50 Fun Facts About Gene Kelly

In which American city was Gene Kelly born?

Pittsburgh is where Kelly ran the family's dancing school for several years before moving to New York at 25 to try his luck on Broadway.

Which 1952 film features Kelly's famous solo dance to its title song?

Singin' in the Rain was built around MGM's old songs from the early sound era, so its writers set the story as Hollywood switched to talkies.

Which Kelly musical won the Academy Award for Best Picture?

An American in Paris was a surprise winner, beating the two favourites, A Streetcar Named Desire and A Place in the Sun.

In which 1960 courtroom drama did Kelly play a cynical reporter opposite Spencer Tracy and Fredric March?

Inherit the Wind recast the 1925 Scopes evolution trial as a protest against McCarthy-era pressure on free thought, with Kelly's reporter based on H. L. Mencken.

For which film did Kelly earn his only Academy Award nomination for Best Actor?

Anchors Aweigh includes a dance with an animated partner, and Kelly had to talk doubtful MGM executives into paying for it.

Which cartoon character did Kelly dance with on screen in 1945?

Jerry Mouse was added afterwards: Kelly first danced the number alone, then animators drew the mouse to match his moves.

Who was Kelly's co-star in his 1942 film debut, For Me and My Gal?

Judy Garland had favoured Kelly for the part, and her backing helped him win the role.

What image did Kelly deliberately project when he danced on film?

A regular guy was the image Kelly wanted: instead of top hat and tails, he danced in everyday clothes such as loafers and T-shirts.

Which 19-year-old with no dance training became Kelly's leading lady in 1952?

Debbie Reynolds had three months to learn to keep up with Kelly, a stern taskmaster, and one long day's shoot left her feet bleeding.

Which 1980 musical was Kelly's last feature film as an actor?

Xanadu bombed at the box office, yet its soundtrack produced five Top 20 singles, including Olivia Newton-John's No. 1 hit Magic.

Which Broadway role in 1940 propelled Kelly to stardom?

Joey in Pal Joey brought Kelly Hollywood offers, and he signed with producer David O. Selznick, agreeing to head west once his run in the show ended.

Which 1969 film, starring Barbra Streisand, did Kelly direct?

Hello, Dolly! adapted a Broadway hit, yet the film was a disappointment at the box office.

Which 1965 film did Kelly turn down the chance to direct?

The Sound of Music was offered to Kelly by screenwriter Ernest Lehman, and Kelly showed him to the door, telling him to find someone else to direct it.

Which branch of the US military did Kelly serve in during World War II?

Navy service did not take Kelly far from the movies: he was assigned mostly to making films and documentaries for the service.

With which dancer did Kelly perform "The Babbitt and the Bromide" in Ziegfeld Follies?

Fred Astaire and Kelly played up their differences in the number, setting Astaire's cool, easy elegance against Kelly's muscular, wide-open style.

Which film did Kelly have to leave after breaking his ankle?

Easter Parade lost Kelly to a broken ankle, and he told MGM boss Louis B. Mayer he had hurt it rehearsing, because he feared the truth would go down badly.

Which swashbuckler did Kelly play in a 1948 MGM adventure film?

D'Artagnan gave Kelly a box-office success, yet he never got to make the screen version of Cyrano de Bergerac that he wanted.

Which young French ballerina did Kelly discover and bring to Hollywood?

Leslie Caron was performing with Roland Petit's ballet company when Kelly saw her, and the part launched a Hollywood career that went on to include Gigi.

Which household object was Kelly's dance partner in Thousands Cheer?

A mop was the bright spot of a frustrating stretch: MGM had stuck Kelly in forgettable parts, and the solo finally let him show what he could do.

In Cover Girl, Kelly famously danced with what?

His own reflection comes to life in the number, an effect made by filming Kelly separately and combining the two images on one strip of film.

Which singer partnered Kelly in three films, ending with On the Town?

Frank Sinatra and Kelly took On the Town onto real New York City streets, a costly location shoot that was unheard of for a musical at the time.

What prop did Kelly dance with in his "You Wonderful You" solo in Summer Stock?

A newspaper that tore just right took weeks to find: Kelly and his young daughter Kerry tested paper after paper before the solo was filmed.

What did Kelly wear on his feet for "I Like Myself" in It's Always Fair Weather?

Roller skates were still on after Kelly's character hid from thugs in a roller rink, so he danced on them through the streets, celebrating new love and self-respect.

What did Kelly's 1956 film Invitation to the Dance do without?

Spoken dialogue was dropped for pure dance and mime, which left MGM so doubtful that it held the finished film back, and it then failed at the box office.

Which 1954 musical was Kelly forced to shoot on MGM backlots after bad weather ruled out location filming?

Brigadoon was first meant for real Scottish locations, but bad weather and high costs ruled that out, and MGM cutbacks then scrapped a stand-in site near Monterey.

Who was Kelly's first wife, an actress he married in 1941 when she was 17?

Betsy Blair met Kelly as a 16-year-old chorus dancer at Billy Rose's Diamond Horseshoe nightclub in New York, where he was the choreographer.

Kelly's second wife Jeanne Coyne had earlier been married to which director?

Stanley Donen began as Kelly's assistant and rose to co-direct On the Town with him, a partnership that ended after It's Always Fair Weather.

Kelly's pullout threat kept his blacklisted wife in which 1955 film?

Marty's backers were ready to drop her under pressure from a powerful veterans' group, until Kelly's threat moved MGM's boss to vouch for her.

What was Kelly suffering from when he filmed his famous dance in the rain?

A high fever of 103 degrees didn't stop the shoot: Kelly was soaked for up to three days, and the water made his wool suit shrink during filming.

What did Kelly study at university, graduating in 1933?

Economics was Kelly's degree, and he briefly started law school before quitting to focus on teaching and choreographing dance.

Which baseball position did the young Kelly dream of playing for his hometown team?

Shortstop was the young Kelly's dream, but his mother had other ideas and steered him away from sports into dance classes.

Which French distinction followed the success of Kelly's modern ballet for France's national opera?

The Legion of Honour came after France's national opera invited Kelly to create a modern ballet of his own, and the result was a major success.

Kelly's 1958 TV special Dancing Is a Man's Game featured which athletes?

Mickey Mantle and Sugar Ray Robinson were filmed in motion, and Kelly turned their moves into dance to show how physical and manly dancing could be.

Who co-wrote Kelly's 1966 CBS special New York, New York and appeared in it?

Woody Allen joined Kelly along the way as the star danced his way around Manhattan, using the Plaza Hotel and the Museum of Modern Art as his stages.

Which comedy Western did Kelly direct with James Stewart and Henry Fonda?

The Cheyenne Social Club sends Stewart's cowboy to claim a business left to him in Cheyenne, which turns out to be a brothel.

Which stuntman played himself opposite Kelly in a 1977 action film?

Evel Knievel played himself, and Kelly played his hard-drinking old mentor, whom the daredevil loyally stands by.

Which director hired Kelly to help with the dances in his 1982 Las Vegas musical?

Francis Ford Coppola brought Kelly in on One from the Heart, but the costly musical flopped and left the director in years of financial trouble.

Which 1962-63 TV series, based on a 1944 film, starred Kelly as a priest?

Going My Way had the bad luck to air against The Beverly Hillbillies, that season's top-rated show, and was cancelled after a single season.

Kelly won an Emmy for which 1967 special that mixed animation and live dance?

He produced and directed the show, which won Outstanding Children's Program.

Which Jacques Demy musical featured Kelly in 1967?

The Young Girls of Rochefort gave the Hollywood song-and-dance star an odd job: Kelly danced for himself, but his singing was dubbed by someone else.

Kelly's 1938 Broadway debut had him dancing in the chorus behind which future star?

Mary Martin had only a small part herself, but her one teasing song stopped the show and made her name, while Kelly stayed a chorus boy for now.

Which comedian did Kelly direct in the 1962 film Gigot?

Jackie Gleason played a mute man who takes a young waif under his wing, so the comedian had no lines in the whole film.

Which Black dance act did Kelly insist on sharing a number with in The Pirate?

The Nicholas Brothers danced beside Kelly at his insistence, at a time when Hollywood kept Black acts in separate scenes that Southern theatres could cut.

Which dancer performed a tribute to Kelly at the 1996 Oscars, weeks after his death?

Savion Glover tapped the tribute at an Oscars produced by Quincy Jones, and critics counted it among the night's most touching moments.

Which 1990s animated film was dedicated to Kelly's memory?

Cats Don't Dance was dedicated to Kelly, who had advised its filmmakers on the choreography of its dance numbers before he died.

Kelly's 1960 ballet Pas de Dieux, made for France's national opera, used which composer's music?

George Gershwin's Concerto in F set Kelly's modern jazz ballet, and the premiere went so well that the audience kept calling him back for more bows.

Which comedian did Kelly direct in the 1967 hit A Guide for the Married Man?

Walter Matthau played a restless husband whose philandering friend coaches him in how to cheat on his wife without getting caught.

In which Marilyn Monroe film does Kelly play himself, hired to give a billionaire dance lessons?

Let's Make Love has the billionaire pose as an actor to woo Monroe's showgirl, so he hires the best teachers money can buy, with Kelly for dancing.

MGM loaned Kelly to which studio to star opposite Rita Hayworth in Cover Girl?

Columbia Pictures gave Kelly the chance to bring his own vision to the dances in Cover Girl, and his film career took off.

Which Rodgers and Hammerstein musical did Kelly direct on Broadway?

Flower Drum Song sent Kelly scouting San Francisco's Chinatown nightclubs for Asian performers, and there he discovered the comedian Jack Soo.