where for the first time on Broadway he danced to his own choreography. In the same year he received his first assignment as a Broadway choreographer, for Billy Rose's Diamond Horseshoe. His future wife, Betsy Blair was a member of the cast, they began dating and were married on October 16, 1941.
In 1940, he was given the leading role in Rodgers and Hart's Pal Joey, again choreographed by Robert Alton, and this role propelled him to stardom. During its run he told reporters: "I don't believe in conformity to any school of dancing. I create what the drama and the music demand. While I am a hundred percent for ballet technique, I use only what I can adapt to my own use. I never let technique get in the way of mood or continuity."[1] It was at this time also, that his phenomenal commitment to rehearsal and hard work was noticed by his colleagues. Van Johnson who also appeared in Pal Joey recalls: "I watched him rehearsing, and it seemed to me that there was no possible room for improvement. Yet he wasn't satisfied. It was midnight and we had been rehearsing since eight in the morning. I was making my way sleepily down the long flight of stairs when I heard staccato steps coming from the stage...I could see just a single lamp burning. Under it, a figure was dancing...Gene."[1]
Offers from Hollywood began to arrive but Kelly was in no particular hurry to quit New York. Eventually, he signed with David O. Selznick, agreeing to go to Hollywood at the end of his commitment to Pal Joey, in October 1941. Prior to leaving he also choreographed the stage production of Best Foot Forward.
Kelly did not return to stage work until his MGM contract ended in 1957, and in 1958 he directed Rodgers and Hammerstein's musical play Flower Drum Song. Early in 1960 Kelly, an ardent Francophile and fluent French speaker, was invited by A. M. Julien, the general administrator of Paris Opera to select his own material and create a modern ballet for the company, the first time an American received such an assignment. The result was Pas de Dieux, based on Greek mythology combined with the music of George Gershwin's Concerto in F. It was a major success, and led to his being honored with the Chevalier of the Legion d'Honneur by the French Government.
[edit] Film career
Kelly's first motion picture was For Me and My Gal (1942) with Judy Garland. He went on to make a number of classic musicals, including An American in Paris (1951) and Singin' in the Rain (1952).
His most notable moments on film include:
- Dancing with a group of French schoolchildren to "I Got Rhythm" in An American in Paris.
- The climactic ballet/finale of An American in Paris.
- Singing and dancing in the rain in an iconic scene from the film Singin' in the Rain, a scene he filmed while sick with a 103-degree (39.4 °C) fever
- Dancing with a squeaky floorboard and a newspaper in Summer Stock (1950)
- Dancing on roller skates in It's Always Fair Weather (1956) and Xanadu (1980).
- Dancing with Jerry Mouse in Anchors Aweigh (1945) -- the only nomination Kelly ever received for an Academy Award, for Best Actor.
- Dancing with his own reflection in Cover Girl (1944)
[edit] Personal
Kelly was married to Betsy Blair for 16 years (1941 - 1957) and they had one child, Kerry. He was married to Jeanne Coyne from 1960 till her death in 1973 and they had two children Bridget and Tim. He was married to Patricia Ward from 1990 until his death in 1996.
Kelly died on February 2, 1996, in Beverly Hills, California, after suffering two strokes, at the age of 83.
[edit] Gene Kelly in popular culture
- In 1994, Kurt Browning performed an ice skating interpretation of "Singin' in the Rain" on his television special You Must Remember This.
- In 2005, Kelly's widow gave permission for Volkswagen to use his likeness to promote the Golf GTi car. The advertisement used CGI to mix footage of Gene Kelly, from Singin' in the Rain, with footage of professional breakdancers. Despite Mrs. Kelly's urging, the German automaker refused to show the commercial in the U.S.. The tagline was, "The original, updated."
- Paula Abdul stars opposite an animated cat in her "Opposites Attract" video, and did so as to mirror Gene Kelly with Jerry (of Tom and Jerry) in Anchors Aweigh. Gene Kelly, her childhood idol, noticed, and wanted to meet her. They met for tea every week until he died.
- Ray Bradbury's novel Something Wicked This Way Comes was dedicated to him.
- In 1994, the Three Tenors honored him by singing Singin' in the Rain in front of him during a concert at Dodgers Stadium in Los Angeles.
- Gene Kelly makes a posthumous performance on the Family Guy episode Road to Rupert, where the live footage segments and audio from a musical number in Anchors Aweigh are reused to show Gene dancing with Stewie Griffin. Stewie's dance moves almost entirely mirrored those of Jerry, Gene's original partner in the movie.
[edit] Stage work
As Actor:
- Leave It to Me (1938)
- One for the Money (1939)
- The Time of Your Life (1939)
- The Time of Your Life (1940) (return engagement) (also choreographer)
- Pal Joey (1940)
As Crew Member:
- Best Foot Forward (1941) (choreographer)
- Flower Drum Song (1958) (director)
- Coquelico (1979) (producer)
[edit] Filmography
As Actor:
[edit] Television work
- Dancing: A Man's Game aired 21 December 1958 on Omnibus (ABC)
- Going My Way (1962-1963)
- Gene Kelly: New York, New York (1966)
- Jack and the Beanstalk (1967) (also director)
- The Funny Side (1971) (canceled after 4 months)
- Gene Kelly: An American in Pasadena (1978)
- North and South (1985) (miniseries)
- Sins (1986) (miniseries)
[edit] Awards and Honors
- 1946 - Academy Award nomination for Best Actor in Anchors Aweigh (1945).
- 1952 - Honorary Academy Award "in appreciation of his versatility as an actor, singer, director and dancer, and specifically for his brilliant achievements in the art of choreography on film." This Oscar was lost in a fire in 1983 and replaced at the 1984 Academy Awards.
- 1956 - Golden Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival for Invitation to the Dance.
- 1958 - Nomination for Golden Laurel Award for Best Male Musical Performance in Les Girls.
- 1958 - Dance Magazine's annual TV Award for Dancing: A Man's Game from the Omnibus television series. It was also nominated for an Emmy for best choreography.
- 1960 - In France, Kelly was made a Chevalier of the Legion of Honor.
- 1962 - Gene Kelly Dance Film Festival staged by the Museum of Modern Art.
- 1964 - Silver Sail Best Actor for What a Way to Go! (1964) at the Locarno International Film Festival.
- 1967 - Emmy for Outstanding Children's Program for Jack and the Beanstalk.
- 1970 - Nomination for Golden Globe, Best Director for Hello Dolly!, 1969.
- 1981 - Cecil B. DeMille Award at Golden Globes.
- 1981 - Gene Kelly was the subject of a two-week film festival in France.
- 1982 - Lifetime Achievement Award in the fifth annual Kennedy Center Honors.
- 1985 - Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Film Institute.
- 1989 - Life Achievement Award from Screen Actors Guild.
- 1991 - University of Pittsburgh inaugurates The Gene Kelly Awards, given annually to high school musicals in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania.
- 1992 - Induction into the Theater Hall of Fame.
- 1994 - National Medal of Arts awarded by President Clinton.
- 1996 - Honorary César Award The César is the main national film award in France.
- 1997 - Ranked #26 in Empire (UK) magazine's “The Top 100 Movie Stars of All Time” list.
- 1999 - Ranked #15 in the American Film Institute's “Greatest Legends” list.
[edit] References
- ^ a b c d e Thomas, Tony (1991). The Films of Gene Kelly - Song and Dance Man. New York, NY: Carol Publishing Group. ISBN 0-8065-0543-5.
- ^ Hirschhorn, Clive (1984). Gene Kelly - a Biography. London: W.H. Allen. ISBN 0-491-03182-3.
- ^ http://imdb.com/name/nm0000037/bio
[edit] External links
- Gene Kelly at the Internet Movie Database
- Gene Kelly at the TCM Movie Database
- Gene Kelly at the Internet Broadway Database
- The Gene Kelly Awards - University of Pittsburgh
- Obituary, NY Times, February 3, 1996
- Naval Intelligence File on Gene Kelly
- Gene Kelly - An American Life - PBS
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| Persondata | |
|---|---|
| NAME | Kelly, Gene |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Kelly, Eugene Curran |
| SHORT DESCRIPTION | dancer, actor, singer, director, producer, and choreographer |
| DATE OF BIRTH | August 23, 1912 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA |
| DATE OF DEATH | February 2, 1996 |
| PLACE OF DEATH | Beverly Hills, California, USA |
Categories: American film actors | American choreographers | American dancers | American tap dancers | American film directors | English-language film directors | American male singers | Tap dancers | American actor-singers | Vaudeville performers | Hollywood Walk of Fame | Academy Honorary Award recipients | Irish-American actors | United States National Medal of Arts recipients | Légion d'honneur recipients | Actors from Pittsburgh | Musicians from Pittsburgh | University of Pittsburgh alumni | Irish-American musicians | American Roman Catholics | 1912 births | 1996 deaths
