Gene Kelly

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Birthday:

23 August 1912, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA

Birth Name:

Eugene Curran Kelly

Height:

173 cm

Eugene Curran Kelly was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the third son of Harriet Catherine (Curran) and James Patrick Joseph Kelly, a phonograph salesman. His father was of Irish descent and his mother was of Irish and German ancestry.Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer was the largest and most powerful studio in Hollywood when Gene Kelly arrived in town in 1941. He came direct from the hit 1940 original Broadway production of "Pal Joey" and planned to return to the Broadway stage after making the one film required by his contract. His first picture for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer was For Me and My Gal (1942) with Judy Garland. What kept Kelly in Hollywood were "the kindred creative spirits" he found behind the scenes at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. The talent pool was especially large during World War II, when Hollywood was a refuge for many musicians and others in the performing arts of Europe who were forced to flee the Nazis. After the war, a new generation was coming of age. Those who saw An American in Paris (1951) would try to make real life as romantic as the reel life they saw portrayed in that musical, and the first time they saw Paris, they were seeing again in memory the seventeen-minute ballet sequence set to the title song written by George Gershwin and choreographed by Kelly. The sequence cost a half million dollars (U.S.) to make in 1951 dollars. Another Kelly musical of the era, Singin' in the Rain (1952), was one of the first 25 films selected by the Library of Congress for its National Film Registry. Kelly was in the same league as Fred Astaire, but instead of a top hat and tails Kelly wore work clothes that went with his masculine, athletic dance style.Gene Kelly died at age 83 of complications from two strokes on February 2, 1996 in Beverly Hills, Los Angeles, California. Show less «

[on his working experience with Debbie Reynolds while filming Singin' in the Rain (1952) (1952)] I wasn't nice to Debbie. It's a wonder she ...Show more »

[on his working experience with Debbie Reynolds while filming Singin' in the Rain (1952) (1952)] I wasn't nice to Debbie. It's a wonder she still speaks to me. Show less «

There was no model for what I tried to do with dance . . . and the thing Fred Astaire and I used to bitch about was that critics didn't know...Show more »

There was no model for what I tried to do with dance . . . and the thing Fred Astaire and I used to bitch about was that critics didn't know how to categorize us. They called us tap dancers because that was considered the American style. But neither of us were basically tap dancers. Show less «

The contract system at Hollywood studios like MGM was a very efficient system in that because we were at the studio all the time we could re...Show more »

The contract system at Hollywood studios like MGM was a very efficient system in that because we were at the studio all the time we could rehearse a lot. But it also really repressed people. There were no union regulations yet, and we were all indentured servants--you can call us slaves if you want--like ballplayers before free agency. We had seven-year contracts, but every six months the studio could decide to fire you if your picture wasn't a hit. And if you turned down a role, they cut off your salary and simply added the time to your contract. Show less «

Kids talk to me and say they want to do musicals again because they've studied the tapes of the old films. We didn't have that. We thought o...Show more »

Kids talk to me and say they want to do musicals again because they've studied the tapes of the old films. We didn't have that. We thought once we had made it, even on film, it was gone except for the archives. Show less «

I arrived in Hollywood 20 pounds overweight and as strong as an ox. But if I put on a white tails and tux like [Fred Astaire], I still looke...Show more »

I arrived in Hollywood 20 pounds overweight and as strong as an ox. But if I put on a white tails and tux like [Fred Astaire], I still looked like a truck driver. Show less «

If Fred Astaire is the Cary Grant of dance, I'm the Marlon Brando.

I never wanted to be a dancer. It's true! I wanted to be a shortstop for the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Fred Astaire represented the aristocracy, I represented the proletariat.

There is a strange sort of reasoning in Hollywood that musicals are less worthy of Academy consideration than dramas. It's a form of snobbis...Show more »

There is a strange sort of reasoning in Hollywood that musicals are less worthy of Academy consideration than dramas. It's a form of snobbism, the same sort that perpetuates the idea that drama is more deserving of Awards than comedy. Show less «

[on his career] I took it as it came and it happened to be very nice.

[on Fred Astaire] I work bigger. Fred's style is more intimate. I'm very jealous of that when I see him on the small screen. Fred looks so g...Show more »

[on Fred Astaire] I work bigger. Fred's style is more intimate. I'm very jealous of that when I see him on the small screen. Fred looks so great on TV. I'd love to put on a white tie and tails and look as thin as him and glide as smoothly. But I'm built like a blocking tackle. Show less «

[on Judy Garland] The finest all-around performer we ever had in America was Judy Garland. There was no limit to her talent. She was the qui...Show more »

[on Judy Garland] The finest all-around performer we ever had in America was Judy Garland. There was no limit to her talent. She was the quickest, brightest person I ever worked with. Show less «

[on Ginger Rogers] When Ginger Rogers danced with Fred Astaire, it was the only time in the movies when you looked at the man, not the woman...Show more »

[on Ginger Rogers] When Ginger Rogers danced with Fred Astaire, it was the only time in the movies when you looked at the man, not the woman. Show less «

I have a lot of George M. Cohan in me--it's an Irish quality, a jaw-jutting, up-on-your-toes cockiness--which is a good quality for a dancer...Show more »

I have a lot of George M. Cohan in me--it's an Irish quality, a jaw-jutting, up-on-your-toes cockiness--which is a good quality for a dancer to have. Show less «

[on Louis B. Mayer in a segment of That's Entertainment III: Behind the Screen (1994) when other MGM stars were singing Mayer's praises] I d...Show more »

[on Louis B. Mayer in a segment of That's Entertainment III: Behind the Screen (1994) when other MGM stars were singing Mayer's praises] I didn't like him. He didn't like me. It was mutual. Show less «

[on Guys and Dolls (1955) I was born to play Sky Masterson the way [Clark Gable] was born to play Rhett Butler, but those bastards at MGM re...Show more »

[on Guys and Dolls (1955) I was born to play Sky Masterson the way [Clark Gable] was born to play Rhett Butler, but those bastards at MGM refused to loan me out. Show less «

[on his supposed rivalry with Fred Astaire ] If we had any resentment, it was not with each other but with the journalists who talked about ...Show more »

[on his supposed rivalry with Fred Astaire ] If we had any resentment, it was not with each other but with the journalists who talked about two highly individual dancers as if they were one person. For instance, the sort of wardrobe I wore--blue jeans, sweatshirt, sneakers--Fred would never have been caught dead in. He was always immaculate at rehearsals, while I was always in an old shirt. Fred's steps were small, neat, graceful and intimate where mine were ballet-oriented and athletic. But we were never rivals. Show less «

The fact is that [Fred Astaire] and myself were in no way similar, nor even the best male dancers around. There were ballet dancers vastly s...Show more »

The fact is that [Fred Astaire] and myself were in no way similar, nor even the best male dancers around. There were ballet dancers vastly superior to both of us, but they of course never reached our mass audiences, so Fred and I got the cream of the publicity and naturally we were compared. Show less «