Ginger Rogers

At 83 years old, Ginger Rogers has this physical status:

Ginger Rogers (born Virginia Katherine McMath; 1911-2005) was an American actress, dancer, and singer.

She received an Academy Award for her role in Kitty Foyle (1940), but she is best remembered for her appearance in RKO's musical films in the 1930s (collaborating with Fred Astaire).

During a large portion of the twentieth century, her career remained on stage, radio, and television. Rogers and her family were born in Independence, Missouri, and raised in Kansas City, Texas, when she was nine years old.

She gained success as a Broadway actress after winning a 1925 Charleston dance competition that launched a fruitful vaindeville career, and she earned her debut on Broadway as a Broadway actress in Girl Crazy.

This success culminated in a Paramount Pictures film, which came after five films.

In 42nd Street (1933), Rogers appeared in her first film role as a supporting actress.

Early life

Virginia Katherine McMath was born in Independence, Missouri, and Lela Emogene Owens, a newspaper reporter, scriptwriter, and film producer, as well as William Eddins McMath, an electrical engineer. Wilma Saphrona (née Ball) and Walter Winfield Owens were among her maternal grandparents' tenets. 3 She was of Scottish, Welsh, and English ancestry. After losing a previous child in a hospital, her mother gave birth to Ginger at home. 11 Her parents were divorced shortly after she was born. 1, 2, 11 McMath kidnapped his daughter twice, but his mother divorced him soon after. Rogers, 7, said she never saw her natural father again.

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Rogers lived in 1915 with her grandparents, who lived in nearby Kansas City, while her mother, who lived in Hollywood, went to Hollywood in the hopes of converting an essay she had written into a film. 19 Lela's success saw him write scripts for Fox Studios.

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Helen, one of Rogers' younger cousins, had a difficult time pronouncing "Virginia," shortened to "Badinda"; the word soon became "Ginga."

When Rogers was nine years old, her mother married John Logan Rogers. Ginger adopted Rogers, but she was never legally adopted. They lived in Fort Worth. Her mother starred in the Fort Worth Record, a local newspaper. She attended, but not graduated from, Central High School in Fort Worth (later renamed R. L. Paschal High School).

Rogers had intended to be a school teacher as a child, but her early exposure to theaters soared as a result of her mother's love for Hollywood and theater. She began singing and dancing with the performers on stage while waiting for her mother in the wings of the Majestic Theatre.

Personal life

Rogers, the only child, had a close friendship with her mother, Lela Rogers, throughout her life. Lela, a newspaper reporter, scriptwriter, and film producer, was one of the first women to enlist in the Marine Corps and a member of the Motion Picture Alliance for the Preservation of American Ideals. Rogers, a lifelong member of the Republican Party, campaigned for Thomas Dewey in the 1944 presidential election, Barry Goldwater in the 1964 presidential election, and Ronald Reagan in the 1966 California gubernatorial election. She was a vocal critic of Franklin Delano Roosevelt and opposed both him and his New Deal plans. She was a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution.

Rogers and her mother had a close professional relationship for many years. Lela Rogers was credited with pivotal roles in her daughter's early rise in New York City and Hollywood, as well as assisting her in RKO's labor talks. She coauthored a children's mystery book with her daughter as the central protagonist.

Miss Rogers married and divorced five times. She had no children.

Rogers married for the first time at the age of 17 to her dancing companion Jack Pepper (real name Edward Jackson Culpepper). They divorced in 1931 after being separated shortly after the wedding.

Rogers dated Mervyn LeRoy in 1932, but the pair broke the friendship and remained close friends until his death in 1987. Lew Ayres (1908–96), a 1934 actress, married actress Lew Ayres (1938–96). They divorced seven years ago.

Rogers married Jack Briggs, a US Marine, in 1943. Briggs expressed no enthusiasm in continuing his intrigue Hollywood career after returning from World War II. They separated in 1949.

She married Jacques Bergerac, a French actor 16 years her junior who was visiting Paris on a trip in 1953. He and a French lawyer went to Hollywood and became an actor. In 1957, the couple married.

William Marshall, her fifth and final husband, was a filmmaker and producer. They married in 1961 and divorced in 1969, following their respective film production company's financial demise in Jamaica.

Rogers was a lifetime friend of actresses Lucille Ball and Bette Davis. She appeared on Ball in an episode of Here's Lucy on November 22, 1971, in which Rogers performed the Charleston for the first time in many years. Rogers appeared in one of the first films co-directed and co-scripted by a woman, Wanda Tuchock's Finishing School (1934). Rogers maintained a close friendship with her cousin, writer/sociologist Phyllis Fraser, the wife of Random House publisher Bennett Cerf, but not Rita Hayworth's natural cousin, as has been revealed. Vinton Hayworth, Hayworth's maternal uncle, was married to Rogers' maternal aunt, Jean Owens.

She was born a Christian Scientist and remained a lifelong convert. She devoted a great deal of time in her autobiography to the importance of her faith throughout her career. In 1977, Rogers' mother died. Rogers remained at the 4-Rs (Rogers' Rogue River Ranch), until 1990, when she sold the house and moved to Medford, Oregon.

She was a natural tennis player and qualified for the 1950 US Open. In the first round, however, she and Frank Shields were disqualified from the mixed doubles tournament.

In 1994, the City of Independence, Missouri, designated Ginger Rogers' birthplace as a Historic Landmark Property. Ginger and her secretary, Roberta Olden, appeared in Independence, Missouri, on July 16, 1994, to attend the city's Ginger Rogers' Day celebration. When Mayor Ron Stewart affixed a Historic Landmark Property plaque to the front of the house where she was born on July 16, 1911, Rogers was present. At this festival, one of her last public appearances, she sold over 2,000 autographs.

The home was purchased by Three Trails Cottages and restored in 2016, then turned into a museum dedicated to Lela Owens-Rogers and Ginger Rogers. It includes memorabilia, magazines, film posters, and many pieces from Ginger's ranch, which Lela and Ginger owned. Many of Ginger Rogers' gowns are on display. From April to September, the museum was open seasonally, and several special events were held each year. In August 2019, the venue was closed.

When she received the Women's International Center (WIC) Living Legacy Award on March 18, 1995, Ginger Rogers made her last public appearance on March 18, 1995. Rogers regularly attended and held in-person lectures at Medford's Craterian Theatre, where she had appeared in 1926 as a vainist. In 1997, the theater was largely refurbished and posthumously renamed in her honour as the Craterian Ginger Rogers Theater.

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Career

Rogers' entertainment career began when Eddie Foy, the traveling vainist, arrived in Fort Worth and needed a quick stand-in. The 14-year-old won a dance competition in Charleston and was able to tour with Ginger Rogers and the Redheads for six months on the Orpheum Circuit in 1925. The act appeared at The Craterian, an 18-month-old theater in Medford, Oregon, in 1926. This theater named the Craterian Ginger Rogers Theater for her years. Rogers' vain deville act appeared in The Barrier, a M.G.M film set in San Bernardino, California, in February 1926. “Clever little Ginger Rogers explained why she won the Texas state championship as a Charleston dancer,” the local newspaper explained.

Rogers married Jack Culpepper, a singer/dancer/recording artist of the day who worked under the name Jack Pepper, when she was a child (according to Ginger's autobiography and Life magazine, she knew Culpepper as her cousin's nephew). "Ginger and Pepper" was a short-lived vaudeville double act. The marriage was over within a year and she and her mother returned to touring. When the tour arrived in New York City, she stayed, receiving radio broadcasting jobs, and then her Broadway debut in the musical Top Speed, which opened on Christmas Day, 1929, which opened on Christmas Day, 1929.

Rogers was chosen by George Gershwin and Ira Gershwin to appear on Broadway in Girl Crazy, a two-week preview. Fred Astaire was hired to assist the dancers with their choreography. At the age of 19, her appearance in Girl Crazy made her an overnight star.

Rogers' first film appearances appeared in a trio of short films made in 1929: Night in the Dormitory, A Man of A Man of Affairs, and Campus Sweethearts. Paramount Pictures, in 1930, arranged her to a seven-year contract.

Rogers walked out of the Paramount contract, after which she had made five feature films at Astoria Studios in Astoria, Queens, and then moved with her mother to Hollywood. She went to California and signed a three-picture contract with the Pathé Exchange. Suicide Fleet (1931) and Carnival Boat (1932), two of her Pathé photographs, in which she met William Boyd, the future Hopalong Cassidy actor. In 1932, Rogers produced feature films for Warner Bros., Monogram, and Fox, and was named one of 15 WAMPAS Baby Stars. Anytime Annie, a major breakthrough in Warner Bros. film 42nd Street (1933), she appeared in a major film (1933). She went on to produce a number of films at Warner Bros, most notably in the 1933 Gold Diggers, where her solo, "We're In The Money," had a verse in Pig Latin. She then moved to RKO Studios, was placed under contract and began working on Flying Down to Rio, a film starring Dolores del Ro and Gene Raymond, but Rogers and Broadway actress Fred Astaire took it shortly.

Rogers was known for her friendship with Fred Astaire. They made nine musical films at RKO, from 1933 to 1939: The Gay Divorcee (1935), Top Hat (1935), Follow the Fleet (1936), and The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle (1939). The Barkleys of Broadway (1949) was produced at MGM later in life. They revolutionized the Hollywood musical by introducing dance routines of unprecedented sophistication and virtuosity with sweeping long shots set to songs specially composed for them by the day's greatest popular song composers. Cole Porter of "Night and Day," a song Astaire performed to Rogers with the words "you are the one" in two of their films, which was particularly poignant in their last pairing of The Barkleys of Broadway.

Rogers is considered Astaire's finest dance partner by Arlene Croce, Hermes Pan, Hannah Hyam, and John Mueller, mainly because of her ability to blend dancing skills, natural appearance, and her unmatched ability as a dramatic actress and comedian, thus complimenting Astaire, a peerless dancer. In the eyes of audiences, the resulting song and dance partnership had a unique place.

Rogers's 33 partnered dances, astaire, Croce, and Mueller, have all demonstrated the infectious spontaneity of her performances, including "I'll Be Trying to Handle" from Roberta, "I'm Putting All My Eggs in One Basket" from Follow the Fleet and "Pick Yourself Up" from Swing Time. They also point to Astaire's use of her remarkably versatile back in classic romantic dances such as "Cheek to Cheek" from Top Hat and "Let's Face the Music and Dance" from Follow the Fleet.

Although Astaire and his coworker Hermes Pan's choreographed the dance routines, both have testified to her utter professionalism, even during times of intense strain, as she attempted to juggle her numerous other commitments with Astaire's punishing rehearsal schedules. Astaire remarked in 1986, "All the girls I ever danced with thought they couldn't do it," Astaire said, "but of course they could." They cried all the time. Ginger is the only exception. No, no, Ginger never cried.

Rogers was outstanding among Astaire's dancers, not because she was better than others as a dancer, but because she was insecure and alert as she began, so many women were captivated by his appearances, as well as her ability. "Rogers was the most exciting experience imaginable," John Mueller said.

In his book Ginger: Salute to a Star, author Dick Richards praised Astaire's performance to Raymond Rohauer, curator at the New York Gallery of Modern Art. She did everything for her. Well, she made it a little more pleasant for both of us, and she deserved the majority of the credit for our triumph."

Astaire, his favorite dancing partner, was asked in an episode of the famous British talk-show Parkinson (Season 5, Episode 24). "Gerry," Astaire replied, "I"" Ginger. She was the one. You know, I was the most loyal partner I've ever had. "All know" is the story of a migrant.

Ginger Rogers, the dancer's co-billed with him, was paid less than Fred, the creative force behind the dances who also received 10% of the proceeds. Despite her much more central role in the films' high financial success, she was also paid less than half of what many of the supporting "farceurs" were billed under her. This was personally grating to her and had a knock on her RKO career, particularly director Mark Sandrich's ostensible dismissal of Rogers, which resulted in producer Pandro Berman's explosive letter of reprimand, which she regretted enough to publish in her autobiography. Rogers fought for her employment and salary rights, as well as more films and scripts.

The studio paired Fred and Ginger for another film called Carefree after 15 months apart, but it lost money. RKO's bankruptcy was also in play. The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle, based on a true tale, was followed by a traumatic conclusion, but the serious plot and tragic ending resulted in the lowest box-office receipts of any of their films. Not by diminished fame, but by the hard economic realities of the 1930s. Musical production costs, which are often more costly than standard features, continue to rise at a much faster rate than admissions.

Rogers appeared in a number of hit nonmusical films before and after her dancing and acting careers with Fred Astaire came to an end. Stage Door (1937) portrayed her dynamic role as the loquacious yet vulnerable child next door and a vivacious theatregoer, as Katharine Hepburn. Vivacious Lady (1938), Fifth Avenue Girl (1939), where she sucked into the lives of a wealthy family, and Bachelor Mother (1939), with David Niven, in which she played a shop girl who mistakenly thought to have abandoned her child.

Rogers sued Sylvia of Hollywood for $100K for defamation in 1934. Rogers was on her radio show when she really wasn't, according to the fitness guru and radio presenter.

Rogers appeared in "Single Party Going East," an episode of Silver Theater on CBS radio on March 5, 1939.

In 1941, Rogers was named Best Actress for her role in 1940's Kitty Foyle. She had a lot of success in the early 1940s and was RKO's hottest product at this time. Roxie Hart (1942), based on the same script that later became the basis for the musical Chicago, Rogers played a nascent flapper in a love triangle on trial for her lover's murder; the prohibition period was in the 1940s. The majority of the film takes place in a women's prison.

She played a prostitute's daughter trying to escape family drama after her mother's death in the neorealist Primrose Path (1940), directed by Gregory La Cava. Tom, Dick, and Harry, a 1941 comedy in which she fantasizes about marrying three different people; I'll Be Seeing You (1942), Billy Wilder's first Hollywood feature film in which she plays a woman masquerades as a 12-year-old woman who is forced to continue the ruse for a longer time, was among the many highlights of this period. Lela Rogers, Rogers' real mother, appeared in this film as the film mother.

Rogers made numerous films in the mid-'40s, including Tender Comrade (1943), Lady in the Dark (1944), and Week-End at the Waldorf (1945), making him the highest-paid actor in Hollywood. However, her film career had hit a peak by the end of the decade. Arthur Freed reunited her with Fred Astaire in The Barkleys of Broadway in 1949, just as Judy Garland would not be able to appear in the role as a reunited her with her Easter Parade co-star.

Rogers' film career came to a point of diminishing in the 1950s as roles for older actresses became more available, but she did well in some good films. Storm Warning (1950) with Ronald Reagan and Doris Day, a Warner Bros. noir, anti-Ku Klux Klan film, starring Sandra Reagan and Doris Day. Rogers appeared in two comedies starring Marilyn Monroe, Monkey Business with Cary Grant, directed by Howard Hawks, in 1952. We're Not Married! She followed those who were in Dreamboat with Clifton Webb as his wife. Tight Spot (1955), a mystery thriller starring Edward G. Robinson, was the female protagonist in the mystery thriller. She had a big success on Broadway in 1965, playing Dolly Levi in the long-running Hello, Dolly!

Rogers maintained good relations with Astaire in later years; she presented him with a special Academy Award in 1950, and they were co-presenters of individual Academy Awards in 1967, which culminated in a standing ovation when they appeared on stage in an impromptu dance. She appeared in another long-running popular show, Mame, by Jerome Lawrence and Robert Edwin Lee's book, as well as music and lyrics by Jerry Herman, who appeared at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane in London in 1969, where she played Queen Elizabeth 2 from New York City. At Southampton, her docket brought the most pomp and splendor. Up to that point, she was the highest-paid performer in the West End of the game. The production lasted 14 months and featured a royal command performance for Queen Elizabeth II.

Rogers appeared on television from the 1950s to present, including substituting for a vacationing Hal March on The $64,000 Question. She appeared in three different series by Aaron Spelling (1979), Glitter (1984), and Hotel (1987), her last film appearance as an actress. When Rogers directed the musical Babes in Arms off-Broadway in Tarrytown, New York, at 74 years old, she fulfilled a long-standing desire to direct. It was created by Kennedy Lipton and Robert Kennedy of Kennedy Lipton Productions. Donna Theodore, Carleton Carpenter, James Brennan, Randy Skinner, Karen Ziemba, Dwight Edwards, and Kim Morgan appeared on the program. It's also mentioned in her autobiography Ginger, My Story.

In December 1992, the Kennedy Center honored Ginger Rogers. When Astaire's widow, Robyn Smith, who allowed clips of Astaire dancing with Rogers to be shown for free at the function itself, was unable to agree with CBS Television for broadcast rights to the clips (all previous rights holders have donated broadcast rights free of course).

Rogers has starred on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 6772 Hollywood Boulevard for her contributions to the motion picture industry.

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