Fred Astaire

At 88 years old, Fred Astaire has this physical status:

Fred Astaire (born Frederick Austerlitz; May 10, 1899-July 22, 1987) was an American dancer, guitarist, actor, choreographer, and television presenter.

He is widely regarded as the most influential dancer in film history. His stage and subsequent film and television careers spanned 76 years.

He appeared in more than ten Broadway and London musicals, produced 31 musical films, four television specials, and released numerous collections.

His most notable characteristics as a dancer were his uncanny sense of rhythm, his ingenuity, and his ingenuity.

Ginger Rogers, with whom he co-starred in a series of ten Hollywood musicals, was his most memorable dancing collaboration.

Astaire was named the fifth best male actor of Classic Hollywood cinema in 100 years by the American Film Institute, 100 years ago. 100 Stars.Gene Kelly, another well-known actor of film, said that "the history of dance on film starts with Astaire." Astaire was "the only one of today's dancers who will be remembered," he later said. Many dancers and choreographers, including Rudolf Nureyev, Gregory Hines, Mikhail Baryshnikov, George Balanchine, Madhuri Dixit, and Bob Fosse, who called Astaire his "idol," also acknowledged his importance beyond film and television.

Personal life

He and Cary Grant were still praised as "the most well-dressed actor[s] in American cinema, [sic]! Even into his later years, Astaire retained his iconic top hat, white tie, and tails, which he feared. Rather, he favoured a breezy casual style of tailored sport jackets, colored shirts, and slacks, the latter usually sticking up to the use of an old tie or silk scarf in lieu of a belt.

Despite his mother's and sister's disapproving, Astaire married 25-year-old Phyllis Potter (1908–1954), a Boston-born New York socialite and former wife of Eliphalet Nott Potter III (1906-1981), despite his mother's and grandmother's objections. At the age of 46, Phyllis' death from lung cancer brought an end to twenty-one years of blissful marriage and left Astaire devastated. Astaire tried to drop out of the film Daddy Long Legs (1955), which he was filming, but was refused to pay the production costs.

The Astaires had two children in addition to Phyllis Potter's son Eliphalet IV (known as Peter). Fred Jr. (born 1936), the Astaires' son, appeared alongside his father in the film Midas Run and later became a charter pilot and rancher. Ava Astaire (born 1942), the Astaires' daughter, is still active in preserving her father's legacy.

Fred Astaire, who was notably private, was rarely seen on Hollywood's social scene. Rather, he dedicated his spare time to his family and his interests, which included horse racing, playing the drums, songwriting, and golfing. He was a good friend of David Niven, Randolph Scott, Clark Gable, and Gregory Peck. Niven characterized him as "a pixie—timid, always warm-hearted with a penchant for schoolboy jokes." Triplicate's horse Triplicate won the Hollywood Gold Cup and San Juan Capistrano Handicap in 1946. He remained physically fit into his eighties. In his late seventies, he began skateboarding and was given a life membership in the National Skateboard Society. When skateboarding in his driveway at seventy-eight, he broke his left wrist. He also had a keen interest in boxing and real crime.

He married for the second time on June 24, 1980, at the age of 81. Robyn Smith, a 45-year-old junior and a jockey who rode for Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt Jr. (she also dated Vanderbilt in the 1970s), appeared on the front page of Sports Illustrated on July 31, 1972.

Astaire's life has never been chronicled on film. "However much they want me—and offers come in all the time—I will not sell." Astaire's plan would include a provision requesting that no such representation be made; he wrote, "It is there because I have no inclination to have my life misinterpreted, which it would be." Tom Holland revealed on December 5, 2021, he'd be portraying Astaire in a forthcoming biopic, despite the clause's ambiguity.

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Life and career

Fred Astaire was born Frederick Austerlitz, Omaha, Nebraska, the son of Johanna "Ann" (née Geilus; 1878–1975) and Friedrich "Fritz" Austerlitz (1868-1993). Astaire's mother was born in the United States to Lutheran German immigrants from East Prussia and Alsace. Astaire's father was born in Linz, Austria, to Roman Catholic parents who had converted from Judaism.

Fritz Austerlitz, Astaire's father, arrived in New York City at the age of 25 on October 26, 1893 on Ellis Island at the age of 25. Fritz was looking for work in beer and moved to Omaha, Nebraska, where he was employed by the Storz Brewing Company. Astaire's mother was dreaming of escaping Omaha by her children's talents. Adele, Astaire's older sister, was an instinctive dancer and singer from the start of her life. Johanna planned a "brother and sister act" for her two children, which was typical in vainville at the time. Although Fred refused dance lessons at first, he quickly imitated his older sister's footsteps and took up piano, clarinet, and clarinet.

The family migrated to New York City in January 1905 to begin the show business careers of the children when their father lost his job. They began training at the Theatre and Academy of Cultural Arts' Alvieni Master School. Fred and Adele's mother suggested that they change their name to "Astaire" because "Austerlitz" was reminiscent of the Battle of Austerlitz. The name is traced to an uncle named "L'Astaire," according to a family legend.

In preparation for composing an act, they were taught dance, speaking, and singing. Juvenile Artists Presenting an Electric Musical Toe-Dancing Novelty was their first performance. Fred wore a top hat and tails in the first half of the first half and a lobster outfit in the second. Ava Astaire McKenzie, Astaire's niece, noticed that they often put Fred in a top hat to make him appear taller in an interview. The goofy act debuted in Keyport, New Jersey, at a "test out theater" in November 1905. "The Astaires are the greatest child act in vaindeville," the local newspaper reported.

Fred and Adele, father's salesmanship, received a major contract and appeared on the Orpheum Circuit in Chicago, Western, and some Southern cities in the United States. Adele grew to at least three inches taller than Fred, and the pair began to look uncomfortable. The family decided to take a two-year break from show business to allow time to heal and keep away from the Gerry Society and the old child labor laws. Fred became an Episcopalian in 1912. With increasing expertise and polish as they began to incorporate tap dancing into their routines, the Astaire siblings' careers resurfaced with mixed fortunes. Bill "Bojangles" Robinson and John "Bubbles" Subtutt inspired Astaire's dancing. They learned the tango, waltz, and other ballroom dances popularized by Vernon and Irene Castle from vain dancer Aurelio Coccia. According to some, the Astaire siblings appeared in a 1915 film titled Fanchon, the Cricket, starring Mary Pickford, but the Astaires have consistently denied this.

Fred had taken on the musical duties for their act by age 14. George Gershwin, who was working as a song plugger for Jerome H. Remick's music publishing company in 1916, was the first time he encountered him. Fred had already been looking for new music and dance styles. Both artists' careers were going to be impacted by their chance meeting. Astaire was always on the lookout for new challenges on the circuit, and he was beginning to demonstrate his never-stop search for novelty and excellence.

The Astaires debuted on Broadway in 1917 with Over the Top, a patriotic revue, and they appeared for both American and Allied troops at the same time. Many more shows were added to their catalog. "Frank Astaire stood out in an evening in which there was a lot of good dancing" during their participation in the 1918 Passing Show. Adele Astaire, he and his partner, made the show halt early in the evening with a stunning loose-limbed dance."

Adele's sparkle and humour drew significant notice, owing in large part to Fred's careful planning and sharp supporting choreography. They had already set the tone of their performance. However, Astaire's dancing ability was starting to outshine his sister's by this time.

Fred and Adele appeared on Broadway and the London stage in the 1920s. They gained acclaim on both directions of the Atlantic in productions including Jerome Kern's Lady, Be Fine (1922), George and Ira Gershwin's "Be Well (1924), and later in The Band Wagon (1931). By then, Astaire's tap dancing had been regarded as one of the best in the world. For example, Robert Benchley wrote in 1930, "I don't think that I will plunge the country into war by claiming that Fred is the world's best tap-dancer." Fred studied piano at the Guildhall School of Music alongside his friend and colleague Nol Coward; and in 1926, he was one of the judges at the Royal Albert Hall, where Lew Grade was named king.

The Astaires returned to Hollywood for a screen test (now lost) at Paramount Pictures, but Paramount refused to use them for films after the conclusion of Funny Face.

Adele and her first husband, Lord Charles Cavendish, the second son of the 9th Duke of Devonshire, died in 1932. Fred continued to succeed on Broadway and in London with Gay Divorce (later made into the film The Gay Divorce), even though Hollywood is considering offers from Hollywood. Astaire's break was painful, but it inspired him to stretch his boundaries.

Fred created a romantic partnered dance to Cole Porter's "Night and Day," which had been intended for Gay Divorce and was free of the brother-sister constraints of the former couple and living with new partner Claire Luce. Luce said she had to convince him to adopt a more romantic approach: "I'm not your sister," Luce said. "6": The play's success was attributed to this number, and when it was revived in The Gay Divorcee (1934), the film version of the play, it heralded in a new era of filmed dance." 21, 26, 1961. Fred Stone of Astaire performing in Gay Divorce with Dorothy Stone, the Astaire's successor, was discovered by dancer and historian Betsy Baytos, and the oldest known performance video of Astaire has been discovered.

According to Hollywood folklore, a screen test report on Astaire for RKO Radio Pictures, which is now missing along with the experiment, reads: "Can't sing." Can't do it. Balding. Can dance a little." Pandro S. Berman, the photographer of Astaire-Rogers photographs, said he had never heard the tale in the 1930s and that it was only years afterward. 7 Astaire later clarified, insisting that the report had read: "Can't move" should not be acted upon. Slightly bald. Also dances." In any case, the test was clearly flawed, and David O. Selznick, who had signed Astaire and commissioned the study, said in a memo, "I am uncertain about the man, but I suspect his charisma is so strong that it shines through even on this wretched test."

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This did not have an effect on RKO's Astaire plans, however. In 1933, they lent him for a few days in MGM for his major Hollywood debut in the hit musical film Dancing Lady. He appeared in the film as himself dancing with Joan Crawford. He received his fifth bill after fourth-billed Ginger Rogers in the 1933 Dolores del Ro vehicle Flying Down to Rio. Astaire's presence was attributed to the magazine's success in a review: Variety magazine attributed Astaire's popularity to its high success:

Astaire was initially reluctant to join another dance company after being linked to his sister Adele on stage. "I don't mind doing another picture with her," he wrote, but it's 'out!' I've just survived on one relationship, and I don't want to be bothered with anymore. 8 However, he was persuaded by the Astaire–Rogers pairing's apparent public appeal. Astaire and Hermes Pan's choreography made dancing a key part of Hollywood film history.

At RKO, Astaire and Rogers shot nine films together. These included Flying Down to Rio (1933), The Gay Divorcee (1934), Roberta (1935), Top Hat (1936), Follow the Fleet (1937), Hope and Dance (1939), and The History of Vernon and Irene Castle (1939). Six out of the nine Astaire-Rogers musicals became the top moneymakers for RKO; all of the films received a certain prestige and artistry that not many studios coveted at the time. Their union propelled them both to fame; as Katharine Hepburn reported, "He gives her class and she gives him sex appeal." "134 Astaire made a share of the films' earnings, something that was unheardent in actor-employment at the time."

Astaire revolutionized dance on film by gaining complete control over its presentation. He is credited with two main developments in early film musicals. 26, 26, first, he argued that a dolly camera film a dance routine in as few shots as possible, mainly with just four to eight cuts, despite the dancers being fully visible at all times. This gave the appearance of an almost stable camera filming a complete dance in a single shot. "Either the camera will dance or I will." Astaire once said. "420 Astaire maintained this policy from The Gay Divorcee in 1934 to his last film dramatic Finian's Rainbow in 1968, when director Francis Ford Coppola overruled him.

The viewer was able to follow the dancers and choreography in its entirety thanks to Astaire's style of dance sequences. This style was radically different from those in the Busby Berkeley musicals. Those musical sequences were packed with extravagant aerial shots, hundreds of cuts for quick takes, and zooms on body parts such as a row of arms or legs.

Astaire's second creation was set in the context of the dance; he was adamant that all song and dance routines be integral to the film's plotlines. Astaire used dance to move the plot along rather than using it as a spectacle, as Busby Berkeley did. At least three formal dances are usually included in an Astaire picture. Astaire's solo appearance, as he said, would be a solo performance. Another example would be a partnered comedy routine. In addition, he'll have a partnered romantic dance routine.

Arlene Croce of 6: 9 and 9: Rogers is considered Astaire's best dance partner by Hermes Pan and Stanley Donen, as follows. Pauline Kael, a film critic, adopts a more neutral role, while Time magazine film critic Richard Schickel writes, "the familiarity surrounding Rogers-Astaire tends to bleach out other partners."

Rogers' abilities are summarized in this article by Mueller: a summary of Rogers' abilities: "Irma" explains it.

"Ginger had never danced with a partner before flying down to Rio," Astaire said. She played it a lot. Ginger couldn't tap and she couldn't do this and that, but she did have style and talent and she progressed as she went along. After a time when everyone else who danced with me looked wrong, she became so upset. Author Dick Richards' book Ginger: Salute to a Star, author Astaire writes to Raymond Rohauer, curator of the New York Gallery of Modern Art, "Ginger was brilliantly efficient." She did everything for her. She made it a little better day for both of us, and she deserved the bulk of blame for our triumph.'

Sir Michael Parkinson, the British talk show host, asked Astaire what his favorite dancing partner was on Parkinson's disease in 1976. Astaire refused to answer at first. However, he said, "Excuse me, I must say Ginger was certainly, uh, the one." You know, I was the most helpful partner I had ever had. Everyone is aware of this.

Astaire's uncompromising quality extending to the entire production: "They never know what time he'll think of a new line of dialogue or a new story angle for the tale." Rogers said: no loafing on the job on an Astaire photograph, and no cutting corners.

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Despite their success, Astaire was determined not to have his career restricted solely to any couple. He attempted to strike out on his own with A Damsel in Distress in 1937 with an inexperienced, non-dancing Joan Fontaine, who died as it came out. He appeared in two more films with Rogers, Carefree (1938) and The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle (1939). Although both films earned respectable gross proceeds, they both lost money due to rising production costs: 410 and Astaire left RKO after being labeled "box office poison" by the Independent Theatre Owners of America. Astaire and Rogers were reunited in 1949 at MGM for their final outing, The Barkleys of Broadway, the only one of their films to be shot in Technicolor together.

Astaire left RKO in 1939 to freelance and try new film opportunities, with mixed but generally positive results. Astaire retained the participation of choreographic collaborators throughout this period. Unlike the 1930s, when he worked almost exclusively with Hermes Pan, he continued to explore continually. Eleanor Powell, the redoubtable, was his first post-Ginger dance partner, and she was deemed the most notable female tap-dancer of her generation. They appeared in Broadway Melody of 1940, in which they performed a legendary extended dance routine to Cole Porter's "Begin the Beguine." Astaire wrote "She 'em down' like a guy, no ricky-sissy stuff with Ellie" in his autobiography Steps in Time. She was able to lead a tap dance in a class by herself."

In Holiday Inn (1942) and later Blue Skies (1946), he appeared with Bing Crosby (1942) and later in Blue Skies (1946). However, despite the fact that both had a huge financial success, he was apparently dissatisfied with the girl's appearance in Crosby's role. To "Let's Say it with Firecrackers," the former film is notably for his virtuo solo dance. "Puttin' On the Ritz," an innovative song-and-dance routine that has been indelibly associated with him, was included in the new film. Paulette Goddard, a member of the Second Chorus (1940), in which he dancedconducted the Artie Shaw orchestra, was also a participant during this period.

Rita Hayworth took two photographs of him. You'll Never Get Rich (1941), the first film to bring Hayworth to fame, brought him to fame. For the third time Latin American dance idioms were integrated into Astaire's style (the first being with Ginger Rogers in "The Carioca" number). Flying Down to Rio (1933) and then with Rogers (1939) was the "Dengozo" dance from The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle (1939). You Were Never Lovelier (1942), Hayworth's second film, was also a hit. It was a tribute to Astaire performed by Jerome Robbins' 1983 New York City Ballet tribute to Astaire that featured a duet to Kern's "I'm Old Fashioned." In the wartime drama The Sky's the Limit (1943), he appeared opposite seventeen-year-old Joan Leslie. Although dancing on a bar counter in a grim and difficult routine, he introduced Arlen and Mercer's "One for My Baby" in it. Astaire choreographed this film alone and saw modest box office success. It was a major departure for Astaire from his beloved, happy-go-lucky screen persona and a snarky, confused modern critic.

Lucille Bremer, his next partner, was featured in two lavish cars, both directed by Vincente Minnelli. An avant-garde surrealistic ballet appeared in Yolanda and the Thief (1945). Astaire performed with Gene Kelly in "The Babbit and the Bromide," a song Astaire performed with his sister Adele in 1927. Although Follies was a victim, Yolanda bombed at the box office.

Astaire, who was always insecure and wishing his career was about to fail, stunned his audiences by announcing his resignation during the making of his next film, Blue Skies (1946). As his farewell dance, he nominated "Puttin" on the Ritz. Astaire, who announced his retirement in 1946, concentrated on his horseracing passions and founded the Fred Astaire Dance Studios in 1947, which he later sold in 1966.

Astaire's retirement was not long-lived. In Easter Parade (1948) opposite Judy Garland, Ann Miller, and Peter Lawford, Astaire returned to the big screen to replace an injured Gene Kelly. In The Barkleys of Broadway (1949), he continued his reunion with Rogers (replacing Judy Garland). Both of these films revived Astaire's fame, and in 1950 he appeared in two musicals. MGM's three Little Words, Vera-Ellen and Red Skelton were among MGM's three little words. Let's Dance with Betty Hutton, who was on loan from Paraguar to Paraguar. Although Three Little Words did well at the box office, Let's Dance was a financial loss. The Royal Wedding (1951) with Jane Powell and Peter Lawford turned out to be extremely popular, but The Belle of New York (1952) with Vera-Ellen was a significant and box-office disaster. Critics praised the Band Wagon (1953), which attracted huge audiences. However, it was not able to make a buck on its first launch due to the company's high cost.

Astaire, as the other remaining actors at MGM, was released from his employment soon after due to television's debut and film production's downsizing. Astaire appeared on a new musical, Daddy Long Legs (1955), with Leslie Caron at 20th Century Fox in 1954. Phyllis, then's wife, became ill, and then, Phyllis, died of lung cancer. Astaire was so bereaved that he wanted to get rid of the picture and promised to pay the production costs out of his pocket. However, Johnny Mercer, the film's designer, and Fox studio executives all agreed that working would be the right thing for him. Daddy Long Legs did only do well at the box office, but not in a moderately efficient manner. Hepburn and Kay Thompson appeared in Paramount's new film, Funny Face (1957). Despite the sumptuousness of the product and critical feedback, it was unable to justify its expense. Astaire's next project, Silk Stockings (1957), in which he co-starred with Cyd Charisse, also lost money at the box office.

Astaire revealed that he was going to stop dancing in films later this year. In 25 years, his career consisted of 30 musical films.

Astaire did not abandon dancing completely. In 1958, 1959, 1960, and 1968, he produced a series of four Emmy Award-winning television specials for television. Each featured Barrie Chase, with whom Astaire experienced a new period of dance ingenuity. Nine Emmy Awards, including "Best Single Performance by an Actor" and "Most Outstanding Single Program of the Year," were among the first of these programs, including 1958's An Evening with Fred Astaire. It was also notable for being the first major broadcast to be prerecorded on color videotape. For Best Single Performance by an Actor, Astaire received the Emmy Award. Many believed his participation in the special was not the type of "acting" for which the award was intended, causing outrage. Astaire was attempting to recover the award at one point, but the Television Academy refused to investigate it. Ed Reitan, Don Kent, and Dan Einstein received a technical award in 1988 for the program's revival. They revived the original videotape, transferring its contents to a new format, and filling in holes where the tape had deteriorated with a kinescope video.

In the nuclear war drama On the Beach (1959), Astaire portrayed Julian Osborne, a non-dancing figure. He was nominated for a Golden Globe Best Supporting Actor award for his role in Ben-Hur, losing to Stephen Boyd. Astaire appeared in three other films and several television series from 1957 to 1969.

Astaire's last major musical film was Finian's Rainbow (1968), directed by Francis Ford Coppola. Astaire renounced his white tie and tails to play an Irish rogue who believes that if you burst a crock of gold in Fort Knox's shadows, the gold will multiply. Petula Clark, Astaire's dance partner, portrayed his character's cynical daughter. He described himself as trepid about being around her, while she said she was worried about dancing with him. Both at the box office and among critics, the film was a modest success.

Astaire remained active in the 1970s. In It Takes a Thief, he appeared on television as the father of Robert Wagner's character, Alexander Mundy. He performed with Jennifer Jones in the film The Towering Inferno (1974) and received his first Academy Award nomination in the category of Best Supporting Actor. In the 1970s Rankin/Bass animated television specials, he narrator S.D Kluger delivered Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town and The Easter Bunny Is Comin' to Town. Astaire appeared in the first two episodes of That's Entertainment. In the mid-1970s, there were documentaryists in the mid-1970s. He appeared in the second collection, aged seventy-six, for a short dance linking sequence with Kelly, his last dance appearances in a musical film. He recorded three albums in London, Attitude Dancing, They Can't Take These Away From Me, and A Pair of Song and Dance Men, the last an album of duets with Bing Crosby. Astaire appeared in the French film The Purple Taxi (1977), as a dog trainer, and as a dog owner.

In 1978, he co-starred with Helen Hayes in a well-received television film A Family Upside Down, in which they played an elderly couple struggling with declining health. For his appearance, Astaire was given an Emmy Award. In 1979, Chameleon, the potential father of Starbuck, appeared in "The Man with Nine Lives," a role written for him by Donald P. Bellisario, he made a well-publicized guest appearance on the science-fiction television series Battlestar Galactica. Astaire pleaded with his agent to appear on Galactica due to his grandchildren's involvement in the series, and the producers were delighted to provide an entire episode with him. In this case with Anne Jeffreys, this was the last time he danced on film. In 1979, he appeared in nine different roles in The Man in the Santa Claus Suit. His last film was Peter Straub's "Ghost Story" in 1981. Melvyn Douglas and Douglas Fairbanks Jr., two of his most well-known actors, were also on the diege of this horror film.

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Awards, honors and tributes

• 1938: Invited to place his hand and footprints in cement at Grauman's Chinese Theatre, Hollywood
• 1950: Ginger Rogers presented an Academy Honorary Award to Astaire "for his unique artistry and his contributions to the technique of musical pictures"
• 1950: Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy for Three Little Words
• 1958: Emmy Award for "Best Single Performance by an Actor" for An Evening with Fred Astaire
• 1959: Dance Magazine award
• 1960: Nominated for Emmy Award for "Program Achievement" for Another Evening with Fred Astaire
• 1960: Golden Globe Cecil B. DeMille Award for "Lifetime Achievement in Motion Pictures"
• 1960: Inducted into the Hollywood Walk of Fame with a motion pictures star at 6756 Hollywood Boulevard for his contributions to the film industry.
• 1961: Emmy Award for "Program Achievement" for Astaire Time
• 1961: Voted Champion of Champions – Best Television performer in annual television critics and columnists poll conducted by Television Today and Motion Picture Daily
• 1965: The George Eastman Award from the George Eastman House for "outstanding contributions to motion pictures"
• 1968: Inducted into the Hall of Fame of the International Best Dressed List
• 1968: Nominated for an Emmy Award for Musical Variety Program for The Fred Astaire Show
• 1972: Named Musical Comedy Star of the Century by Liberty: The Nostalgia Magazine
• 1972: Inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame
• 1973: Subject of a Gala by the Film Society of Lincoln Center
• 1975: Academy Award nomination for The Towering Inferno
• 1975: Golden Globe for "Best Supporting Actor", BAFTA and David di Donatello awards for The Towering Inferno
• 1975: "You Gave Me the Answer", a song by Wings written by Paul McCartney in Astaire's style and dedicated to him in concert.
• 1978: Emmy Award for "Best Actor – Drama or Comedy Special" for A Family Upside Down
• 1978: Honored by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences
• 1978: First recipient of the Kennedy Center Honors
• 1978: National Artist Award from the American National Theatre Association for "contributing immeasurably to the American Theatre"
• 1981: The Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Film Institute
• 1982: The Anglo-American Contemporary Dance Foundation announced creation of the Astaire Awards "to honor Fred Astaire and his sister Adele and to reward the achievement of an outstanding dancer or dancers"
• 1987: The Capezio Dance Shoe Award (co-awarded with Rudolf Nureyev)
• 1987: Inducted into the National Museum of Dance's Mr. & Mrs. Cornelius Vanderbilt Whitney Hall of Fame in Saratoga Springs, New York
• 1989: Posthumous award of Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award
• 1989: Posthumous induction into the Television Hall of Fame
• 1990: "Vogue", a single by Madonna, mentions Astaire in its lyrics
• 1991: Posthumous induction into the Ballroom Dancer's Hall of Fame
• 1991: "Fred Astaire", a song by Donna Summer on her Mistaken Identity album
• 1992: The Dancing House in Prague is originally named "Fred and Ginger"
• 1999: Posthumous award of Grammy Hall of Fame Award for 1952 The Astaire Story album
• 1999: "Just Like Fred Astaire", a single by the English rock band James
• 2000: Ava Astaire McKenzie unveiled a plaque in honor of her father, erected by the citizens of Lismore, County Waterford, Ireland
• 2000: "Fred Astaire", a song by Lucky Boys Confusion
• 2003: Referenced in the animated feature The Triplets of Belleville, in which Astaire is eaten by his shoes after a fast-paced dance act
• 2004: The "Adele and Fred Astaire Ballroom" added on the top floor of Gottlieb Storz Mansion in Astaire's hometown of Omaha
• 2006: "Fred Astaire" single released by the California rock band Lamps
• 2008: Life and work honored at Oriel College, Oxford
• 2011, 2013: "Fred Astaire", a song, in a Portuguese and a later English version by Clarice Falcão
• 2012: "Fred Astaire", a single and video by San Cisco
• 2018: "Fred Astaire", a single by Jukebox The Ghost
• 2019: "Movement", a single by Hozier, references Astaire in its lyrics