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Fred Astaire
76 quotes
“I'd never seen him out front before. It was also the first time I realized that Fred had sex appeal. Fred. Wherever did he get it?”
Fred Astaire (1899–1987) first seen 1936 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Adele Astaire on Astaire's performance in Gay Divorce. Source: "He Worries, Poor Boy." Variety, March 18, 1936, p. 3. (M).
“If people would only realize when they ask me why I don't do a picture with him - they ask me that all the time, and were quite keen on it while I was in Hollywood - if they'd only realize that he's gone 'way ahead of me. Why I couldn't begin to keep up with him. I couldn't even reach the steps he throws away.”
Fred Astaire (1899–1987) said by 1987 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Come on, Fred, I'm not your sister, you know.”
Fred Astaire (1899–1987) first seen 1981 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Claire Luce, (Astaire's first dance partner after his sister Adele retired, urging Astaire to turn on the passion during rehearsals for Gay Divorce) in Telephone interview with John Mueller, June 7, 1981. (M).
“I once said that fifty years from now, the only one of today's dancers who will be remembered is Fred Astaire.”
Fred Astaire (1899–1987) first seen 1970 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Gene Kelly quoted in Shipman, David. The Great Movie Stars, The Golden Years. Crown Publishers, New York. 1970. pp. 25-29 as referenced in Billman, Larry: Fred Astaire - A Bio-bibliography, Greenwood Press, Connecticut,…
“The girls always think we're going to throw them over a table or toss them in the air. Their muscles tense up right away. So Fred and I go and sit in a corner and pretend we're talking business.”
Fred Astaire (1899–1987) first seen 1976 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Gene Kelly on the subject of social dancing, in Lawrenson, Helen. "It's Better to Remember Fred." Esquire, August 1976, pp92-96, 106, 109-110. (M).
“Just try and keep up with those feet of his sometime! Try and look graceful while thinking where your right hand should be, and how your head should be held, and which foot you end the next eight bars on, and whether you're near enough to the steps to leap up six of them backward without looking. Not to mention those Astaire rhythms. Did you ever count the different tempos he can think up in three minutes?”
Fred Astaire (1899–1987) first seen 1936 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Ginger Rogers in Evans, Harry. "Ginger, Leila, and Fred." Family Circle, May 8, 1936. (M).
“How do you think those routines were accomplished? With mirrors?... Well, I thought I knew what concentrated work was before I met Fred, but he's the limit. Never satisfied until every detail is right, and he will not compromise. No sir! What's more, if he thinks of something better after you've finished a routine, you do it over.”
Fred Astaire (1899–1987) said by 1987 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“We were only together for a part of my career, and for every film we did, I did another three on my own. The studio was working me too hard. Fred would rush off for a holiday and call me and say: "Hey, ready to do another?" And I didn't have the sense to say that I was too tired. Those times were murder for me. Oh, I adored Mr. A but all the hard work...the 5 a.m. calls, the months of non-stop dancing, singing and acting. We just worked it out and had a lot of fun and got very exhausted. And Mr A was quite divine.”
Fred Astaire (1899–1987) first seen 1987 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Ginger Rogers quoted in Satchell, Tim. Astaire, The Biography. Hutchinson, London. 1987. . p. 132.
“I guess the only jewels of my life were the pictures I made with Fred Astaire.”
Fred Astaire (1899–1987) first seen 1970 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Rita Hayworth in Hallowell, John. "Rita Hayworth: Don't Put the Blame on Me, Boys." New York Times October 25, 1970, sec. 2, pp. 15, 38. (M).
“If I was black and blue, it was Gene. If I didn't have a scratch it was Fred.”
Fred Astaire (1899–1987) said by 1987 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Cyd Charisse on how her husband would know with whom she had danced, quoted in Aloff, Mindy. Dance Anecdotes: Stories from the Worlds of Ballet, Broadway, the Ballroom, and Modern Dance. Oxford University Press, 2006. p…
“Me? I play Gene Kelly...It's a guy who produces, directs, sings, and dances. who else could it be but Kelly?”
Fred Astaire (1899–1987) first seen 1957 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Fred Astaire on his role in Silk Stockings in Smith, Cecil. "Astaire prefers the 'Good Old Days' of the present." Los Angeles Times, July 14, 1957, sec. 5, p. 3. (M).
“[[w:Leslie Caron|[Leslie] Caron]] is one of only six women who danced with Kelly and Fred Astaire in movies. She says that while Kelly always danced close to the ground, with Astaire (in 1955’s Daddy Long Legs) she felt as if she was floating. Who did she prefer? She gives me a look. "It's not fair to ask me that. For 70 years, I've refused to answer that. A great dancer is a great dancer." She says they were such different men – Kelly tough and generous, Astaire urbane and genteel.”
Fred Astaire (1899–1987) said by 1987 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Simon Hattenstone writing in The Guardian, June 21, 2021.
“(Cary Grant) is, along with Fred Astaire, the best-dressed actor in American movies”
Fred Astaire (1899–1987) said by 1987 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Benjamin Schwarz in "Becoming Cary Grant" The Atlantic, January/February 2007
“As a dancer, I out-Fred the nimblest Astaire.”
Fred Astaire (1899–1987) first seen 1947 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: P.G. Wodehouse's Bertie Wooster in Joy in the Morning (1947).
“But Adrian did not hear him. I have mentioned that during dinner, preoccupied with his thoughts, he had bolted his food. Nature now took its toll. An acute spasm suddenly ran though him, and with a brief 'Ouch!' of pain he doubled up and began to walk round in circles. Sir Jasper clicked his tongue impatiently. "This is no time for doing the Astaire pom-pom dance," he said sharply.”
Fred Astaire (1899–1987) first seen 1933 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: From P.G. Wodehouse's Mulliner Nights (1933).
“There's nothing to beat these old English country houses." said Charlie, becoming lyrical. "All those parks and gardens and terraces and stuff. Makes you think of bygone ages and knights in armour and all like that. I saw one of these joints in a movie in Cicero once with Fred Astaire in it, and I remember thinking those guys have it pretty soft.”
Fred Astaire (1899–1987) first seen 1968 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: From P.G. Wodehouse's Do Butlers Burgle Banks? (1968).
“Mr. Llewellyn paused. Mr. Trout had begun to float about the room like something out of Swan Lake, and Mr. Llewellyn disapproved of this. He was apt to be a martinet in his dealings with his legal advisers, demanding that lawyers should behave like lawyers and leave eccentric dancing to the professionals. A man, he held, is either Fred Astaire or he is not Fred Astaire, and if he is not Fred Astaire he should not carry on like him.”
Fred Astaire (1899–1987) first seen 1973 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: From P.G. Wodehouse's Bachelors Anonymous (1973).
“Grayce Llewellyn thought that with appropriate dietary restrictions, she and J Sheringham Adair could have Ivor Llewellyn looking like Fred Astaire.”
Fred Astaire (1899–1987) first seen 1972 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: From P.G. Wodehouse's Pearls, Girls and Monty Bodkin (1972).
“It was on tiny wheels with a mount for the camera that put the lens about two feet above the ground. On it rode the camera operator and the assistant who changed the focus and that's all. Fred always wanted to keep the camera in as tight as possible, and they used to shoot with a 40 millimetre lens, which doesn't give you too much leeway. So every time Fred and Ginger moved toward us, the camera had to go back, and every time they went back, the camera went in. The head grip who was in charge of pushing this thing was a joy to watch. He would maintain a consistent distance, and when they were in the midst of a hectic dance that's quite a stunt.”
Fred Astaire (1899–1987) first seen 1974 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: H.C. Potter describing the "The Astaire dolly", as quoted in Croce, Arlene. The Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers Book, W.H. Allen, London, 1974. p. 127. .
“A very distinguished colleague began his criticism of this show by asking what is Mr Astaire's secret. May I suggest that the solution hangs on a little word of three letters? Mr Astaire's secret is that of the late Rudolph Valentino and of Mr Maurice Chevalier — sex, but sex so bejewelled and be-pixied that the weaker vessels who fall for it can pretend that it isn't sex at all but a sublimated projection of the Little Fellow with the Knuckles in His Eyes. You'd have thought by the look of the first night foyer that it was Mothering Thursday, since every woman in the place was urgent to take to her bosom this waif with the sad eyes and the twinkling feet.”
Fred Astaire (1899–1987) first seen 1933 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Theatre critic James Agate in a review of a 1933 London performance of Gay Divorce as quoted in Cooke, Alistair. "Fred Astaire Obituary", Letter From America, BBC World Service, June 28, 1987.
“As one of the handful of girls who worked with both of those dance geniuses, I think I can give an honest comparison. In my opinion, Kelly is the more inventive choreographer of the two. Astaire, with Hermes Pan's help, creates fabulous numbers - for himself and his partner. But Kelly can create an entire number for somebody else... I think, however, that Astaire's coordination is better than Kelly's... his sense of rhythm is uncanny. Kelly, on the other hand, is the stronger of the two. When he lifts you, he lifts you!... To sum it up, I'd say they were the two greatest dancing personalities who were ever on screen. But it's like comparing apples and oranges. They're both delicious.”
Fred Astaire (1899–1987) first seen 1976 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Cyd Charisse in Charisse, Cyd; Martin, Tony; Kleiner, Dick. The Two of Us, New York: Mason/Charter, 1976. .
“The fact that Fred and I were in no way similar - nor were we the best male dancers around never occurred to the public or the journalists who wrote about us...Fred and I got the cream of the publicity and naturally we were compared. And while I personally was proud of the comparison, because there was no-one to touch Fred when it came to "popular" dance, we felt that people, especially film critics at the time, should have made an attempt to differentiate between our two styles. Fred and I both got a bit edgy after our names were mentioned in the same breath. I was the Marlon Brando of dancers, and he the Cary Grant. My approach was completely different from his, and we wanted the world to realise this, and not lump us together like peas in a pod. If there was any resentment on our behalf, it certainly wasn't with each other, but with people who talked about two highly individual dancers as if they were one person. For a start, the sort of wardrobe I wore - blue jeans, sweatshirt, sneakers - Fred wouldn't have been caught dead in. Fred always looked immaculate in rehearsals, I was always in an old shirt. Fred's steps were small, neat, graceful and intimate - mine were ballet-oriented and very athletic. The two of us couldn't have been more different, yet the public insisted on thinking of us as rivals...I persuaded him to put on his dancing shoes again, and replace me in Easter Parade after I'd broken my ankle. If we'd been rivals, I certainly wouldn't have encouraged him to make a comeback.”
Fred Astaire (1899–1987) first seen 1984 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Gene Kelly interviewed in Hirschhorn, Clive. Gene Kelly, A Biography. W.H Allen, London, 1984. p. 117. .
“Fred taught me a step because I said I can't let this experience be over without my learning something. He taught me the most wonderful Fred Astaire-like step, with an umbrella. It was a complete throwaway; it was almost invisible. It was in the way he walked. As he moved along, he bounced the umbrella on the floor to the beat and then he grabbed it. It was effortless and invisible. As a matter of fact, a few years later I was photographing Gene Kelly and told him that Fred Astaire had taught me this trick with an umbrella. And Kelly said, "Oh I'll teach you one," and he did, and the two tricks with the umbrella in some way define the difference between Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly, and, in my view, demonstrate who is the greater of the two artists. With Gene Kelly, he threw the umbrella way up into the air, and then he moved to catch it, very slowly, grabbing it behind his back. It was a big, grandstand play, about nothing.”
Fred Astaire (1899–1987) said by 1987 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Richard Avedon in Silverman, Stephen M. Dancing on the Ceiling. Knopf, 1996. .
“The major difference between Astaire and Kelly is a difference, not of talent or technique, but of levels of sophistication. On the face of it, Kelly looks the more sophisticated. Where Kelly has ideas, Astaire has dance steps. Where Kelly has smartly tailored, dramatically apt Comden and Green scripts, Astaire in the Thirties made do with formulas derived from nineteenth-century French Farce. But the Kelly film is no longer a dance film. It's a story film with dances, as distinguished from a dance film with a story. When Fred and Ginger go into their dance, you see it as a distinct formal entity, even if it's been elaborately built up to in the script. In a Kelly film, the plot action and the musical set pieces preserve a smooth community of high spirits, so that the pressure in a dance number will often seem too low, the dance itself plebeian or folksy in order to "match up" with the rest of the picture.”
Fred Astaire (1899–1987) first seen 1974 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Arlene Croce, in Croce, Arlene. The Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers Book, W.H. Allen, London, 1974. p. 7. .
“I suspect it is this Camelot view that leads Miss Croce to be rather unfair to Gene Kelly...I should say the difference starts with their bodies. If you compare Kelly to Astaire, accepting Astaire's debonair style as perfection then, of course, Kelly looks bad. But in popular dance forms, in which movement is not rigidly codified, as it is in ballet, perfection is a romantic myth or a figure of speech, nothing more. Kelly isn't a winged dancer; he's a hoofer and more earthbound. But he has warmth and range as an actor...Astaire's grasshopper lightness was his limitation as an actor - confining him to perennial gosh-oh-gee adolescence;; he was always and only a light comedian and could function only in fairytale vehicles.”
Fred Astaire (1899–1987) first seen 1972 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Pauline Kael, responding to Croce in her review of Croce's The Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers Book, writing in The New Yorker, November 25, 1972, as reproduced in Kael, Pauline. Reeling: Film Writings 1972-1975, Marion …
“I think I can pinpoint the one moment when the American style of dressing first appeared. It was in an appalling 1933 movie called Dancing Lady during an otherwise forgettable dance number. It also just happened to be Fred Astaire's first on-camera dance. But don't look at the steps. Look at the outfit: Astaire is wearing a single-breasted, soft flannel suit with two-tone spectator shoes and a turtleneck. You wish you could look that stylish! Later that year, in Flying Down to Rio, we get the full Astaire impact. The muted plaid suit is not all that striking, but Fred is wearing it with a soft button-down shirt, a pale woven tie, silk pocket square, bright horizontally striped hose and white bucks. Whoa! Now that's different. This melange of the classic and the sporty was an American innovation. As we approach the impeccable Astaire's 100th birthday on May 10, it's worth remembering that he remains the greatest exemplar of that style.”
Fred Astaire (1899–1987) said by 1987 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: G. Bruce Boyer in "Shall We Dress?" Forbes, May 3rd, 1999.