article

Eugene Curran Kelly (August 23, 1912 – February 2, 1996), better known as Gene Kelly, was born and raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He was an American dancer, actor, singer, director, producer, and choreographer. Kelly was known for his energetic and athletic dancing style, his good looks and the likable characters that he played on screen.

Upbringing

Gene was the third son of James Kelly, a phonograph salesman, and Harriet Curran, who were both children of Irish Catholic immigrants. He graduated from Peabody High School and attended the University of Pittsburgh, where he joined the Phi Kappa Theta fraternity and he got a degree in Economics. Early in his Broadway career, he appeared in Cole Porter's Leave It To Me as an Eskimo who supports Mary Martin while she sings "My Heart Belongs to Daddy." In 1940 he was given the leading role in Rodgers and Hart's Pal Joey, which brought him to national attention. During this period he also choreographed several hit plays, including the 1941 production of Best Foot Forward.

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:

He was the first American to choreograph and stage a ballet in the Paris Opera.

Kelly was awarded a special 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” in 1951 and reawarded in 1984's Academy Awards due to a fire which burned down his home in the previous year.

Kelly was awarded the Légion d'honneur by the French government in 1960. He also received the Life Achievement Award from American Film Institute in 1985. He was awarded the National Medal of Arts, from President Clinton in 1994, but was too ill to accept it in person.

Kelly died on February 2, 1996, in Beverly Hills, California, after suffering two strokes, at the age of 83.

Kelly married three times:

Trivia

The Gene Kelly Awards, given annually to high school musicals in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, are named in his honor.

In 2005, the widow of Gene gave permission to Volkswagen as part of their Volkswagen Golf GTi promotion, to use Gene Kelly's likeness. However, despite Mrs. Kelly's urging, the German auto maker refused to show the commercial in the U.S.. The television clip featured a partly CGI version of Kelly breakdancing to a new version of "Singin' in the Rain", remixed by Mint Royale. The tagline was, "The original, updated."

In 1993, pop singer Madonna met with Gene Kelly who convinced her to include an homage to Marlene Dietrich in her Girlie Show Tour, which turned out to be her cabaret version of "Like A Virgin."

He was voted the 42nd Greatest Movie Star of all time by Entertainment Weekly.

He's one of the many movie stars mentioned in Madonna's song "Vogue".

Ray Bradbury's novel "Something Wicked This Way Comes" was dedicated to him.

In 1994, the Three Tenors honored him singing "Singin' In The Rain" in front of him during a concert at the LA Dodgers Stadium. A frail-looking Gene Kelly was helped to his feet for a brief salute to stand up for the ovation.

Quotations

  • "Fred Astaire represented the aristocracy, I represented the proletariat."

  • "In the 1930s, when I started, Martha Graham was the only dancer doing anything modern, but she did it all to classical music. I couldn't see myself doing Swan Lake every night, and I wanted to develop a truly American style. The only dancer in the movies at that time with any success was Fred Astaire, but he did very small, elegant steps in a top hat, white tie, and tails."

  • "I * twenty pounds overweight and as strong as an ox. But if I put on a white tails and tux like Astaire, I still looked like a truck driver... I looked better in a sweatshirt and loafers anyway. It wasn't elegant, but it was me."

  • "I didn't want to be a dancer... I just did it to work my way through college. But I was always an athlete and gymnast, so it came naturally."

  • "The way I look at a musical, you are commenting on the human condition no matter what you do. A musical may be light and frivolous, but by its very nature, it makes some kind of social comment."

  • "At 14, I discovered girls. At that time, dancing was the only way you could put your arm around the girl. Dancing was courtship. Only later did I discover that you dance joy. You dance love. You dance dreams."

Stage work

As Actor:

As Crew Member:

Filmography

As Actor:

 

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "Gene Kelly".

Home Page • arts • business • computers • games • health • hospitals • home • kids & teens • news • physicians • recreation• reference • regional • science • shopping • society • sports • world