Gene Kelly: Dancer Everyman

by Marjorie Dorfman | More from this Blogger

26 Jan 2006 10:15 AM

Gene Kelly himself once said of his dancing, "if Fred Astaire is the aristocracy, then I am the proletariat." Born Eugene Curran Kelly on August 23, 1910, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, his father was Al Jolson's road manager in the 1920s. He graduated from the University of Pittsburgh with a degree in economics. During World War II, he was a sailor and starred in several films made for the Navy. While on leave, he also did some civilian films.

A dancer since childhood, Gene graduated from college during The Depression when jobs were scarce. He was forced to take menial jobs to support himself. He was once a dancing teacher, and eventually he managed to get a chorus-boy assignment on the Broadway stage. His rise to stardom was quick and occurred shortly after 1940 when he won the leading role in Rodgers and Hart's production of "Pal Joey." He arrived in Hollywood in 1941, preparing to return to the Broadway stage after making the one film called for in his contract. But he remained, for he found personal and artistic fulfillment there even after he finished his first film for MGM opposite Judy Garland, "For Me And My Gal."

Surely his best known dancing steps can be seen by all the world in the musical bull's eye, "Singin' In The Rain", all of which he choreographed himself. With co-stars Donald O' Connor and Debbie Reynolds, the gala musical about Hollywood's switch from silent to talking films was a smash hit. The plot may have been silly and weak in parts, but the golden feet of Kelly and his co-stars shine all the way through the film.

Gene Kelly was married twice and had three children, two girls and a boy. His two wives, Betsy Blair and Jeanne Coyne, were both dancers. He made more than forty films and his career spanned four decades. He died on February 6, 1996.

What are some of YOUR favorite Gene Kelly movies? Please share.

Learn more about Marjorie Dorfman

Marjorie Dorfman is a freelance writer and former teacher originally from Brooklyn, New York.

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