HAPPY BIRTHDAY Frederic Austerlitz Jr.
(May 10, 1899 - June 22, 1987)
Once after a dinner party, Gregory Peck and I drove Fred Astaire home. Fred lived in a colonial house that had a long porch with many pillars. When we dropped him off, he danced along the whole front porch, then opened the door, tipped his hat to us, and disappeared. Wow! Greg and I couldn’t speak for a few minutes. It was a beautiful way to say thank you.
- Kirk Douglas
Happy Birthday Freddie
The only way I know to get a good show is to practice, sweat, rehearse and worry.
Happy birthday Fred Astaire (May 10, 1899 – June 22, 1987 )
“Fred and I and Cary Grant are the sort of show-off males, of the old movies. We’d trudge up there, take a bow, and go and have a drink.” - Gene Kelly, 1980
Fred & Adele Astaire, by LIFE magazine - 1959
life:
In honor of Leap Day 2012, a gallery of pictures celebrating the simple act of leaping around, and the sense of boundless possibilities that one extra day on the calendar can sometimes instill…
Dancer Fred Astaire clad in top hat, tails and spats, holding cane as he does a climatic jump in ‘Puttin on the Ritz’ number for the movie “Blue Skies”. 1945
(see more here)
Well, though I love all the films I made with Fred Astaire, I too, have a favorite child, and it is Swing Time.
