Top Hat is a 1935 American musical screwball comedy film in which Fred Astaire plays an American tap dancer named Jerry Travers, who comes to London to star in a show produced by Horace Hardwick. He meets and attempts to impress Dale Tremont to win her affection. The film also features Eric Blore as Hardwick's valet Bates, Erik Rhodes as Alberto Beddini, a fashion designer and rival for Dale's affections, and Helen Broderick as Hardwick's long-suffering wife Madge.
Fred Astaire was an American dancer, actor, singer, musician, choreographer, and presenter, whose career in stage, film, and television spanned 76 years. He is widely regarded as the "greatest popular-music dancer of all time" and received numerous accolades, including an Honorary Academy Award, three Primetime Emmy Awards, a BAFTA Award, two Golden Globe Awards, and a Grammy Award.
Kiss Me, Kate is a musical with music and lyrics by Cole Porter and a book by Bella and Samuel Spewack. The story involves the production of a musical version of William Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew and the conflict on and off-stage between Fred Graham, the show's director, producer, and star, and his leading lady, his ex-wife Lilli Vanessi. A secondary romance concerns Lois Lane, the actress playing Bianca, and her gambler boyfriend, Bill, who runs afoul of some gangsters. The original production starred Alfred Drake, Patricia Morison, Lisa Kirk and Harold Lang.
George Seaton was an American screenwriter, playwright, film director and producer, and theater director. Seaton led several industry organizations, serving as a three-time president of the Motion Picture Academy of Arts and Sciences, president of the Writers Guild of America West and the Screen Directors Guild, and vice president of Motion Picture Relief Fund. He won two Academy Awards for his screenplays.
Holiday Inn is a 1942 American musical film starring Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire, with Marjorie Reynolds, Virginia Dale, and Walter Abel. It was directed by Mark Sandrich with music by Irving Berlin. The composer wrote twelve songs specifically for the film, the best known being "White Christmas". The film features a complete reuse of the song "Easter Parade", written by Berlin for the 1933 Broadway revue As Thousands Cheer and used as a highlight of the 1948 film Easter Parade, starring Astaire and Judy Garland. The film's choreography was by Danny Dare.
Cyd Charisse was an American dancer and actress.
Easter Parade is a 1948 American Technicolor musical film directed by Charles Walters, written by Sidney Sheldon, Frances Goodrich, and Albert Hackett from a story by Goodrich and Hackett, and starring Judy Garland, Fred Astaire, Peter Lawford, and Ann Miller. The film contains some of Astaire's and Garland's best-known songs, including "Easter Parade", "Steppin' Out with My Baby", and "We're a Couple of Swells", all by Irving Berlin.
Blue Skies is a 1946 American musical comedy film directed by Stuart Heisler and starring Bing Crosby, Fred Astaire, and Joan Caulfield. Based on a story by Irving Berlin, the film is about a dancer who loves a showgirl who loves a compulsive nightclub-opener who can't stay committed to anything in life for very long. Produced by Sol C. Siegel, Blue Skies was filmed in Technicolor and released by Paramount Pictures. The music, lyrics, and story were written by Irving Berlin, with most of the songs recycled from earlier works.
Lilli Palmer was a German actress and writer. After beginning her career in British films in the 1930s, she would later transition to major Hollywood productions, earning a Golden Globe Award nomination for her performance in But Not for Me (1959).
That's Entertainment, Part II is a 1976 American compilation film released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and a sequel to That's Entertainment! (1974). Like the previous film, That's Entertainment, Part II was a retrospective of famous films released by MGM from the 1930s to the 1950s. Some posters for the film use Part 2 rather than Part II in the title.
Follow the Fleet is a 1936 American RKO musical comedy film with a nautical theme starring Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers in their fifth collaboration as dance partners. It also features Randolph Scott, Harriet Hilliard, and Astrid Allwyn, with music and lyrics by Irving Berlin. Lucille Ball and Betty Grable also appear, in supporting roles. The film was directed by Mark Sandrich with script by Allan Scott and Dwight Taylor based on the 1922 play Shore Leave by Hubert Osborne.
Three Little Words is a 1950 American musical film biography of the Tin Pan Alley songwriting partnership of Kalmar and Ruby. It stars Fred Astaire as lyricist Bert Kalmar and Red Skelton as composer Harry Ruby, along with Vera-Ellen and Arlene Dahl as their wives, with Debbie Reynolds in a small but notable role as singer Helen Kane and Gloria DeHaven as her own mother, Mrs. Carter DeHaven.
Night Without End is a thriller novel by Scottish author Alistair MacLean, first published in 1959. The author has been complimented for the excellent depiction of the unforgiving Arctic environment; among others, the Times Literary Supplement gave it strongly favorable notices when it came out.
Barrie Chase is an American actress and dancer.
The 34th Academy Awards, honoring the best in film for 1961, were held on April 9, 1962, hosted by Bob Hope at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium in Santa Monica, California.
The Proud and Profane is a 1956 American romantic drama film directed by George Seaton and starring William Holden and Deborah Kerr with Thelma Ritter, Dewey Martin, William Redfield and Peter Hansen in supporting roles. It was made by William Perlberg-George Seaton Productions for Paramount Pictures released in theaters on June 13, 1956. The film was and produced by William Perlberg, from a screenplay by George Seaton, based on the 1953 novel The Magnificent Bastards by Lucy Herndon Crockett.
John Cummings was an American film producer and director. He was best known for being a leading producer at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
Kiss Me Kate is a 1953 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer film adaptation of the 1948 Broadway musical of the same name.
Finian's Rainbow is a 1968 American musical fantasy film directed by Francis Ford Coppola and adapted by E. Y. Harburg and Fred Saidy from the 1947 stage musical of the same name. It stars Fred Astaire, Petula Clark, and Tommy Steele. The plot follows an Irishman and his daughter, who steal a leprechaun's magic pot of gold and emigrate to the American South, where they become involved in a dispute between rural landowners and a greedy, racist U.S. senator.
The Notorious Landlady is a 1962 American comedy mystery film starring Kim Novak, Jack Lemmon, and Fred Astaire. The film was directed by Richard Quine, with a script by Blake Edwards and Larry Gelbart based on the short story "The Notorious Tenant" by Margery Sharp.
