Gene Kelly

Dancer

  • Born: August 23, 1912
  • Birthplace: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
  • Died: February 2, 1996
  • Place of death: Beverly Hills, California

American dancer and actor

After achieving stardom on Broadway, Kelly went to Hollywood to try his hand at film. His athletic abilities and blue-collar approach to dance revolutionized, revitalized, and popularized the film musical, winning the approval of everyday audiences. Kelly’s innovative work involved dance as play, live dancers mixed with cartoon characters, and modern ballet in film.

Areas of achievement Dance, film, theater and entertainment

Early Life

Gene Kelly was the third of five children born to James Kelly and Harriet Curran Kelly. James supported his middle-class Irish American family by working as a phonograph record salesman. Harriet was determined to involve her children in the arts, especially dance, and by the time Kelly was eight years old, he and his siblings were performing on amateur nights at local theaters.

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The boys’ involvement with dance resulted in a number of fights with neighborhood bullies, leading Kelly, who was extremely athletic, to sports rather than dance, excelling in most sports. Baseball, however, was his true love, and he hoped one day to play professionally for the Pittsburgh Pirates. In high school, Gene realized that his dancing ability made him popular with girls, so he began to enjoy dancing. With his brother Fred, they continued to appear at amateur nights, and the two made it a point to see all the new vaudeville dancers who came to town. The brothers would “steal” dancers’ steps.

By their teenage years, Gene and Fred had taken over a couple of failing dance studios and had begun to make them pay. Harriet managed the studios and James, who was sliding into alcoholism, kept the books. Gene taught part time while attending school, and students loved his unflagging energy and enthusiasm. He gave students personal attention and determined to make dancers of even the most unlikely students. This character trait was to follow him into his career and make friends of most of his costars. Gene also choreographed and directed shows at the Pittsburgh Playhouse and the University of Pittsburgh.

During the Great Depression, Kelly worked his way through school by ditch-digging, soda-jerking, and dancing at any gigs that came his way. He graduated from the University of Pittsburgh in 1933 with a major in economics. Enrolling in law school at the university, he dropped out later to put his emphasis on dance. In 1938, he moved to New York City to go into show business.

Life’s Work

Kelly’s first Broadway job was as a dancer in Cole Porter’s musical Leave It to Me. His big break came when he was cast as Harry the Hoofer in The Time of Your Life. Kelly was working as a choreographer when he met young dancer Betsy Blair, who married him in September of 1941.

It was in 1940, however, that Kelly became a confirmed Broadway star when he was cast as Joey Evans in Rodgers and Hart’s new show Pal Joey. Kelly created a sensation in the role and was given a film contract by producer David O. Selznick. Before moving to Hollywood, Kelly took the time to choreograph a new Broadway show, Best Foot Forward. Then he and Blair left for Hollywood. Selznick had no musicals planned and simply had no idea how to use Kelly or his talents, but he did persuade Louis B. Mayer, Selznick’s father-in-law, to use Kelly in a film.

At the time, MGM’s former child star, the popular Judy Garland, was making her transition into adult screen roles and the studio was searching for someone to play opposite her in For Me and My Gal (1942). Kelly had the talent, energy, and brashness of Mickey Rooney, Garland’s former juvenile costar, plus he was taller and more handsome. Kelly’s role was created on the order of his Joey character, but later, the ending was changed to make Kelly’s character more heroic. Kelly received excellent reviews for the film and said afterward that Garland taught him the difference between stage and film dancing. As a result of that performance, Mayer bought Kelly’s contract from Selznick.

However, relations between Mayer and Kelly were never cordial for many reasons, and Kelly continued to play mediocre roles at MGM. One reason may have been spite, because Kelly had no problems in speaking up for himself, and Mayer disliked anyone who disagreed with him. Finally, he was loaned out to Columbia for Cover Girl (1944) with Rita Hayworth. Kelly was such a success in the role that the studio never loaned him out again, which prevented him from starring in such prestigious films as Pal Joey, Guys and Dolls, and Sunset Boulevard. Despite numerous disappointments, Kelly persevered with his dance innovations at MGM and made history when he danced with cartoon mouse Jerry in Anchors Aweigh (1945).

Kelly and Blair became well-known political liberals within the Hollywood community. Kelly, much to his surprise, was chosen as an intermediary when the Carpenters’ Union went on strike and paralyzed Hollywood production. After the strike was settled, Kelly was shocked to learn that the studios considered him to be a sell-out, which further alienated him from MGM. Kelly was also investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigations during the blacklist period in Hollywood.

Appearing in one so-called review film after another, Kelly continued to refine and create showcases for his unique approach to dance. In The Pirate (1948), Kelly danced with the Nickolas Brothers, an outstanding and athletic African American dance team. It was one of the first films in which the race barrier was broken. Finally, Kelly and his assistant, Stanley Donen, were assigned a film to direct on their own. On the Town (1949) became the first musical film to be shot on location, and it opened filmmaking to new directions and dimensions. Kelly later filmed An American in Paris (1951), directed by Vincente Minnelli, in much the same way. The film won seven Academy Awards, including a special award for Kelly. His most popular film, Singin’ in the Rain (1952) followed, and the dance to the title song became Kelly’s signature work.

Sadly, Kelly’s major body of work and his period of stardom lasted only ten years, and the entire time, he knew that, because of his age, he was past his physical prime as a dancer. Ironically, the actor-dancer-singer most often contrasted to Kelly was the debonair Fred Astaire, who was even older.

While making films in Europe to take advantage of new tax laws, Kelly returned to the studio to find that the age of the musical had begun a spiraling decline. It’s Always Fair Weather (1955) was his last film with Donen. Kelly and Jeannie Coyne, Donen’s wife, had fallen in love. After fifteen years, Kelly and Blair divorced. Kelly and Coyne married in 1960 and had two children, Timothy and Bridget, but Coyne died from cancer in 1970. Kelly spent the last years of his career directing stage and film projects with some television work and eventually became associated with the That’s Entertainment retrospectives. In 1990, Kelly married writer Patricia Ward. He died at his home in Beverly Hills on February 2, 1996, after a series of strokes.

Significance

Kelly was a creative genius, driven by the need for perfection. His films are testimonies to his determination to be at his personal best at all times, and he never stopped his quest for personal excellence whether in dance, political affiliations, friendships, or film. He refused to believe that dancing with an African American dance team would harm his reputation or his work. On being told that a particular shot he wanted for a film was impossible, Kelly invented the Ubangi, a device that attached to the camera and yielded the shot the way he wanted it.

Kelly’s film brought to audiences his sheer exuberance. His dance numbers were masterpieces of detail, and he created a dance number by utilizing a squeaking floorboard and a piece of newspaper. He continued his search for the ultimate in dance and in filmmaking by taking shooting crews outside the studio into the larger world for even greater realism. Kelly also brought dance to his film audiences, who otherwise would not enjoy dance.

Bibliography

Billman, Larry. Film Choreographers and Dance Directors: An Illustrated Biographical Encyclopedia, with a History and Filmographies, 1893-1995. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland, 1997. This exhaustive book of dance and choreography discusses the relationships of dancers to choreographers and to one another. Kelly’s costars and associates are all included.

Blair, Betsy. The Memory of All That: Live and Politics in New York, Hollywood, and Paris. New York: Knopf, 2003. Kelly’s first wife recalls their years together and gives a good picture of Kelly as a man rather than a star.

Fordin, Hugh. MGM’s Greatest Musicals: The Arthur Freed Unit. New York: Da Capo Press, 1996. An interesting assessment of studio politics shows how Freed fought for Kelly’s career.

Hirschhorn, Clive. Gene Kelly: A Biography. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1985. While the book carries a few inaccuracies, the first half of Kelly’s life is exciting and well told.

Morley, Sheridan, and Ruth Leon. Gene Kelly: A Celebration. North Pomfret, Vt.: Trafalgar Square, 1997. This lavish and well illustrated tribute to Kelly appeared the year after he died, praising Kelly’s work.

Yudkoff, Alvin. Gene Kelly: A Life of Dance and Dreams. Lakewood, N.Y.: Backstage Books, 2006. This paperback edition of a hardcover first published in 1999 is perhaps the most complete account of Kelly’s life and career.

1901-1940: August 29, 1935-June 30, 1939: Federal Theatre Project Promotes Live Theater.

1941-1970: 1944-1957: Kelly Forges New Directions in Cinematic Dance; December 30, 1948: Porter Creates an Integrated Score for Kiss Me, Kate.