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Gene Kelly

Gene Kelly

Birthday: 1912-08-23 | Place of Birth: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA

Eugene Curran Kelly (August 23, 1912 – February 2, 1996) was an American actor, dancer, singer, filmmaker, and choreographer. He was known for his energetic and athletic dancing style, his good looks, and the likable characters that he played on screen. He starred in, choreographed, or co-directed some of the most well-regarded musical films of the 1940s and 1950s, until they fell out of fashion in the late 1950s. Kelly is best known today for his performances in films such as Cover Girl (1944), Anchors Aweigh (1945), for which he was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor, On the Town (1949), which was his directorial debut, An American in Paris (1951), Singin' in the Rain (1952), Brigadoon (1954), and It's Always Fair Weather (1955). Kelly made his film debut with Judy Garland in For Me and My Gal (1942), and followed by Du Barry Was a Lady (1943), Thousands Cheer (1943), The Pirate (1948), Summer Stock (1950), and Les Girls (1957) among others. After musicals he starred in two films outside the musical genre: Inherit the Wind (1960) and What a Way to Go! (1964). In 1967, he appeared in French director Jacques Demy's musical comedy The Young Girls of Rochefort opposite Catherine Deneuve. Kelly solo directed the comedy A Guide for the Married Man (1967) starring Walter Matthau, and later the extravagant musical Hello, Dolly! (1969) starring Barbra Streisand, recognized with an Oscar nomination for Best Picture. Kelly co-hosted and appeared in Ziegfeld Follies (1946), That's Entertainment! (1974), That's Entertainment, Part II (1976), That's Dancing! (1985), and That's Entertainment, Part III (1994). His many innovations transformed the Hollywood musical, and he is credited with almost single-handedly making the ballet form commercially acceptable to film audiences. Kelly received an Academy Honorary Award in 1952 for his career achievements; the same year, An American in Paris won six Academy Awards, including Best Picture. He later received lifetime achievement awards in the Kennedy Center Honors (1982) and from the Screen Actors Guild and American Film Institute. In 1999, the American Film Institute also ranked him as the 15th greatest male screen legend of Classic Hollywood Cinema. Description above from the Wikipedia article Gene Kelly, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

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Known For

Acting

Year
Title

Role

1994
That's Entertainment! III

as    Self - Co-Host / Narrator

1980
Xanadu

as    Danny McGuire

1977
Viva Knievel!

as    Will Atkins

1976
That's Entertainment, Part II

as    Self - Co-Host / Narrator

1974
That's Entertainment!

as    Self - Host / Narrator

1973
40 Carats

as    Billy Boylan

1973
Frank Sinatra: Ol' Blue Eyes is Back

as    Singer, dancer (Guest Performer)

1964
What a Way to Go!

as    Pinky Benson

1960
Inherit the Wind

as    E.K. Hornbeck

1958
Marjorie Morningstar

as    Noel Airman

1957
Les Girls

as    Barry Nichols

1956
Invitation to the Dance

as    Host / Pierrot / The Marine / Sinbad

1955
It's Always Fair Weather

as    Ted Riley

1954
Brigadoon

as    Tommy Albright

1952
Singin' in the Rain

as    Don Lockwood

1952
The Devil Makes Three

as    Jeff Eliot

1951
It's a Big Country

as    Icarus Xenophon

1951
An American in Paris

as    Jerry Mulligan

1950
Black Hand

as    Giovanni E. 'Johnny' Columbo

1950
Summer Stock

as    Joe D. Ross

1949
Take Me Out to the Ball Game

as    Eddie O'Brien

1949
On the Town

as    Gabey

1948
The Three Musketeers

as    D'Artagnan

1948
The Pirate

as    Serafin

1947
Living in a Big Way

as    Leo Gogarty

1945
Ziegfeld Follies

as    Gentleman (segment The Babbit and the Bromide)

1945
Anchors Aweigh

as    Joseph Brady

1944
Cover Girl

as    Danny McGuire

1944
Christmas Holiday

as    Robert Manette