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Fred Astaire was born in Omaha, Nebraska in 1899 with the name Frederick Austerlitz. He began his dance training and performing career at the age of 4 when his mother took him and his sister Adele, age 8, to New York to study dance. After less than one year of study, Fred and Adele made their professional debut in Keyport, New Jersey.. The act was known as the "Astaires" and remained successful for the next 5 years. Unfortunately, Adele grew and matured as a young woman while Fred remained the skinny little kid. Once Fred matured and grew taller they two siblings were rejoined and had numerous Broadway and London stage successes.

In London Adele Astaire meet her future husband Lord Charles Cavendish. After they were married in 1932, Adele quit the stage leaving Fred alone. He returned to New York where he met and married a 25 year socialite named Phyllis Potter. After the marriage Fred went to Hollywood to try a second time for a role in the movies. His first trip received a brutal reception from a Paramount executive who had reported that Fred Astaire: "Can't act. Can't sing. Balding. Can dance a little." This second trip to Hollywood was quite different.  After a discrete success in his first film, Dancing Lady which starred Clark Gable, Fred was teamed with  with a Texas girl named Ginger Rogers whom he had known in New York City years before. In the 1933 film Flying Down to Rio they danced a frantic carioca which propelled them from unknown second leads into the national spotlight and bonded them as a great musical- comedy team. Their second film together, now as the leads, was the Gay Divorcee. The two great stars would do a total 10 films together with 9 films in the 1930's and a reunion in 1949.

Throughout the 1940's Fred Astaire starred in numerous films with various partners including Cyd Charisse, Leslie Caron, Vera Ellen, Barrie Chase, Judy Garland, Eleanor Powell and Rita Hayworth. With these famous ladies, Fred Astaire made a total of 20 more movie musicals. However, he never recaptured that great romantic chemistry he had developed with Ginger Rogers. Katharine Hepurn said it best: "Astaire gives her class, Rogers gives him sex appeal."

In 1946 after the completion of the film Blue Skies, Fred shocked Hollywood by announcing his retirement. For the next two years he devoted himself to his family which now included his wife Phyllis, step-son Peter, his son Fred Jr., and daughter Ava, enhanced his interest with his racehorses, and developed the Fred Astaire Franchised Dance Studios.

In 1948 Fred Astaire came out of retirement to fill in for an injured Gene Kelly in the movie production of  Easter Parade, starring opposite Judy Garland. With the success of this film Fred continued with a series of hit movies with his new dance partner, Cyd Charisse. During the production of  Daddy Long Legs in 1955, his wife Phyliss Astaire died from her long battle with cancer. Despite the devastating loss, Fred finished the film.

In 1958 Fred Astaire expanded his talents to the new medium of television with his new dance partner, Barrie Chase. He continued to star in various movies and television special throughout the 1960's and 1970's. In 1974, Fred Astaire was nominated for an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor in the film Towering Inferno. His last movie, at the age of 77, was an emotional reunion with Gene Kelly in That's Entertainment, Part 2. In 1978 Fred Astaire was the recipient of the Kennedy Center Honors and in 1981, he received the prestigious Life Achievement Award from the American Film Institute. The lists below represent a summary of the 41 films in which Fred Astaire starred.

In 1973, Fred Astaire met a young women jockey named Robyn Smith. Despite the 45 year age difference the two shared many similar interests and fell in love. In 1980 the two were married. The marriage was a blissful union resulting in many happy years for the two of them. On June 22, 1987, Fred Astaire died from pneumonia.

Fred Astaire brought to the screen a completely unique persona. His style, his innate grace, his singing voice, and of course, the dancing, are all inimitable. The charm, the elegance, the true class of the man still shine today.

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