Bob Fosse
Bob Fosse was born in Chicago, Illinois, United States on June 23rd, 1927 and is the Director. At the age of 60, Bob Fosse biography, profession, age, height, weight, eye color, hair color, build, measurements, education, career, dating/affair, family, news updates, and networth are available.
At 60 years old, Bob Fosse has this physical status:
Robert Louis Fosse (June 23, 1927 – September 23, 1987) was an American dancer, musical-theatre choreographer, and theatre and film producer.
He supervised and choreographed musical performances on stage and film, including the stage musicals The Pajama Game (choreography) in 1954 and Chicago in 1975, and the film Cabaret in 1972. Turned-in knees and "jazz hands" were among Fosse's signature choreography pieces. He is the only one to have received Oscar, Emmy, and Tony awards in the same year (1973).
He was nominated for four Academy Awards, including Best Director for Cabaret, and he received eight Tony awards for his choreography, as well as one for direction for Pippin.
Early life
Fosse was born in Chicago, Illinois, to Cyril Kingsley Fosse, a traveling salesman for The Hershey Company, and Sarah Alice "Sadie" Fosse, an Irish American mother. He was the fifth of six children.
He was drawn to dance and took lessons. Fosse appeared as "The Riff Brothers" in Chicago when he was 13 years old. They toured vaindeville and movie houses in Chicago, as well as USO theaters and Eagles Clubs. Several of these performances featured shows at burlesque clubs, such as the Silver Cloud and Cave of Winds. "I was sixteen years old, and I rode the entire burlesque wheel," Fosse says. However, some of the women and promoters were unaware that Fosse was underage in adult clubs or that he would be exposed to sexual harassment from the burlesque women. A large portion of the erotica he saw would inspire his future work. In 1943, a boy at the age of 15. In a film called Hold Evry's, Fosse will choreograph his first dance number and gain his first full credit as a choreographer. In Two Parts, a streamlined Extravaganza, which featured showgirls dressed in strapless dresses and staging a fan dance, was inspired by his time in burlesque houses.
After graduating from high school in 1945, Fosse joined the United States Navy during World War II at Naval Station Great Lakes, where he was sent to be prepared for war. After his own failed attempts to be included in the Special Services Entertainment Division, Fosse hired Frederick Weaver, his brother, to lobby on his behalf to his superiors. Fosse was soon stationed in the variety show Tough Situation, which toured military and naval bases in the Pacific.
After his discharge, Fosse migrated to New York City in 1947 with the aim of being the new Fred Astaire. He began studying acting at the American Theatre Wing, where he met his first wife and dance partner, Mary Ann Niles (1923-1987). Call Me Mister was his first stage appearance, as well as Niles. In the 1950–1951 season, Fosse and Niles were regular participants on Your Hit Parade. Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis performed in the Pierre Hotel in New York City and arranged their appearance on The Colgate Comedy Hour in 1951.
"Jerry started me doing choreography," Fosse said in an interview in 1986. "I'm grateful for his first work as a choreographer," he gave me.
In 1953, Fosse was signed to an MGM deal. Give a Girl a Break, Dobie Gillis' Affairs, and Kiss Me Kate were among his first film appearances as a dancer. Fosse's choreography in a short dance sequence in Kiss Me Kate and dance with Carol Haney drew the attention of Broadway producers.
Personal life
On May 3, 1947, Fosse married dance partner Mary Ann Niles (1923–1987) in Detroit. In 1952, a year after he divorced Niles, he married dancer Joan McCracken in New York City; the union lasted until 1959, when it ultimately ended in divorce.
Gwen Verdon, a dancer and actress whose third wife appeared in the ballet and film in which she appeared, was his third wife. Nicole Fosse, a dancer and actress, died in 1963, their daughter became a dancer and actress. Fosse's extramarital affairs put a strain on the marriage, and by 1971, they were divorced, though they remained legally married until his death in 1987. Verdon has never remarried.
Ann Reinking, a dancer who appeared on Pippin in 1972, was interviewed by Fosse. Their romantic relationship came "toward the end of Dancin's tenure," Reinking writes.
When Fosse had a seizure onstage during rehearsals for The Conquering Hero in 1961, his epilepsy was revealed.
Fosse's time outside of the rehearsal room or theater was never spent alone. "Nights alone were murder on Fosse," Sam Wasson's biography Fosse said. Fosse would often call dancers to work with and try to date them, causing many to refuse his advances but giving him the encouragement he needed to reduce loneliness and insomnia that had been brought on by his prescription amphetamines.
Fosse would continue to be chastised by critics during their respective careers, but Gwen Verdon will be lauded, regardless of how much influence Verdon had on a film. However, Verdon maintained his concern for him and the Fosse family name, hosted grandiose cast parties, and served as Fosse's personal press secretary throughout his marriage.
Career
Fosse changed from film to theatre in the late 1940s and early 1950s. Tony Charmoli performed in Make Mine Manhattan in 1948, but he gave the performance to Fosse when the exhibition tour tour nationally. Charmoli also discovered Fosse as a dancer on the television shows he was performing on when Fosse returned from the tour.
Fosse appeared in the M-M musical Kiss Me Kate, starring Howard Keel, Kathryn Grayson, and Ann Miller in 1953. Within The Taming of the Shrew dance sequences, Fosse performed Hortensio.
Fosse choreographed his first musical, The Pajama Game, in 1954, followed by My Sister Eileen and George Abbott's Damn Yankees in 1955. It was while working on Damn Yankees that he first met rising star Gwen Verdon, who married in 1960. Verdon received her first Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical in 1956 for her role in Damn Yankees. She had previously been recognized for Best Actor in a Musical for Can-Can (1954). In 1957, Fosse choreographed New Girl in Town, also directed by Abbott, and Verdon received her second Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical.
Fosse choreographed the film version of The Pajama Game starring Doris Day in 1957. In which Verdon reprised her stage appearance as Lola, Fosse appeared in and choreographed the film version of Damn Yankees next year. In the mambo film "Who Has Got the Pain," Fosse and Verdon were partners.
Fosse directed and choreographed the musical Redhead in 1959.
Fosse was named Tony Award-winning for his work on Redhead, while Verdon received her third Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical, according to Fosse. Redhead was named best musical at the Tony Award for best musical. Fosse's next film was supposed to be The Conquering Hero, based on a Larry Gelbart book, but he was switched to director/choreographer.
Fosse choreographed the satirical Broadway musical How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying starring Robert Morse in 1961. The story revolves around J. Pierrepont Finch (Morse), who, with the help of the book How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying), climbs from window washer to chairman of the World Wide Wicket Company. The musical was a big hit.
Fosse received two Tony Awards for Best Choreography and Best Direction of a Musical in 1963, the former champion of the musical Little Meals.
In 1966, he choreographed and directed Verdon in Sweet Charity.
Five feature films were directed by Fosse. Shirley MacLaine's first film, Sweet Charity (1969), is an adaptation of the Broadway musical he had directed and choreographed.
Fosse's second theatrical film, Cabaret, starring Liza Minnelli, Michael York, and Joel Grey, was directed in 1972 by Fosse. The film is based on the 1966 musical of the same name. Every major character in the stage version of musical theater, called a "integrated musical," performs to demonstrate his or her own emotion in order to advance the plot. The musical numbers in the film version are purely diegetic. The film focuses on a young romance between Sally Bowles (Minnelli), who appears at the Kit Kat Klub, and a young British idealist played by York. The story takes place against the rise of Nazi Germany. Audiences and commentators alike expressed their excitement for the film. The film received eight Academy Awards, including Best Director. Both Liza Minnelli and Joel Grey have been nominated for their performances in Cabaret.
Fosse and Minnelli returned to create her TV Special Liza with a Z in 1972, winning Fosse an Emmy Award for both direction and choreography.
Fosse's 1973 film Pippin earned him the Tony Award for Best Direction of a Musical. He was both the producer and choreographer of Chicago in 1975, which also starred Verdon.
Fosse produced Lenny, a biographical film starring Dustin Hoffman that was released in 1974. Fosse was nominated for Best Director once more, and Hoffman was also nominated for Best Actor.
In Stanley Donen's 1974 film version of The Little Prince, Fosse performed a song and dance. "Bob Fosse stops the show with a stumbling dance routine," AllMusic notes. In 1977, Fosse appeared in the romantic comedy Thieves.
Fosse co-wrote and directed All That Jazz (1979), starring Roy Scheider, depicting the life of a femaleizing, heroin-addicted choreographer, and director in the midst of triumph and failure. Ann Reinking appears in the film as the protagonist's lover, protégé, and domestic partner. All That Jazz received four Academy Awards, earning Fosse his third nomination for Best Director. At the 1980 Cannes Film Festival, it also received the Palme d'Or. Fosse's 1980 documentary film Fosse commissioned documentary study for a sequel to a film about people who become actors.
Star 80 (1983), Fosse's last film, was a biographical film about Dorothy Stratten, a Playboy Playmate who was killed. The film is based on a Pulitzer Prize-winning article. At the 34th Berlin International Film Festival, the film was not eligible for admission.
In 1986, Fosse wrote, choreographed, and directed the Broadway production of Big Deal, which received five Tony awards for best costume design, as well as five more for the revival of Sweet Charity at the Minskoff Theater in nearby Winskoff Theater, which received a Tony for Best Revival.
Fosse began filming on a film starring Robert De Niro as Winchell, which would have starred Walter Winchell. Michael Herrn wrote the Winchell script. Before starting the Winchell project, Fosse died.