Fred astaire ginger rogers biography

Hollywood double act

Fred Astaire (May 10, – June 22, ) and Ginger Rogers (July 16, – April 25, ) were dance partners in a total of 10 films, 9 being released by RKO Pictures from to , and 1, The Barkleys of Broadway, by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in , their only Technicolor film.^[1]

Career at RKO

Astaire and Rogers were first paired together in the movie Flying Down to Rio.

They were cast in supporting roles, with fifth and fourth billing, respectively, but their performance in the "Carioca" number was the highlight of the film,^[2] and RKO Radio Pictures was eager to capitalize on their popularity.

In , Astaire and Rogers made the musical movie The Gay Divorcee, which co-starred Edward Everett Horton.

It was their first joint starring roles in a movie and grossed even more than Flying Down to Rio, with worldwide rentals of $ million;^[3] the movie also featured the classic Cole Porter song "Night and Day