The Movies of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers

The movies of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers stand today as a great showcase for magnificent dancing and wonderful music. The couple made a total of ten films together; nine were made from 1933-1939, the final one, The Barkleys of Broadway, was made in 1949. They were one of the great movie teams whose films still entertain the audiences of today.

Fred Astaire started his career in dancing as a young boy; he and his sister Adele played on the Vaudeville circuit beginning in 1906 when he was seven-years-old. In the 1920s, they played in several Broadway musicals including Lady Be Good and Funny Face. The act broke up when Adele got married. Fred went on to star in The Gay Divorcee which featured the Cole Porter classic "Night and Day." He made his screen debut in 1933 in Dancing Lady where he played himself. After that he made the series of RKO pictures with Ginger Rogers, beginning with Flying Down to Rio.

Ginger Rogers also started her career on Vaudeville. When she was 15 she won a Charleston contest which allowed her to tour with Eddie Foy and his act for six months. At the age of 17, she married Jakc Culpepper; the two performed as Ginger and Pepper on the Vaudeville circuit. However, they were divorced in a few months and she went back to touring. In 1930, at the age of 19, she starred in the George and Ira Gershwin musical Girl Crazy; Fred Astaire was hired as choreographer. Her first "break through" film was in 42nd Street. After that film, she made a series of films for RKO, which included her films with Fred Astaire.

Directed by Thornton Freeland

• Delores del Rio - Belinha De Rezendre
  
• Gene Raymond - Roger Bond
• Gnger Rogers - Honey Hale
• Fred Astaire - Fred Ayers
  

While he and his orchestra are performing in Miami, Roger Bond spots beautiful the Belinha De Rezendre in the audience and is instantly smitten. He arranges for the orchestra to perform at her father’s hotel in Rio de Janiero so that he can get close to her. Ginger Rodgers is the singer for the orchestra and Fred Astaire is the assistant band leader.

Directed by Mark Sandrich

• Fred Astaire – Guy Holden
• Ginger Rogers – Mimi Glossop
• Alice Brady – Aunt Hortense
• Edward Everett Horton – Egbert “Pinky” Fitzgerald

Mimi Glossop wants to leave her husband, Aunt Hortense (who has a few divorces under her belt), with the help of a lawyer (Egbert) arranges for her to meet a co-respondent and for them to be caught together in her hotel room so she can get a divorce. Guy Holden is a friend of Egbert’s who shows up at the hotel at the same time and Mimi initially thinks he is the co-respondent.

Directed by William A. Seiter

• Irene Dunne – Stephanie
• Fred Astaire – Huckleberry Haines
• Ginger Rogers – Countessa Scharwenka
• Randolph Scott – John Kent

Football player John Kent travels with Huckleberry Haines and his band to Paris where they have a job. As soon as they arrive, their performance is cancelled. They all visit John’s aunt who runs a fashion house with her assistant Stephanie; they meet Countessa Scharwenka there who gives the band a job.

Directed by Mark Sandrich

• Fred Astaire – Jerry Travers
• Ginger Rogers – Dale Tremont
• Edward Everett Horton – Horace Hardwick

Dancer Jerry demonstrates his new dance steps late one night in Horace's hotel room disturbing the sleeping Dale Tremont below. She goes upstairs to complain and the two are immediately attracted to each other. Problems arise when Dale mistakes Jerry for Horace, the husband of her friend Madge.

Directed by Mark Sandrich

• Fred Astaire – Bake Baker
• Ginger Rogers – Sherry Martin
• Randolph Scott – Bilge Smith
• Harriet Hilliard – Connie Martin

When he is on shore leave in San Francisco, sailor Bake Baker tries to renew his romance with his old dancing partner, Sherry Martin. In the meantime, his friend Bilge Smith gets involved with Sherry’s sister, Connie.

Directed by George Stevens

• Fred Astaire – Lucky Garnett
• Ginger Rogers – Penny Carroll

Lucky travels to New York City to raise enough money to marry the woman he wants to. He meets Penny and the two of them form a successful dance team; unfortunately, Lucky falls in love with Penny.

Directed by Mark Sandrich

• Fred Astaire – Petrov
• Ginger Rogers – Linda Keene
• Edward Everett Horton – Jeffrey Baird

Ballet star Petrov and dancer Linda Keene, who he barely knows but has fallen for, travel across the Atlantic to New York aboard the same ship. Petrov's manager starts the rumor that they are secretly married to keep another woman on board from bothering the star.

Directed by Mark Sandrich

• Fred Astaire – Tony Flagg
• Ginger Rogers – Amanda Cooper
• Ralph Bellamy – Stephen Arden

Tony Flagg is a psychiatrist who takes on Amanda Cooper as a patient because she can’t make a decision about her engagement to his friend Stephen. However, Amanda falls for Tony while under hypnosis.

Directed by HC Potter

• Fred Astaire – Vernon Castle
• Ginger Rogers – Irene Castle
• Edna May Oliver – Maggie Sutton
• Walter Brennan – Walter Ash

This film is based on the true story of ballroom dancers Vernon and Irene Castle who were very successful just before the outbreak of World War I. They were separated at the height of their fame when Vernon joined the army.

Directed by Charles Walters

• Fred Astaire – Josh Barkley
• Ginger Rogers – Dinah Barkley
• Oscar Levant – Ezra Miller

Josh and Dinah Barkley are a successful musical-comedy duo. When Dinah is offered the chance to become a dramatic actress she jumps at the opportunity. Their friend, Ezra Miller tries to get them back together.

• Flying Down to Rio  1933
• The Gay Divorcee  1934
• Roberta  1934
• Top Hat  1935
• Follow the Fleet  1936
• Swing Time  1936
• Shall We Dance  1936
• Carefree  1938
  
• The Story of Vernon & Irene Castle  1939 
• The Barkleys of Broadway  1949