Ginger Rogers
Ginger Rogers (July 16, 1911 – April 25, 1995) was an American actress, dancer, and singer who appeared in film, and on stage, radio, and television throughout much of the twentieth century.
During her long career, she made a total of 73 films and is noted for her role as Fred Astaire's partner in a series of ten musical films. She achieved great success in a variety of film roles and won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in Kitty Foyle. After winning a 1925 Charleston dance contest that launched a successful vaudeville career, she gained recognition as a Broadway actress for her stage debut in Girl Crazy. This led to a contract with Paramount Pictures, which ended after five films. Rogers had her first successful film role as a supporting actress in 42nd Street.
In the 1930s, Rogers' nine films with Fred Astaire gave RKO Pictures some of its biggest successes, most notably Top Hat and Swing Time. But after two commercial failures with Astaire, she branched out into dramatic and comedy films. Her acting was well received by critics and audiences, and she became one of the biggest box-office draws and highest paid actresses of the 1940s. Her performance in Kitty Foyle won her the Oscar for Best Actress.
Rogers' popularity peaked by the end of the decade. She reunited with Astaire in 1949 in the commercially successful The Barkleys of Broadway. After an unsuccessful period in the 1950s, she returned to Broadway in 1965, playing the lead role in Hello, Dolly!. More Broadway roles followed, along with her stage directorial debut in 1985 of an off-Broadway production of Babes in Arms. She also made television acting appearances until 1987. In 1992, Rogers was recognized at the Kennedy Center Honors. She died of a heart attack in 1995, at age 83.
Rogers is associated with the phrase "backwards and in high heels", which is attributed to Bob Thaves' Frank and Ernest 1982 cartoon with the caption "Sure he [Astaire] was great, but don't forget that Ginger Rogers did everything he did...backwards and in high heels". This phrase is sometimes incorrectly attributed to Ann Richards, who used it in her keynote address to the 1988 Democratic National Convention.
A Republican and a devout Christian Scientist, Rogers married five times with all of them ending in divorce, and having no children. During her long career, Rogers made 73 films, and her musical films with Astaire are credited with revolutionizing the genre. Rogers was a major movie star during the "Golden Age" of Hollywood and is often considered an American icon. She ranks number 14 on the AFI's 100 Years...100 Stars list of female stars of classic American cinema. Her autobiography Ginger: My Story was published in 1991.
Known for
The Love Boat
Stella Logan
Great Performances
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The Steve Allen Show
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The Steve Allen Show
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Omnibus
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Tony Awards
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The Jack Benny Program
Ginger Rogers
Here's Lucy
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Hotel
Natalie Trent
The Kennedy Center Honors
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The DuPont Show with June Allyson
Kay Neilson
The RKO Story: Tales From Hollywood
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The Oscars
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The Dinah Shore Chevy Show
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The Dean Martin Celebrity Roasts
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Vacation Playhouse
Elizabeth Harcourt / Margaret Harcourt
The American Film Institute Salute to ...
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What's My Line?
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What's My Line?
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Talking Pictures
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Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?
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The Hollywood Palace
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The Hollywood Palace
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Top Hat
Dale Tremont
Perfect Strangers
Terry Scott
Cinderella
Queen
1939: Hollywood's Greatest Year
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Bachelor Mother
Polly Parrish
Glitter
Margaret Davis
Suicide Fleet
Sally
Swing Time
Penny Carrol
42nd Street
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Monkey Business
Edwina Fulton
Gold Diggers of 1933
Fay
And the Oscar Goes To...
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Magnificent Doll
Dolly Madison
The Groom Wore Spurs
AJ Furnival
Dreamboat
Gloria Marlowe
Kitty Foyle
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Follow the Fleet
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We're Not Married!
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Night of 100 Stars II
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Roberta
Comtesse Scharwenka
Roxie Hart
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A Shriek in the Night
Pat Morgan
Shall We Dance
Linda Keene
The Gay Divorcee
Mimi Glossop
That's Entertainment!
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Storm Warning
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Tales of Manhattan
Diane
The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle
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The Major and the Minor
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That's Entertainment, Part II
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Black Widow
Carlotta Marin
Primrose Path
Ellie May Adams
Tom, Dick and Harry
Janie
Carefree
Amanda Cooper
The Barkleys of Broadway
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That's Dancing!
That's Entertainment! III
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The Thirteenth Guest
Lela / Marie Morgan
Stage Door
Jean Maitland
Once Upon a Honeymoon
Katherine Butt-Smith
Flying Down to Rio
Honey Hale
Complicated Women
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Romance in Manhattan
Sylvia Dennis
Lucky Partners
Jean Newton
James Stewart: A Wonderful Life
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Going Hollywood: The '30s
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Vivacious Lady
Francey
George Stevens: A Filmmaker's Journey
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Having Wonderful Time
Teddy Shaw
Beautiful Stranger
Johnny Victor
I'll Be Seeing You
Mary Marshall
It Had to Be You
Victoria Stafford
Heartbeat
Arlette Lafron
Oh, Men! Oh, Women!
Mildred Turner
Week-End at the Waldorf
Irene Malvern
Night of 100 Stars
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Tight Spot
Sherry Conley
Happy 100th Birthday, Hollywood
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Hollywood Newsreel
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Fifth Avenue Girl
Mary Grey
The Sap from Syracuse
Ellen Saunders
Change of Heart
Madge Rountree
In Person
Carol Corliss
Hooray for Hollywood
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Upperworld
Lilly Linda
Finishing School
Pony
Chance at Heaven
Marge Harris
Forever Female
Beatrice Page
Happy Birthday, Bob: 50 Stars Salute Your 50 Years with NBC
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Hollywood: The Dream Factory
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Star of Midnight
Donna Mantin
Harlow
Mama Jean Bello
Fred Astaire donne le 'la'
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Gold Diggers: FDR'S New Deal... Broadway Bound
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George White's Scandals
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Professional Sweetheart
Glory
Tender Comrade
Jo Jones
Honor Among Lovers
Doris Brown
Queen High
Polly Rockwell
Sitting Pretty
Dorothy
The Tenderfoot
Ruth Weston
Hollywood on Parade
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The First Traveling Saleslady
Rose Gillray
Lady in the Dark
Liza Elliott
Teenage Rebel
Nancy Fallon
Show-Business at War
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The Confession
Madame Rinaldi
Hollywood on Parade No. A-1
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Broadway Bad
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Rafter Romance
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Twenty Million Sweethearts
Peggy Cornell
Astaire and Rogers: Partners in Rhythm
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Screen Snapshots: Series 16, No. 12
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You Said a Mouthful
Alice Brandon
Reunited at MGM: Astaire and Rogers Together Again
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Follow the Leader
Mary Brennan
Busby Berkeley: A Journey with a Star
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Hollywood Singing and Dancing: A Musical History - The 1930s: Dancing Away the Great Depression
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Hat Check Girl
Jessie King
The Tip-Off
Baby Face
"All -Singing All-Dancing" Before And After
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Hidden Hollywood II: More Treasures from the 20th Century Fox Vaults
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A Day of a Man of Affairs
Young Man of Manhattan
Puff Randolph
Carnival Boat
Honey
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
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Sem Título #1: Dance of Leitfossil
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Campus Sweethearts
A Night in a Dormitory
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Astaire and Rogers Sing the Great American Songbook
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Don't Bet on Love
Molly Gilbert
The Merv Griffin Show
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The Dick Cavett Show
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The Mike Douglas Show
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Office Blues
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The Ed Sullivan Show
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Burt Reynolds' Conversations with...
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