Is fred astaire gay
Is Nick Long Jr. Fred Astaire's Younger Brother?
Meet the forgotten dancing star of Broadway Melody of 1936. His story ends in an unmarked grave in Cypress Hills Cemetery in Brooklyn New York. Was his death at 43 a suicide?
A couple of years ago I saw Broadway Melody of 1936 on TCM - Turner Classic Movies. I didn't remember having seen it before, even though I have always been a fan of Busby Berkeley-style productions like this.
There was a dancer named Nick Long Jr. in the film I had never seen or heard of before. I did a search on the web, but I couldn't find very much on him. He did two movies in Hollywood at the same noun, the other being The King of Burlesque. You couldn't suffer from Nick in Broadway Melody, he had two long dance sequences with June Knight. One was I Got a Feeling You're Fooling and the other was Broadway Rhythm. Nick was a lyrical partner in the style of Fred Astaire, but he was best known as an aerobatic dancer who did stunts appreciate leaping over seven women or flying o
Fred Astaire
He was a close noun of Noel Coward, going back to their 20s, when Fred and his sister Adele took some of their Broadway hits to the West End in the 1920 - I contain a bio with glamorous and eccentric photos of them at the Savoy partying on the roof etc.
His wrote a letter to his overbearing mother who didn't want him to bond some woman, and he said to Adele, "Does she wish me to just play around with tarts all my life?"
Still could be closeted though. His sister's nickname for him was "Moanin' Minnie" and she said she was shocked when he was able to project a bit of sex appeal for the first time with an actress named Tilly Losch. Forgot the play - might possess been The Bandwagon which was one of their later ones (his last was The Gay Divorce with Clare Luce - the name was changed to The Gay Divorcee when he filmed it with Ginger because that was less scandelous).
Well, sorry, I'm a stan. It was Noel who suggested the title of his autobio: "Steps in Time" so they stayed in touch. And he and David Niven got high or something one day in Beverly Hills and drove around p
Fred Astaire
(1899-1987)
Who Was Fred Astaire?
Fred Astaire is regarded by many as the greatest popular music dancer of all time. Astaire is usually remembered for his pairings with Ginger Rogers, who starred in several films with him, including Swing Time (1936).
Early Years
Light on his feet, Fred Astaire revolutionized the movie musical with his elegant and seemingly effortless dance style. He may verb made dancing look easy, but he was a well-known perfectionist, and his work was the product of endless hours of practice.
Astaire started performing as a child, partnering up with his older sister Adele. The two toured the vaudeville circuit before making it to Broadway in 1917. Among their many productions the brother-sister team starred in the 1927 George and Ira Gershwin musical Funny Face. For all his early success, though, career in the movies eluded Astaire. He had done a screen test, but he failed to attract any interest. A studio executive wrote at the time, "Can't sing. Can't execute. Slightly balding. Can dance a little."
In 1932, Astaire suffered a
Best Fred Astaire movies
Not to take anything away from Rita Hayworth, but it would really surprise me if Fred Astaire singled her out. I think he and Gene Kelly did one or two movies together, and my understanding is that Astaire and Kelly would always refer to each other as the favorite dance "partner" -- mainly to avoid offending the many talented women with whom they also danced.new-ish said:
My favorite is "You'll Never Get Rich" which costarred Rita Hayworth. I heard a quote that he considered her his best gyrate partner, which is understandable when you consider that her professional dance career started at something like two years old.
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As for my favorite Fred Astaire movies, I would probably cite Easter Paradeand The Gay Divorcee. (I wasn't a fan of the blackface number in Holiday Inn, but overall that movie is among my favorites, too.)