In 1963, Kelly joined Universal Pictures for a two-year stint. Gene Kelly: A Biography. I create what the drama and the music demand. He later received lifetime achievement awards in the Kennedy Center Honors (1982) and from the Screen Actors Guild and American Film Institute. Gene Kelly on Fred Astairen ohella musikaalien kirkkain miestähti. Invitation to the Dance Gene Kelly est le troisième d'une famille de cinq enfants. He joined 20th Century Fox in 1965, but had little to do—partly due to his decision to decline assignments away from Los Angeles for family reasons. combining the two, as demonstrated in such films as Examples of this abound in Kelly's work and are well illustrated in the "Prehistoric Man" sequence from On the Town and "The Hat My Father Wore on St. Patrick's Day" from Take Me Out to the Ball Game. First Name Gene #4. [14] He became involved in the university's Cap and Gown Club, which staged original musical productions. described as "wide open and close to the ground." He got a job After Kelly returned to Hollywood in 1946, MGM had nothing planned and used him in a routine, black-and-white movie: Living in a Big Way (1947). As was the practice at the time, he was rarely formally credited in the film titles. [8] He experimented with lighting, camera techniques, and special effects to achieve true integration of dance with film, and was one of the first to use split screens, double images, and live action with animation, and is credited as the person who made the ballet form commercially acceptable to film audiences. New York: Citadel Press, 1966. audiences. that he was talented enough to find work and he was right. I never let technique get in the way of mood or continuity. Reprint, New York: St. Martin's Press, American dancer, actor, and choreographer. in theater his first week in New York. Bosley Crowther described it as, "whoop-de-doo ... one of the finest ever put on the screen. He's a hard taskmaster and he loves hard work. In 1932, they renamed it the Gene Kelly Studio of the Dance and opened a second location in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, in 1933. Naval Air Service and was commissioned as lieutenant, junior grade. I could see just a single lamp burning. Kelly's reasoning behind this was that he felt the kinetic force of live dance often evaporated when brought to film, and he sought to partially overcome this by involving the camera in movement and giving the dancer a greater number of directions in which to move. Fred wears top hat and tails to the Manor born—I put them on and look like a truck driver."[11]. "[14] He also studied Spanish dancing under Angel Cansino, Rita Hayworth's uncle. Founding members. As biographer Clive Hirschhorn explains: "As a child, he used to run for miles through parks and streets and woods—anywhere, just as long as he could feel the wind against his body and through his hair. Prior to his contract, he also managed to fit in choreographing the stage production of Best Foot Forward.[19]. When Patricia Ward Kelly and Gene Kelly married quietly in Santa Barbara in 1990, he gave her age to the press as 36, not 31. By Inderdeep Bains for the Daily Mail Updated: 08:29 EST, 3 November 2011 In 1931, he was approached by the Beth Shalom Synagogue in Pittsburgh to teach dance, and to stage the annual Kermesse. The Great Depression I didn't dance again until I was 15. Gene Kelly est le troisième d'une famille de cinq enfants, et il eut trois frères et une sœur. Late in life, Kelly was awarded Irish citizenship under Ireland's Citizenship by Foreign Birth program. Cover Girl It was beset with delays and technical problems, and flopped when finally released in 1956. In his book Easy the Hard Way, Joe Pasternak, head of another of MGM's musical units, singled out Kelly for his patience and willingness to spend as much time as necessary to enable the ailing Garland to complete her part.[11]. Eugene Curran "Gene" Kelly (August 23, 1912 – Februar 2, 1996) wis an American dancer, actor, sangster, film director, producer an choreografer.He wis kent for his energetic an athletic dancin style, his guid leuks, an the likeable chairacters that he played on screen. Gene Kelly . MGM's refusal to lend him out for Guys and Dolls and Pal Joey put further strains on his relationship with the studio. This is the only official website celebrating the life and career of the legendary dancer, director and choreographer Gene Kelly. When Kelly returned to Hollywood in 1953, the film musical was beginning to feel the pressures from television, and MGM cut the budget for his next picture Brigadoon (1954), with Cyd Charisse, forcing him to make the film on studio back lots instead of on location in Scotland. This musical film persuaded Arthur Freed to have Kelly make On the Town (also 1949), in which he partnered with Frank Sinatra for the third and final time. Gilbert Adair. Pal Joey. theater. An American in Paris won six Academy Awards, including Best Picture. Springer, John. He always choreographed his own dance routines and often the dance routines of others and used assistants. Anchors Aweigh established formulas of the film musical. Tous furent amenés par leur mère au monde de la danse. He achieved a significant breakthrough as a dancer on film when MGM lent him to Columbia to work with Rita Hayworth in Cover Girl (1944), a film that foreshadowed the best of his future work. About. III (1994). [14] It gained an Emmy nomination for choreography and now stands as the key document explaining Kelly's approach to modern dance. did not want to continue with his dance lessons because the other Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania The application was initiated on his behalf by his wife Patricia Ward Kelly.[43]. Thank you Troy Campbell. He withdrew from the film and convinced Fred Astaire to come out of retirement to replace him. The initials "G.I." Kelly and Coyne had two children, Timothy (b. Unfortunately, people confuse gracefulness with softness. He created dance routines with his younger brother Fred to earn prize money in local talent contests. He is probably best known today for his performances in musicals, notably An American in Paris (1951) and Singin' in the Rain (1952).. Kelly made his Hollywood film debut in For Me and My Gal (1942), co-starring with Judy Garland. 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 de la Légion d'Honneur by the French Government. 1964). It was dedicated to his memory. However, most of his efforts were now concentrated on film production and directing. Kelly's big break came in Born in 1912 #4. his performances. If you want to play on his team you'd better like hard work, too. global unemployment and poverty. It enjoyed great popularity in Roman Catholic countries outside the US. is military terminology referring to "Governmen… Kelly's mother began to work as a receptionist at a local [20] He created a memorable routine dancing to his own reflection. His dance to the title song In 1947, he was part of the Committee for the First Amendment, the Hollywood delegation that flew to Washington to protest at the first official hearings by the House Committee on Un-American Activities. [44] Faulty Christmas tree wiring was blamed. Eugene Curran Kelly (født 23. august 1912, død 2. februar 1996), bedre kendt som Gene Kelly, blev født i Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.Han var en amerikansk danser, skuespiller, sanger, filminstruktør, filmproducer og koreograf.Kelly var kendt for sin energiske og atletiske dansestil, sit gode udseende og at de karakterer han spillede var de "gode". [46], Kelly appeared as actor and dancer in musical films. Gene Kelly fait l’objet d’un documentaire sur France 5, diffusé le 14 mai 2017. His first opportunity to dance to his own choreography came in his next picture, Thousands Cheer (1943), where he performed a mock-love dance with a mop. [12], By the time he decided to dance, he was an accomplished sportsman and able to defend himself. "[34] In particular, he wanted to create a completely different image from that associated with Fred Astaire, not least because he believed his physique did not suit such refined elegance: "I used to envy his cool, aristocratic style, so intimate and contained. Kelly appeared frequently on television shows during the 1960s, including Going My Way (1962–63), which was based on the 1944 film of the same name. (1974). Gene Kelly Is A Member Of . [40] After his departure from the Catholic Church, Kelly became an agnostic, as he had previously described himself. This exposé of organized crime is set in New York's "Little Italy" during the late 19th century and focuses on the Black Hand, a group that extorts money upon threat of death. Johnny Green, the head of music at MGM at the time, said of him, Gene is easygoing as long as you know exactly what you are doing when you're working with him. It's an Irish quality, a jaw-jutting, up-on-the-toes cockiness—which is a good quality for a male dancer to have. [33] However, his main interest was in ballet, which he studied under Kotchetovsky in the early 1930s. Kelly claimed to be "appalled at the sight of myself blown up 20 times. 2013 - "Singin' in the Rain" ranked number one in "The Nation's Favorite Dance Moment". (taught) him how to act for the movies. To accomplish this, the camera is made fluid, moving with the dancer, so that the lens becomes the eye of the spectator, your eye". Nowhere was Kelly more engaging than in 1952's Probably best known for his performance in 'Singin' In The Rain', he was a dominant force in Hollywood musical films from the mid 1940s until their demise in the late 1950s. Kelly often played a guy who felt that the best way to get what he insight into me.". Might have been on stage at Kirmess. As his first wife, actress and dancer Betsy Blair explained: "A sailor suit or his white socks and loafers, or the T-shirts on his muscular torso, gave everyone the feeling that he was a regular guy, and perhaps they, too, could express love and joy by dancing in the street or stomping through puddles ... he democratized the dance in movies. Gene Kelly byl třikrát ženatý. [36] Their marriage lasted until his death six years later and she has not remarried since.[37]. Gene Kelly made his mark on Hollywood and, through his work both in front of and behind the camera, transformed the movie musical. Kelly married three times. In 1937 he left for New York City. His final film role was in Xanadu (1980), a surprise flop despite a popular soundtrack that spawned five Top 20 hits by the Electric Light Orchestra, Cliff Richard and Kelly's co-star Olivia Newton-John. Kelly married Patricia Ward in 1990 (when he was 77 and she was 30). Gene Kelly Fans Also Viewed . The following year, Singin' in the Rain featured Kelly's celebrated and much imitated solo dance routine to the title song, along with the "Moses Supposes" routine with Donald O'Connor and the "Broadway Melody" finale with Cyd Charisse. It was midnight and we had been rehearsing since 8 in the morning. Although Coppola's ambition was for him to establish a production unit to rival the Freed Unit at MGM, the film's failure put an end to this idea. [42] From the mid-1940s through the early 1950s, Blair and he organized weekly parties at their Beverly Hills home, and they often played an intensely competitive and physical version of charades, known as "The Game".[38]. On December 22, 1983, the actor's Beverly Hills mansion burned down. His zodiac sign is Leo. Gene Kelly was dicovered by a man named Max Adkins who saw Gene in a University of Pitt Scotch and Soda review and recomended him to people in California. Kelly danced in a more energetic, athletic way. choreography (creating dances) and movie direction. Filmmakers had to tread gingerly whenever dealing with big-time crime, it being safer to go after a "dead" criminal organization than a "live" one. The film was considered so weak that the studio asked Kelly to design and insert a series of dance routines; they noticed his ability to carry out such assignments. Édesapja, James Kelly fonográf árus volt, édesanyja Harriet Curran, mindketten ír, római katolikus bevándorlók voltak. Hirschhorn, Clive. He choreographed his own movement, along with that of the ensemble, with the assistance of Jeanne Coyne, Stanley Donen, Carol Haney, and Alex Romero. After leaving MGM, Kelly returned to stage work. Although likely exaggerated (as fanzine interviews typically were/are), the Photoplay article “My Kids, The Kellys” (Feb. … Most Popular #12604. She tutored While at the university, Kelly worked at a variety of odd jobs to This led to a lead part in his next picture, with Judy Garland and director Vincente Minnelli—a musical film version of S.N. Bien que monté sur scène dès l'âge de huit ans pour des spectacles amateurs, Gene Kelly préfère le sport et souhaite faire partie de l'équipe de baseball des Pittsburgh Pirates. In the end he contract with Metro Goldwyn Mayer (MGM). Il pratique pa… In July 1994, he suffered a stroke and stayed in a hospital for seven weeks. "[11] In the same year, he was invited by Francis Ford Coppola to recruit a production staff for American Zoetrope's One from the Heart (1982). There followed Summer Stock (1950)—Garland's last musical film for MGM—in which Kelly performed the "You, You Wonderful You" solo routine with a newspaper and a squeaky floorboard. films did not always realize how very sophisticated (complex) his Gene Kelly's family tragedy: Hollywood legend's grandson, 15, dies after collapsing at high school cross country race. ", Blackstone Audio "Suspense" vol. "[11], Stanley Donen, brought to Hollywood by Kelly to be his assistant choreographer, received co-director credit for On the Town. While I am a hundred percent for ballet technique, I use only what I can adapt to my own use. He appeared as one of many special narrators in the surprise hit That's Entertainment! I needed one to watch my performance, and one to work with the cameraman on the timing ... without such people as Stanley, Carol Haney, and Jeanne Coyne I could never have done these things. loved sports, especially hockey. After Kelly graduated from the University of Pittsburgh he taught dance Though the film did not initially generate the same enthusiasm An American in Paris created, it has subsequently overtaken the earlier film to occupy its current pre-eminent place in the esteem of critics.[26]. the University of Pittsburgh in order to save the cost of room and Max was the Music arranger that taught Henry Mancini, Sammy Nestico, Jerry Fielding, Billy Strayhorn to name a few musical stars. In an episode foreshadowing his later conflicts with the studio, cf. In 1989, Kelly voiced a Don Lockwood animatronic on the Great Movie Ride at the Disney-MGM Studios in Orlando, Florida. In real-life incidents upon which this film is based, it was the Mafia, not the Black Hand, who functioned as the villain. "[23] Anchors Aweigh became one of the most successful films of 1945 and Kelly was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor. [9] His father was born in Peterborough, Ontario, Canada to an Irish Canadian family. 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". "[32] He especially acknowledged the influence of George M. Cohan: "I have a lot of Cohan in me. Only one of these pictures was a musical, Invitation to the Dance, a pet project of Kelly's to bring modern ballet to mainstream film audiences. His family and pets escaped and he suffered a burnt hand. Kelly died on February 2, 1996 at the age of 83. The film was nominated for four Academy Awards and won three. Although Gene Kelly established his reputation as an actor and a dancer, In 1999, the American Film Institute also ranked him as the 15th greatest male screen legend of Classic Hollywood Cinema. Kelly served as a teacher at the studio during his undergraduate and law-student years at Pitt. An American in Paris dance studio. In 1940, he got the lead role in Rodgers and Hart's Pal Joey, again choreographed by Robert Alton. wanted was to impress people. He was stationed in the Photographic Section, Washington D.C., where he was involved in writing and directing a range of documentaries, and this stimulated his interest in the production side of filmmaking.[14][22]. This generation experienced much of their youth during the Great Depression and rapid technological innovation such as the radio and the telephone. magazine, "[That is] when I began to see that you could make According to Kelly: "when you are involved in doing choreography for film, you must have expert assistants. [11], In 1931, Kelly enrolled at the University of Pittsburgh to study economics, joining the Phi Kappa Theta fraternity. Every winter Kelly Sr. would flood the 1912, the middle son of five children. "[11] In 1937, having successfully managed and developed the family's dance-school business, he finally did move to New York City in search of work as a choreographer. Its dream ballet sequence, lasting an unprecedented 17 minutes, was the most expensive production number ever filmed at that time. After musicals he starred in two films outside the musical genre: Inherit the Wind (1960) and What a Way to Go! [24] There followed Take Me Out to the Ball Game (1949), his second film with Sinatra, where Kelly paid tribute to his Irish heritage in "The Hat My Father Wore on St. Patrick's Day" routine. You can spot many male dancers who have this tuition by their arm movements—they are soft, limp, and feminine. Měli … He attended St. Raphael Elementary School[13] in the Morningside neighborhood of Pittsburgh and graduated from Peabody High School at age 16. Selznick sold half of Kelly's contract to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer for his first motion picture: For Me and My Gal (1942) starring Judy Garland. Movie Actress. Reviewing the film, Farber enthused, "Kelly is the most exciting dancer to appear in Hollywood movies. "[14] Also in 1951, Kelly received an honorary Academy Award for his contribution to film musicals and the art of choreography. (self-confidence without politeness) offends people. However, he learns that his brashness This role propelled him to stardom. “I think he used word ‘Pygmalion’ about me. [41], He retained a lifelong passion for sports and relished competition. It just worked. At Through original short- and long-form essays, series, lists, and bibliographies, GENE KELLY FANS—along with its extensions on social media—looks at all aspects of the Hollywood star's life and career. Now regarded as a classic, the film was ahead of its time, but flopped at the box office. In 1929 Kelly left for Pennsylvania State College, but because of the In 1966, Kelly starred in an hour-long musical television special for CBS titled, Gene Kelly in New York, New York. entertainment. This Oscar was lost in the fire in 1983 and replaced at the 1984 Academy Awards. As co-director, lead star, and choreographer, Kelly was the central driving force in both of these films. [14] In Kelly's opinion, "The concept was marvelous, but it just didn't come off. different from the more formal and ballet styles of European dance. "[11], Offers from Hollywood began to arrive, but Kelly was in no hurry to leave New York. dances for cinema that weren't just photographed stage dancing. "[11] He railed against what he saw as the widespread effeminacy in male dancing, which, in his opinion, "tragically" stigmatized the genre, alienating boys from entering the field: "Dancing does attract effeminate young men. That was my big insight into Hollywood, and Hollywood's big Eugene Curran Kelly was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the third son of Harriet Catherine (Curran) and James Patrick Joseph Kelly, a phonograph salesman. Bien que monté sur scène dès l'âge de 8 ans pour des spectacles amateurs, Gene Kelly préférait le sport et souhaitait faire partie de l'équipe de base-ball des Pittsburgh Pirates. In Ziegfeld Follies (1946)—which was produced in 1944 but delayed for release—Kelly collaborated with Fred Astaire, for whom he had the greatest admiration, in "The Babbitt and the Bromide" challenge dance routine. [14] Another French effort, Jacques Demy's homage to the MGM musical, The Young Girls of Rochefort (Les Demoiselles de Rochefort, 1967), in which Kelly appeared, was a box-office success in France and nominated for Academy Awards for Best Music and Score of a Musical Picture (Original or Adaptation), but performed poorly elsewhere. Kelly's final on-screen appearance was to introduce That's Entertainment! Gene Kelly was born in 1910s. They had one child, Kerry (b. V roce 1942 se jim narodila dcera Kerry. He was known as a big fan of the Pittsburgh Steelers and Pittsburgh Pirates. told Mr James Kelly, Mrs Harriet Kelly & ( l'avant) Fred Kelly, Jim Kelly, Eugene Kelly; ( l'arri re) Jay Kelly, Louise Kelly. Died: February 2, 1996 25, 26: "What impressed Gene was the originality of the man's [Dotson's] dancing, as it was quite unlike anything he had seen before. (1945), where he danced with a cartoon mouse, (1951), and Born In 1912. This separation was prompted, in part, by a trip Kelly made to Mexico in which he became convinced that the church had failed to help the poor in that country. boy who could dance, so he decided to stick with the lessons. He increased his focus on performing and later claimed: "With time I became disenchanted with teaching because the ratio of girls to boys was more than ten to one, and once the girls reached 16, the dropout rate was very high. He was due to play the male lead opposite Garland in Easter Parade (1948), but broke his ankle playing volleyball. influence in creating a new form of American dance, one that was [14] Generally speaking, he tended to use tap and other popular dance idioms to express joy and exuberance—as in the title song for Singin' in the Rain or "I Got Rhythm" in An American in Paris, whereas pensive or romantic feelings were more often expressed via ballet or modern dance, as in "Heather on the Hill" from Brigadoon or "Our Love Is Here to Stay" from An American in Paris. His father, James Patrick Joseph Kelly, was of Irish descent. Kelly [10] When he was eight, Kelly's mother enrolled him and his brother James in dance classes.