50 Fun Facts About Gene Kelly

In which American city was Gene Kelly born?

He grew up in the East Liberty neighborhood and later ran a family dance studio in Squirrel Hill.

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

The routine with the umbrella and the lamppost has been imitated countless times and topped a 2013 poll of the nation's favorite dance moments.

Which Kelly musical won the Academy Award for Best Picture?

It took six Oscars in total, and its 17-minute dream ballet was the most expensive production number ever filmed at the time.

Who co-directed On the Town (1949) with Kelly?

Kelly had brought Donen to Hollywood as his assistant choreographer and insisted he get screen credit on On the Town.

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

The same film contains his celebrated duet with an animated mouse, supervised by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera.

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

The sequence blended live action and animation years before Mary Poppins or Who Framed Roger Rabbit made it routine.

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

Kelly said seeing himself blown up twenty times on screen left him with an awful feeling that he was a tremendous flop.

What phrase did Kelly use for the accessible art form he wanted to create?

He reinforced the idea by dancing in T-shirts, sailor suits and loafers instead of top hat and tails.

What was Kelly's full first name?

He was the middle of five children of a phonograph salesman and Harriet Catherine Curran, whose father emigrated from Derry.

Which film was Kelly's final screen role, a 1980 flop with a hit soundtrack?

The soundtrack spawned five Top 20 hits by ELO, Cliff Richard and co-star Olivia Newton-John; Kelly thought the concept marvelous but felt it never came off.

Which Broadway role in 1940 propelled Kelly to stardom?

Van Johnson, also in the cast, recalled finding Kelly alone on stage rehearsing under a single lamp at midnight.

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

Fox commissioned it after The Sound of Music's returns; it was nominated for seven Oscars and won three.

Which 1965 film did Kelly refuse to direct, calling it a "piece of shit"?

He escorted screenwriter Ernest Lehman out of his house; the job had already been turned down by Stanley Donen too.

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

Stationed in a Washington photographic section, he wrote and directed documentaries, which sparked his interest in production.

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

Kelly held Astaire in the greatest admiration; they appeared together again decades later in That's Entertainment, Part II.

Which film did Kelly leave after breaking his ankle playing volleyball?

He persuaded Fred Astaire to come out of retirement to take over the role opposite Judy Garland.

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

The role let him cash in on an athletic image while he fought for the chance to direct a musical.

Which 19-year-old ballerina did Kelly spot in Paris and bring to Hollywood?

She was 19 when Kelly brought her from Paris to Hollywood for the part.

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

It was the first film in which he danced to his own choreography, in a mock love dance.

In Cover Girl, Kelly famously danced with what?

MGM lent him to Columbia for the film with Rita Hayworth, which foreshadowed the best of his later work.

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

On the Town was the third and final time the two were paired on screen.

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

A squeaky floorboard was the other co-star; the film was Judy Garland's last musical for MGM.

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

The 1955 satire on television and advertising was the last film he directed with Stanley Donen.

Kelly's 1956 passion project Invitation to the Dance won which festival prize?

Despite the Berlin honor, the film was beset by delays and flopped commercially.

Which 1954 musical was Kelly forced to shoot on backlots rather than in Scotland?

MGM cut the budget as television began to squeeze the film musical.

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

They met at an audition in 1940 where he hired her as a dancer for a nightclub revue; they divorced in 1957.

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

Coyne, Kelly's choreographic assistant, married him in 1960; the marriage lasted until her death in 1973.

How old was Kelly when he married Patricia Ward in 1990?

Ward was 30; she later initiated his successful application for Irish citizenship.

What cause was blamed for the 1983 fire that destroyed Kelly's Beverly Hills home?

His honorary Oscar was lost in the blaze and replaced at the 1984 Academy Awards.

What did Kelly study at Pitt, graduating in 1933?

He had started as a journalism major at Penn State before the 1929 crash forced him to leave and help support his family.

Which baseball position did the young Kelly dream of playing for the Pirates?

He and his brother quit childhood dance lessons after fistfights with boys who called them sissies; he did not dance again until 15.

Which French distinction did Kelly receive after creating a ballet for the Paris Opéra?

The ballet, Pas de Dieux, drew on Greek mythology set to Gershwin's Concerto in F.

Kelly's 1958 TV documentary Dancing is a Man's Game featured which athletes?

Bob Cousy also took part as Kelly reinterpreted sportsmen's moves to counter the effeminate stereotype of dance.

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

Kelly danced at Rockefeller Center, the Plaza Hotel and the Museum of Modern Art as backdrops.

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

The 1970 film performed poorly at the box office.

Which stuntman did Kelly co-star with in a poorly received 1977 action film?

Viva Knievel! came near the end of his screen career, three years before Xanadu.

Which pop star hired Kelly in 1993 to choreograph part of a tour, then dismissed him?

He clashed with Madonna and her brother Christopher Ciccone over the dancers' abilities and the direction of the show.

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

It was especially popular in Roman Catholic countries outside the US, though Kelly himself had left the church in 1939.

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 homage to MGM musicals was a hit in France but performed poorly elsewhere.

Where were It's Always Fair Weather's premieres held, in a sign of MGM's lost faith?

The 1955 film opened at 17 drive-ins around Los Angeles.

Which comedian did Kelly direct in the 1962 Paris-set film Gigot?

The film was drastically recut by Seven Arts Productions and flopped.

In which year did Kelly receive the Kennedy Center Honors?

The AFI lifetime achievement award followed in 1985 and the Screen Actors Guild's in 1989.

Which dancer performed the 1996 Oscars tribute to the just-deceased Kelly?

Quincy Jones organized the tribute after Kelly's death that February.

Which animated film, released in 1997, was dedicated to Kelly's memory?

He served as an uncredited choreographic consultant on it, his final film project.

In 1960 Kelly created a ballet for the Paris Opéra set to which composer's music?

Pas de Dieux paired Greek mythology with the Concerto in F; it was the first such commission for an American.

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

He directed Matthau again two years later in Hello, Dolly!

Which famous Broadway figure did Kelly say he had "a lot of" in him?

He described it as an Irish, jaw-jutting, up-on-the-toes cockiness, a good quality for a male dancer.

Under whom did Kelly study Spanish dancing?

Cansino was the uncle of Rita Hayworth, Kelly's future Cover Girl partner.

Which synagogue hired Kelly in 1931 to teach dance and stage its annual event?

The Kermesse was a success and he was retained for seven years until he left for New York.