Hot! Gene Kelly I

Date of Birth 23 August 1912 , Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA Date of Death 1996 , Beverly Hills, Los Angeles, California, USA (complications from two strokes) Birth Name Eugene Curran Kelly Height 5' 7" (1.70 m) Mini Biography

M-G-M 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 For Me and My Gal (1942) with 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 , but instead of a top hat and tails Kelly wore work clothes that went with his masculine, athletic dance style.

IMDb Mini Biography By:Dale O'Connor Spouse Trade Mark

Known for his innovative, athletic style of dancing

Trivia

During World War II he was a sailor stationed at the U S Naval Photographic Center in Anacostia, DC (where the documentary Inducted into the Theater Hall of Fame in 1992.

Kelly's father was and Tim Kelly, with Jeanne Coyne , in the 1960s.

Had a half-moon shaped scar on his left cheek caused by a bicycle accident he had as a young boy.

Was dance consultant for Madonna 's 1993 "Girlie Show" tour.

Attended Penn State University before transferring to University of Pittsburgh, where he graduated.

His first two wives were dancers. Actress Betsy Blair met Gene while she was a performer and he a choreographer in the show "Diamond Horseshoe". Second wife Jeanne Coyne was Gene's dancing assistant for many years before they married in 1960. A major talent in her own right, her dazzling footwork can be seen in the "From This Moment On" number alongside partner Bobby Van , Ann Miller , Carol Haney and Bob Fosse in Kiss Me Kate (1953) (1953). She died of leukemia in 1973.

He and his younger brother Kennedy Center Honoree, 1982

"Singin' in the Rain" was awarded the the husband of MGM star/dancer said he could tell who she had been dancing with that day on an MGM set. If she came home covered with bruises on her, it was the very physically-demanding Gene Kelly , if not it was the smooth and agile Easter Parade (1948). However before filming began he broke his leg, resulting in coming out of retirement in order to replace him in the film.

Bob Fosse originally wanted him for a lead role in a musical film adaptation of the Maurine Dallas Watkins play "Chicago" around the early 1970s. He eventually gave up the choice, and Fosse opted to do a stage musical instead.

His death is mentioned in the Dream Theater song "Take away my Pain" from their album Falling into Infinity released in 1997 with the lyric "he said look at poor Gene Kelly, I guess he won't be singing in the rain".

Personal Quotes

I wasn't nice to Debbie. It's a wonder she still speaks to me.

There was no model for what I tried to do with dance . . . and the thing 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.

I arrived in Hollywood twenty pounds overweight and as strong as an ox. But if I put on a white tails and tux like , I still looked like a truck driver.

If 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.

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.