DOUGLAS FAIRBANKS JR. two press photos Laugh-In Love Boat GINGER ROGERS

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DOUGLAS FAIRBANKS JR. two press photos Laugh-In Love Boat GINGER ROGERS. Douglas Elton Fairbanks Jr. was born in New York City. He was the only child of actorDouglas Fairbanks and Anna Beth Sully, the daughter of wealthy industrialist Daniel J. Sully. Fairbanks' father was one of cinema's first icons, and his father was noted for such swashbucklingadventure films asThe Mark of Zorro ,Robin Hood, andThe Thief of Bagdad. These are two original press photos. 1. 8x10 of Douglas Fairbanks Jr. in Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In. December 1968. 2. 7x9 inch ABC press photo of Douglas Fairbanks Jr.and Ginger Rogers in the Having a Wonderful Time episode of the Love Boat. BACKGROUND Douglas Elton Fairbanks Jr. (December 9, 1909 – May 7, 2000) was an American actor, producer, and decorated naval officer of World War II . He is best-known for starring in such films as The Prisoner of Zenda (1937), Gunga Din (1939), and The Corsican Brothers (1941). He was the son of Douglas Fairbanks and the stepson of Mary Pickford , and his first marriage was to actress Joan Crawford . Early life Young Fairbanks with his mother Douglas Elton Fairbanks Jr. was born in New York City. He was the only child of actor Douglas Fairbanks and Anna Beth Sully, the daughter of wealthy industrialist Daniel J. Sully. Fairbanks' father was one of cinema's first icons, and his father was noted for such swashbuckling adventure films as The Mark of Zorro , Robin Hood , and The Thief of Bagdad . Fairbanks had small roles in his father's films American Aristocracy (1916) and The Three Musketeers (1921). His parents divorced when he was nine years old, and both remarried.[ 1] [ 2] He lived with his mother in New York, California, Paris, and London.[ 3] Fairbanks began his education at the exclusive Hollywood School for Boys in Los Angeles.[ 4] After his mother and stepfather moved to New York, he attended the Bovee School, a private grammar school for boys.[ 5] While attending Bovee, he was also enrolled in an after-school drill academy called Knickerbocker Greys , which he attended for a year while assigned to the drum corps.[ 5] After moving back to California, he attended Harvard Military School ,[ 6] followed by studies at the Polytechnic School in Pasadena .[ 5] After his mother and he moved to France, Fairbanks attended Lycée Janson-de-Sailly .[ 5] Film career Stephen Steps Out and Paramount Largely on the basis of his father's name, in May 1923, Fairbanks Jr. was given a contract with Paramount Pictures at age 13, at $1,000 a week for three years. He was signed by Jesse L. Lasky , who said the junior Fairbanks "is the typical American boy at his best" and said he likely would be featured in a film about Tom Sawyer .[ 7] [ 8] "I do not think it is the right thing for the boy to do", said his father. "I want to see him continue his education. He is only 13 years old."[ 9] The young actor arrived in Hollywood in June 1923 and was mobbed.[ 10] Tom Sawyer was not made. Instead, Fairbanks Jr. appeared in Stephen Steps Out (1923).[ 11] [ 12] [ 13] The film was not a hit. Paramount and he parted ways by mutual consent and Doug went to Paris to resume his studies. A year later, he returned to the studio, hired at what Fairbanks called "starvation wages", and having him work as a camera assistant.[ 14] "I was anxious to build my career as an actor slowly and painstakingly", he said in 1928. "I don't want to be a young, blond leading man with an aquiline nose and shiny white teeth."[ 15] Paramount gave him supporting roles in The Air Mail (1925) and Wild Horse Mesa (1925).[ 16] Stella Dallas and Young Woodley Sam Goldwyn borrowed him to play the juvenile in Stella Dallas (1925), which wound up being his first box-office success.[ 17] He had supporting roles in Paramount's The American Venus (1926), and Padlocked (1926). At Warner Bros., Fairbanks was in Broken Hearts of Hollywood (1926), then, at Metropolitan Pictures, he was in Man Bait (1927).[ 18] At MGM , he was in Edmund Goulding 's Women Love Diamonds (1927) and for Alfred E. Green at Fox he was in Is Zat So? (1927). He supported Will Rogers in A Texas Steer (1927). Also in 1927, Fairbanks made his stage debut in Young Woodley based on a book by John Van Druten .[ 19] Fairbanks Jr received excellent reviews and the production was a success – the play did much to improve his reputation in Hollywood. A regular audience member was Joan Crawford , with whom Fairbanks became romantically involved.[ 20] [ 21] He also appeared in a stage production of Saturday's Children .[ 15] Early leading-man roles Douglas Fairbanks Jr. in 1928, photographed in conjunction with his role in "The Power of the Press " Fairbanks' second lead role was in Dead Man's Curve (1928) for FBO . He was Helene Chadwick 's leading man in Modern Mothers (1928) at Columbia, and he starred in The Toilers (1928) for Tiffany. Fairbanks starred in another for Columbia, The Power of the Press (1928), directed by Frank Capra .[ 22] He went back to supporting roles for The Barker (1928) at First National, his first "talkie"[ 23] and A Woman of Affairs (1928) at MGM with Greta Garbo and John Gilbert . Fairbanks had another starring role at FBO with The Jazz Age (1929) and received top billing over Loretta Young in Fast Life (1929) at Warner Bros. He appeared in MGM's Our Modern Maidens (1929) opposite Crawford.[ 11] First National and Warner Bros. First National gave Fairbanks a starring role in The Careless Age (1929), and he was reunited with Young in The Forward Pass (1929). He was one of many names in The Show of Shows (1929). In September 1929, he returned to the stage in a production of The Youngest .[ 24] Victor Halperin cast Fairbanks in the lead of Party Girl (1930), and Ted Wilde paired him for a third time with Young in Loose Ankles (1930), back at First National. In 1930, Fairbanks Jr. went to Warner Bros. to test for the second lead in Moby Dick . Although he did not win the part, head of production Darryl F. Zanuck was impressed with Douglas's screen test, and cast him in an important role in The Dawn Patrol directed by Howard Hawks .[ 25] Universal borrowed him to have the lead role in Little Accident (1930) and at Warner Bros., he was in the lead in The Sin Flood (1930). He supported Leslie Howard in the prestigious Outward Bound (1930) and was Billie Dove 's leading man in One Night at Susie's (1930). Little Caesar Fairbanks had a role supporting Edward G. Robinson in Little Caesar (1931), filmed in August 1930.[ 26] "We knew it was going to be good when we were making it, but not that it would become a classic", he later said.[ 14] The movie was a big hit, and Warner Bros. offered Fairbanks Jr. a contract with cast and script approval – a condition which, Fairbanks Jr. says, was only offered to one other actor at the studio, Richard Barthelmess .[ 25] "By sheer accident, I had four successes in a row in the early '30s, and although I was still in my 20s, I demanded and received approval of cast, story, and director. I don't know how I got away with it, but I did!"[ 27] Because he spoke French, he was put in L'aviateur (1931). Back in Hollywood, he was in Chances (1931) and I Like Your Nerve (1931) with Young. In June 1931, he starred in another play, The Man in Possession , which he also produced along with Sid Grauman . Fairbanks said he wanted to stay away from costume adventures, which were associated with his father.[ 28] He starred in two pictures for Alfred E Green, Gentleman for a Day (1932), a melodrama with Joan Blondell , and the comedy It's Tough to Be Famous (1932). He starred in a film shot in French, L'athlète incomplet (1932). He starred in Love Is a Racket (1932) for William Wellman and Scarlet Dawn (1932) for William Dieterle . Fairbanks did another with Green, Parachute Jumper (1933), which gave an early co-starring role to Bette Davis . Fairbanks starred again with Young in The Life of Jimmy Dolan (1933) and did The Narrow Corner (1933) with Green. RKO borrowed Fairbanks to support Katharine Hepburn in Morning Glory (1933), a big success. Fairbanks was reunited with Howard in Captured! (1933). In 1934, Warner asked all its stars to take a 50% pay cut because of the Depression. Fairbanks Jr. refused and was fired from the studio. He received a job offer from Britain and spent the next few years there,[ 29] taking a residence in London's Park Lane . Britain and Criterion films Fairbanks went to Britain to star in Alex Korda 's The Rise of Catherine the Great (1934) playing Grand Duke Peter opposite Elisabeth Bergner . "Hollywood was getting to be a grind", he said at the time. "They had me doing five and six pictures a year. Some of them looked all right on paper, but they had the habit of slipping down into programmer class. Only once in three years would I get a part that I cared about. I kept going up and down the ladder and not getting any place. There was nothing stable about my career in Hollywood."[ 30] He intended to return to Hollywood to appear in Design for Living , but became ill and was replaced by Gary Cooper. He did ultimately return to Hollywood for Success at Any Price (1934) at RKO, then returned to London for Mimi (1935). The latter starred Gertrude Lawrence , who became romantically involved with Fairbanks Jr.[ 31] He announced he would make Zorro Rides Again with his father.[ 30] Fairbanks fell ill during the 1936 flu epidemic.[ 32] Fairbanks set up his own film production company, Criterion Films, where the board members included Paul Czinner .[ 33] Among Criterion's films were Man of the Moment (1935), The Amateur Gentleman (1936), Accused (1936), and Jump for Glory (1937). He announced Lancelot , but did not make it.[ 34] Return to Hollywood and focus on action roles Fairbanks Jr. returned to Hollywood when David O. Selznick offered him the role of Rupert of Hentzau in The Prisoner of Zenda (1937). He had been reluctant to accept the role, but his father urged him to do it, saying it was "actor proof".[ 35] The movie was a big success. In December 1937, he signed a nonexclusive contract with RKO to make two films a year for five years, at $75,000 a film.[ 36] RKO used him as Irene Dunne 's leading man in Joy of Living (1938). At Universal, he was Danielle Darrieux 's co-star in The Rage of Paris (1938) and Ginger Rogers 's in RKO's Having Wonderful Time (1938). Selznick used him again in The Young in Heart (1938) with Janet Gaynor . Fairbanks then had his biggest-ever hit with RKO's Gunga Din (1939), alongside Cary Grant and Victor McLaglen . He began to work increasingly in action/adventure films: The Sun Never Sets (1939) at Universal; Rulers of the Sea (1939) at Paramount; Green Hell (1940) for James Whale at Universal, a flop; and Safari (1940) at Paramount. He had a change of pace when he starred in and co-produced Angels Over Broadway (1940), written and directed by Ben Hecht at Columbia. His last film before enlisting was The Corsican Brothers (1941), a swashbuckler made as a tribute to Fairbanks' father. Fairbanks did not have faith in the film while it was being filmed ("I thought we were cutting corners"), but it was a huge success.[ 14] World War II Douglas Fairbanks Jr., "Father of the U.S. Navy Beach Jumpers" Fairbanks was commissioned as a reserve officer in the United States Navy when the United States entered World War II, and was assigned to Lord Mountbatten 's commando staff in the United Kingdom.[ 37] In 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt appointed him special envoy to South America. Fairbanks served on the cruiser USS Wichita during the disastrous Convoy PQ 17 operation.[ 38] Lieutenant Fairbanks was subsequently transferred to Virginia Beach , where he came under the command of Admiral H. Kent Hewitt , who was preparing U.S. naval forces for the invasion of North Africa . Fairbanks convinced Hewitt of the advantages of a military deception unit, then repeated the proposal at Hewitt's behest to Admiral Ernest King , Chief of Naval Operations . King thereupon issued a secret letter on March 5, 1943, charging the Vice Chief of Naval Operations with the recruitment of 180 officers and 300 enlisted men for the Beach Jumpers program. The Beach Jumpers' mission would simulate amphibious landings with a very limited force. Operating miles from the actual landing beaches and using their deception equipment, the Beach Jumpers would lure the enemy into believing that theirs was the principal landing. United States Navy Beach Jumpers saw their initial action in Operation Husky , the invasion of Sicily . For the remainder of the war, the Beach Jumpers conducted their hazardous, shallow-water operations throughout the Mediterranean. For his planning the diversion-deception operations and his part in the amphibious assault on Southern France , Lieutenant Commander Fairbanks was awarded the United States Navy's Legion of Merit with bronze V (for valor), the Italian War Cross for Military Valor , the French Légion d'honneur and the Croix de Guerre with Palm, and the British Distinguished Service Cross . Fairbanks was also awarded the Silver Star for valor displayed while serving on PT boats , and in 1942, made an Officer of the National Order of the Southern Cross , conferred by the Brazilian government.[ 39] [ 40] Among his other exploits was the sinking of the corvette UJ-6083 (formerly the Regia Marina Gabbiano -class Capriolo ) while in command of a mixed division of American PT boats and British Insect -class gunboats plus assorted other small craft. Fairbanks commanded from HMS Aphis .[ 41] Fairbanks stayed in the US Naval Reserve after the war, and ultimately retired as a captain in 1954. In 1982, Fairbanks was awarded the German Federal Cross of Merit for his contribution to the relief of the needy in occupied Germany.[citation needed ] Postwar years Hollywood Fairbanks with Maureen O'Hara in Sinbad the Sailor (1947) Fairbanks returned to Hollywood at the conclusion of World War II. He spent two years finding a comeback vehicle, and picked Sinbad the Sailor (1947), which was not a big hit. He followed it with The Exile (1947), another swashbuckler, which Fairbanks wrote and produced; it was directed by Max Ophüls . The film was the first of three independent films Fairbanks was to produce – the others being a big screen version of Terry and the Pirates , and a film called Happy Go Lucky .[ 42] [ 43] It was another box office disappointment. He thought his career would be revived by That Lady in Ermine with Betty Grable , but director Ernst Lubitsch died during production and was replaced by Otto Preminger ; the resulting film was not a success, and Fairbanks Jr believes this cost his career momentum.[ 44] Fairbanks tried another swashbuckler for his own company, The Fighting O'Flynn (1949).[ 45] British career As a confirmed Anglophile , Fairbanks spent much time in the United Kingdom post World War II, where he was well known in the highest social circles. He was made an Honorary Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (KBE) in 1949. In 1950 he purchased a house, no. 28, The Boltons in Mayfair, London[ 46] which became his primary residence [ 47] until he sold it in 1973 to move to Florida.[ 48] The College of Arms in London granted Fairbanks a coat of arms symbolizing the U.S. and Britain united across the blue Atlantic Ocean by a silken knot of friendship.[ 49] Fairbanks starred in the British thriller State Secret (1950), written and directed by Sidney Gilliat , and a comedy for Val Guest , Mr Drake's Duck (1951)[ 50] Between 1954 and 1956, he also made a number of half-hour programs at one of the smaller Elstree film studios as part of a syndicated anthology series for television called Douglas Fairbanks Presents .[ 51] [ 52] During the 1950s, Fairbanks appeared as himself on episodes of a number of American television shows, such as Your Show of Shows , The Ford Show , The Steve Allen Plymouth Show , and What's My Line? . He co-produced the films The Silken Affair (1957) and Chase a Crooked Shadow (1958).[ 53] In 1961, he was a guest at the wedding of Katharine Worsley to Prince Edward, Duke of Kent .[ 54] Fairbanks in 1958 wearing the mantle and insignia of a Knight of Justice of the Order of St. John . He guest-starred on shows such as Route 66 , The DuPont Show of the Week , The United States Steel Hour , The Red Skelton Hour , Dr. Kildare , and ABC Stage 67 . He played King Richard in a TV musical The Legend of Robin Hood (1968).[ 55] Later career On stage, Fairbanks toured in My Fair Lady in 1968, and in The Pleasure of His Company several times, including tours in the U.S. in 1970–72 and the 1977 Australian production with Stanley Holloway , David Langton, Carole Ray- and Christine Amore.[ 56] [ 57] He appeared in some TV movies and TV series, including The Crooked Hearts (1972), The Hostage Tower (1980), and The Love Boat . His last feature film was Ghost Story (1981). His last TV roles were in the mini series Strong Medicine (1987) and the TV series B.L. Stryker . He was the subject of This Is Your Life in 1989, when he was surprised by Michael Aspel in the foyer of Thames Television's Teddington Studios.[citation needed ] Fairbanks was also involved in several successful business ventures.[ 58] These included manufacturing ball point pens, real estate development, management of copyrighted theatrical works, and film production.[ 58] Personal life His first notable relationship was with the actress Joan Crawford, whom he began to date seriously during the filming of Our Modern Maidens . Fairbanks and Crawford married on June 3, 1929, at the "Actors Chapel", St. Malachy Roman Catholic Church in midtown Manhattan, although neither was Catholic.[ 59] Fairbanks was only 19; Crawford was 3 or 4 years older. Their witnesses were his mother, Beth Sully, and actor Jack Whiting ,[ 60] : 208, 211 who were married themselves a few weeks later.[ 60] : 213 Fairbanks and Crawford travelled to Britain on a delayed honeymoon, where he was entertained by Noël Coward , Gertrude Lawrence , Beatrice Lillie , and Prince George, Duke of Kent . He became active in both society and politics, but Crawford was far more interested in her career and had an affair with Clark Gable . In his first autobiography, he later admitted that he was also unfaithful during that period and that he unsuccessfully pursued Katharine Hepburn during the filming of Morning Glory . The couple divorced in 1933, but the divorce did not become final for another year.[ 61] Despite their divorce, Fairbanks was quick to defend Crawford when her adopted daughter Christina Crawford published Mommie Dearest , a scathing biography of Crawford's personal life. He firmly stated, "The Joan Crawford that I've heard about in Mommie Dearest is not the Joan Crawford I knew back then."[ 62] In his autobiography, he stated that he never saw a hint of any significant anger outbursts from Crawford during their marriage, and that she was more likely to sulk or argue than become angry. On April 22, 1939, Fairbanks married Mary Lee Hartford (née Mary Lee Epling), a former wife of Huntington Hartford , the A&P supermarket heir. He remained devoted to her until her death in 1988. They had three daughters: Daphne, Victoria, and Melissa, and eight grandchildren and 10 great-grandchildren.[ 63] On May 30, 1991, Fairbanks married Vera Lee Shelton, a merchandiser for QVC Network Inc.[ 64] Douglas Fairbanks Jr. was claimed to be the naked man in the incriminating photos used as evidence in the divorce trial of Margaret Campbell, Duchess of Argyll in 1963.[ 65] [ 66] However, in 2013, Lady Colin Campbell , Margaret Campbell's stepdaughter-in-law, revealed that the man in the photo was actually Bill Lyons, sales director of Pan American Airlines.[ 67] Fairbanks was also named in connection with the Profumo Scandal .[ 68] Fairbanks was a friend of Laurence Olivier and was among the contributors to a documentary by The South Bank Show titled Laurence Olivier: A Life . He was also a close friend of Sir Rex Harrison and was a presenter at Harrison's New York City memorial service.[citation needed ] He wrote his autobiography The Salad Days in 1988.[ 60] In addition, Fairbanks wrote a chronicle of his experiences during the Second World War, A Hell of a War , published in 1993.[ 69] Beyond his two volumes of autobiography, Fairbanks collaborated with Richard Schickel on the illustrated survey of Fairbanks Sr. and Jr. called The Fairbanks Album (1975)[ 70] and Jeffrey Vance with a critical study/biography of Fairbanks Sr. ultimately published as Douglas Fairbanks (2008).[ 71] Death and legacy Fairbanks's tomb at Hollywood Forever On the morning of May 7, 2000, Fairbanks died at the age of 90 of a heart attack [ 72] and was interred at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery in Hollywood, California, in the same tomb as his father. Fairbanks has three stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame - one for motion pictures at 6318 Hollywood Boulevard, one for television at 6665 Hollywood Boulevard, and one for radio at 6710 Hollywood Boulevard. In 1969, he was inducted into the Hall of Fame of the International Best Dressed List .[ 73] The moving image collection of Douglas Fairbanks Jr., held at the Academy Film Archive, includes over 90 reels of home movies.[ 74] Ginger Rogers (born Virginia Katherine McMath ; July 16, 1911 – April 25, 1995) was an American actress, dancer and singer during the Golden Age of Hollywood. She won an Academy Award for Best Actress for her starring role in Kitty Foyle (1940), and performed during the 1930s in RKO 's musical films with Fred Astaire . Her career continued on stage, radio and television throughout much of the 20th century. Rogers was born in Independence, Missouri , and raised in Kansas City . She and her family moved to Fort Worth, Texas , when she was nine years old. In 1925, she won a Charleston dance contest[ 1] that helped her launch a successful vaudeville career. After that, she gained recognition as a Broadway actress for her stage debut in Girl Crazy . This led to a contract with Paramount Pictures , which ended after five films. Rogers had her first successful film roles as a supporting actress in 42nd Street (1933) and Gold Diggers of 1933 (1933). In the 1930s, Rogers's nine films with Fred Astaire are credited with revolutionizing the genre and gave RKO Pictures some of its biggest successes: The Gay Divorcee (1934), Top Hat (1935) and Swing Time (1936). But after two commercial failures with Astaire, she turned her focus to dramatic and comedy films . Her acting was well received by critics and audiences in films such as Stage Door (1937), Vivacious Lady (1938), Bachelor Mother (1939), Primrose Path (1940), The Major and the Minor (1942) and I'll Be Seeing You (1944). After winning the Oscar, Rogers became one of the biggest box-office draws and highest-paid actresses of the 1940s.[ 1] Rogers's popularity was peaking by the end of the decade. She reunited with Astaire in 1949 in the commercially successful The Barkleys of Broadway . She starred in the successful comedy Monkey Business (1952) and was critically lauded for her performance in Tight Spot (1955) before entering an unsuccessful period of filmmaking in the mid-1950s, and returned to Broadway in 1965, playing the lead role in Hello, Dolly! More Broadway roles followed, along with her stage directorial debut in 1985 of an off-Broadway production of Babes in Arms . She continued to act, making television appearances until 1987, and wrote an autobiography Ginger: My Story which was published in 1991. In 1992, Rogers was recognized at the Kennedy Center Honors . She died of natural causes in 1995, at age 83. During her long career, Rogers made 73 films. She ranks number 14 on the AFI's 100 Years...100 Stars list of female stars of classic American cinema. Early life 100 W Moore St., Independence, Missouri, the birthplace of Ginger Rogers Virginia Katherine McMath was born on July 16, 1911, in Independence, Missouri , the only child of Lela Emogene Owens , a newspaper reporter, scriptwriter, and movie producer, and William Eddins McMath, an electrical engineer.[ 2] : 9, 10 [ 2] : 16 [ 3] Her maternal grandparents were Wilma Saphrona (née Ball) and Walter Winfield Owens.[ 4] : 3 She was of Scottish, Welsh, and English ancestry.[ 5] Her mother gave birth to Ginger at home, having lost a previous child in a hospital.[ 2] : 11 Her parents separated shortly after she was born.[ 2] : 1, 2, 11 After unsuccessfully trying to reunite with his family, McMath kidnapped his daughter twice, and her mother divorced him soon thereafter.[ 2] : 7, 15 [ 6] Rogers said that she never saw her natural father again.[ 2] : 15 In 1915, she was left with her grandparents, who lived in nearby Kansas City , while her mother made a trip to Hollywood in an effort to get an essay she had written made into a film.[ 2] : 19 Lela succeeded and continued to write scripts for Fox Studios.[ 2] : 26–29 One of Rogers's young cousins had a hard time pronouncing "Virginia", giving her the nickname "Ginger".[ 7] When Rogers was nine years old, her mother married John Logan Rogers. Ginger took the surname Rogers, although she was never legally adopted. They lived in Fort Worth . Her mother became a theater critic for a local newspaper, the Fort Worth Record . She attended, but did not graduate from, Fort Worth's Central High School (later renamed R. L. Paschal High School .) As a teenager, Rogers thought of becoming a school teacher, but with her mother's interest in Hollywood and the theater, her early exposure to the theater increased. Waiting for her mother in the wings of the Majestic Theatre, she began to sing and dance along with the performers on stage.[ 8] Career 1925–1929: Vaudeville and Broadway Advertisement for Ginger Rogers and the Redheads Rogers's entertainment career began when the traveling vaudeville act of Eddie Foy came to Fort Worth and needed a quick stand-in. In 1925 the 14-year-old entered and won a Charleston dance contest, the prize allowed her to tour as Ginger Rogers and the Redheads for six months on the Orpheum Circuit .[ 9] [ 10] In 1926, the group performed at an 18-month-old theater called The Craterian in Medford, Oregon . This theater honored her years later by changing its name to the Craterian Ginger Rogers Theater.[ 11] When the M.G.M film The Barrier premiered in San Bernardino , California, in February 1926, Rogers's vaudeville act was featured. The local newspaper commented, "Clever little Ginger Rogers showed why she won the Texas state championship as a Charleston dancer."[ 12] At 17, Rogers married Jack Culpepper, a singer/dancer/comedian/recording artist of the day who worked under the name Jack Pepper (according to Ginger's autobiography and Life magazine, she knew Culpepper when she was a child, as her cousin's boyfriend).[ 10] They formed a short-lived vaudeville double act known as "Ginger and Pepper". The marriage was over within a year, and she went back to touring with her mother.[ 10] When the tour got to New York City, she stayed, getting radio singing jobs. She made her Broadway debut in the musical Top Speed , which opened at Chanin's 46th Street Theatre on Christmas Day, 1929[ 13] following the musical's premiere in Philadelphia at the Chestnut Street Opera House on November 13, 1929.[ 14] Within two weeks of the New York opening of Top Speed , Rogers was chosen to star on Broadway in Girl Crazy by George Gershwin and Ira Gershwin . Fred Astaire was hired to help the dancers with their choreography. Her appearance in Girl Crazy made her an overnight star at the age of 19.[citation needed ] 1929–1933: Early film roles Una Merkel , Ruby Keeler , and Ginger Rogers in 42nd Street (1933) Rogers's first movie roles were in a trio of short films made in 1929: Night in the Dormitory , A Day of a Man of Affairs , and Campus Sweethearts . In 1930, Paramount Pictures signed her to a seven-year contract.[citation needed ] Rogers soon got herself out of the Paramount contract—under which she had made five feature films at Astoria Studios in Astoria, Queens —and moved with her mother to Hollywood. When she got to California, she signed a three-picture deal with Pathé Exchange . Two of her pictures at Pathé were Suicide Fleet (1931) and Carnival Boat (1932) in which she played opposite future Hopalong Cassidy star William Boyd . Rogers also made feature films for Warner Bros., Monogram, and Fox in 1932, and was named one of 15 WAMPAS Baby Stars . She then made a significant breakthrough as Anytime Annie in the Warner Bros. film 42nd Street (1933). She went on to make a series of films at Warner Bros., most notably in Gold Diggers of 1933 , in which her solo, "We're In The Money", included a verse in Pig Latin . She then moved to RKO Studios , was put under contract and with Astaire started work on Flying Down to Rio , a picture starring Dolores del Río and Gene Raymond . Rogers and Astaire "stole the show",[ 15] [ 16] [ 17] an industry term for outshining the billed stars. 1933–1939: Partnership with Astaire Rogers was known for her partnership with Fred Astaire . Together, from 1933 to 1939, they made nine musical films at RKO: Flying Down to Rio (1933), The Gay Divorcee (1934), Roberta (1935), Top Hat (1935), Follow the Fleet (1936), Swing Time (1936), Shall We Dance (1937), Carefree (1938), and The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle (1939). The Barkleys of Broadway (1949) was produced later at MGM. They revolutionized the Hollywood musical by introducing dance routines of unprecedented elegance and virtuosity with sweeping long shots set to songs specially composed for them by the greatest popular song composers of the day. One such composer was Cole Porter with "Night and Day" , a song Astaire sang to Rogers with the line "... you are the one" in two of their movies, being particularly poignant in their last pairing of The Barkleys of Broadway.[citation needed ] Rogers with her frequent co-star Fred Astaire in the film Roberta (1935) Arlene Croce , Hermes Pan , Hannah Hyam, and John Mueller all consider Rogers to have been Astaire's finest dance partner, principally because of her ability to combine dancing skills, natural beauty, and exceptional abilities as a dramatic actress and comedian, thus truly complementing Astaire, a peerless dancer. The resulting song and dance partnership enjoyed a unique credibility in the eyes of audiences.[citation needed ] Of the 33 partnered dances Rogers performed with Astaire, Croce and Mueller have highlighted the infectious spontaneity of her performances in the comic numbers "I'll Be Hard 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 the use Astaire made of her remarkably flexible back in classic romantic dances such as "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes " from Roberta , "Cheek to Cheek " from Top Hat , and "Let's Face the Music and Dance " from Follow the Fleet .[citation needed ] Although the dance routines were choreographed by Astaire and his collaborator Hermes Pan , both have testified to her consummate professionalism, even during periods of intense strain, as she tried to juggle her many other contractual film commitments with the punishing rehearsal schedules of Astaire, who made at most two films in any one year. In 1986, shortly before his death, Astaire remarked, "All the girls I ever danced with thought they couldn't do it, but of course they could. So they always cried. All except Ginger. No, no, Ginger never cried".[ 18] John Mueller summed up Rogers's abilities as: "Rogers was outstanding among Astaire's partners, not because she was superior to others as a dancer, but, because, as a skilled, intuitive actress, she was cagey enough to realize that acting did not stop when dancing began ... the reason so many women have fantasized about dancing with Fred Astaire is that Ginger Rogers conveyed the impression that dancing with him is the most thrilling experience imaginable".[ 19] Author Dick Richards, on p. 162 of his book Ginger: Salute to a Star , quoted Astaire saying to Raymond Rohauer, curator at the New York Gallery of Modern Art, "Ginger was brilliantly effective. She made everything work for her. Actually she made things very fine for both of us and she deserves most of the credit for our success."[citation needed ] In a 1976 episode of the popular British talk-show Parkinson (Season 5, Episode 24), host Michael Parkinson asked Astaire who his favorite dancing partner was. Astaire answered, "Excuse me, I must say Ginger was certainly [uh, uh,] the one. You know, the most effective partner I ever had. Everyone knows."[citation needed ] After 15 months apart and with RKO facing bankruptcy, the studio paired Fred and Ginger for another movie titled Carefree , but it lost money. Next came The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle, based on a true story, but the serious plot and tragic ending resulted in the worst box-office receipts of any of their films. This was driven not by diminished popularity, but by the hard 1930s economic reality. The production costs of musicals, always significantly more costly than regular features, continued to increase at a much faster rate than admissions.[citation needed ] 1933–1939: Success in nonmusicals Rogers in the 1930s Both before and immediately after her dancing and acting partnership with Fred Astaire ended, Rogers starred in a number of successful nonmusical films. Stage Door (1937) demonstrated her dramatic capacity, as the loquacious yet vulnerable girl next door and tough-minded theatrical hopeful, opposite Katharine Hepburn . Successful comedies included Vivacious Lady (1938) with James Stewart , Fifth Avenue Girl (1939), where she played an out-of-work girl sucked into the lives of a wealthy family, and Bachelor Mother (1939), with David Niven , in which she played a shop girl who is falsely thought to have abandoned her baby.[citation needed ] In 1934, Rogers sued Sylvia of Hollywood for $100K for defamation. The fitness guru and radio personality had claimed that Rogers was on her radio show when, in fact, she was not.[ 20] On March 5, 1939, Rogers starred in "Single Party Going East", an episode of Silver Theater on CBS radio.[ 21] Life cover featuring Kitty Foyle, her Oscar-winning role 1940–1949: Career peak and reuniting with Astaire In 1941 Rogers won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her role in 1940's Kitty Foyle . She enjoyed considerable success during the early 1940s, and was RKO's hottest property during this period. In Roxie Hart (1942), based on the same play which later served as the template for the musical Chicago , Rogers played a wisecracking flapper in a love triangle on trial for the murder of her lover; set in the era of prohibition. Most of the film takes place in a women's jail. In the neorealist Primrose Path (1940), directed by Gregory La Cava , she played a prostitute's daughter trying to avoid family pressure into following the fate of her mother. Further highlights of this period included Tom, Dick, and Harry , a 1941 comedy in which she dreams of marrying three different men; I'll Be Seeing You (1944), with Joseph Cotten ; and Billy Wilder 's first Hollywood feature film: The Major and the Minor (1942), in which she played a woman who masquerades as a 12-year-old to get a cheap train ticket and finds herself obliged to continue the ruse for an extended period. This film featured a performance by Rogers's real mother, Lela, playing her film mother. Ginger Rogers by Virgil Apger, 1949 After becoming a free agent, Rogers made hugely successful films with other studios in the mid-'40s, including Tender Comrade (1943), Lady in the Dark (1944), and Week-End at the Waldorf (1945), and became the highest-paid performer in Hollywood. However, by the end of the decade, her film career had peaked. Arthur Freed reunited her with Fred Astaire in The Barkleys of Broadway in 1949, when Judy Garland was unable to appear in the role that was to have reunited her with her Easter Parade co-star. 1950–1987: Later career Ginger Rogers in Monkey Business (1952) with (from left to right) Robert Cornthwaite , Cary Grant , and Marilyn Monroe Rogers's film career entered a period of gradual decline in the 1950s, as parts for older actresses became more difficult to obtain, but she still scored with some solid movies. She starred in Storm Warning (1950) with Ronald Reagan and Doris Day , a noir, anti-Ku Klux Klan film by Warner Bros. In 1952 Rogers starred in two comedies featuring Marilyn Monroe , Monkey Business with Cary Grant , directed by Howard Hawks , and We're Not Married! . She followed those with a role in Dreamboat alongside Clifton Webb , as his former onscreen partner in silent films who wanted to renew their association on television. She played the female lead in Tight Spot (1955), a mystery thriller, with Edward G. Robinson . After a series of unremarkable films, she scored a great popular success on Broadway in 1965, playing Dolly Levi in the long-running Hello, Dolly! [ 22] David Burns and Rogers in Hello, Dolly! on Broadway (1964) In later life, Rogers remained on good terms with Astaire; she presented him with a special Academy Award in 1950, and they were copresenters of individual Academy Awards in 1967, during which they elicited a standing ovation when they came on stage in an impromptu dance. In 1969, she had the lead role in another long-running popular production, Mame , from the book by Jerome Lawrence and Robert Edwin Lee , with music and lyrics by Jerry Herman , at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane in the West End of London , arriving for the role on the liner Queen Elizabeth 2 from New York City. Her docking there occasioned the maximum of pomp and ceremony at Southampton . She became the highest-paid performer in the history of the West End up to that time. The production ran for 14 months and featured a royal command performance for Queen Elizabeth II .[citation needed ] President Harry Truman , Ginger Rogers (to his right), Lela Rogers (Ginger's mother), at the 1964 Ginger Rogers Day celebration From the 1950s onward, Rogers made occasional appearances on television, even substituting for a vacationing Hal March on The $64,000 Question . In the later years of her career, she made guest appearances in three different series by Aaron Spelling : The Love Boat (1979), Glitter (1984), and Hotel (1987), which was her final screen appearance as an actress. In 1985, Rogers fulfilled a long-standing wish to direct when she directed the musical Babes in Arms off-Broadway in Tarrytown, New York , at 74 years old. It was produced by Michael Lipton and Robert Kennedy of Kennedy Lipton Productions. The production starred Broadway talents Donna Theodore, Carleton Carpenter, James Brennan, Randy Skinner , Karen Ziemba , Dwight Edwards, and Kim Morgan. It is also noted in her autobiography Ginger, My Story .[citation needed ] Honors The Kennedy Center honored Ginger Rogers in December 1992. This event, which was shown on television, was somewhat marred when Astaire's widow, Robyn Smith, who permitted clips of Astaire dancing with Rogers to be shown for free at the function itself, was unable to come to terms with CBS Television for broadcast rights to the clips (all previous rights-holders having donated broadcast rights gratis ).[ 23] For her contributions to the motion picture industry, Rogers has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6772 Hollywood Boulevard.[ 24] Personal life This section needs additional citations for verification . Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources in this section. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (October 2022 ) (Learn how and when to remove this message ) Rogers with Jacques Bergerac in the 1950s Rogers, an only child, maintained a close relationship with her mother, Lela Rogers, throughout her life. Lela, a newspaper reporter, scriptwriter, and movie producer, was one of the first women to enlist in the Marine Corps , was a founder of the successful "Hollywood Playhouse" for aspiring actors and actresses on the RKO set, and a founder of the Motion Picture Alliance for the Preservation of American Ideals .[ 25] Rogers was a lifelong member of the Republican Party and 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 .[ 26] [ 27] [ 28] She was a strong opponent of Franklin Delano Roosevelt , speaking out against both him and his New Deal proposals. She was a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution .[ 29] Rogers and her mother had a very close professional relationship. Lela Rogers was credited with pivotal contributions to her daughter's early successes in New York City and in Hollywood, and gave her much assistance in contract negotiations with RKO. She also wrote a children's mystery book with her daughter as the central character.[ 30] Marriages Rogers married and divorced five times. She did not have children. On March 29, 1929, Rogers married for the first time at age 17 to her dancing partner Jack Pepper (real name Edward Jackson Culpepper). They divorced in 1932, having separated soon after the wedding. Rogers dated Mervyn LeRoy in 1932, but they ended the relationship and remained friends until his death in 1987. In 1934, she married actor Lew Ayres (1908–96). They divorced six years later in 1940. In 1943, Rogers married her third husband, Jack Briggs , who was a U.S. Marine, before divorcing in 1950. In 1953, she married Jacques Bergerac , a French actor 16 years her junior, whom she met on a trip to Paris. A lawyer in France, he came to Hollywood with her and became an actor. They divorced in 1957. Her fifth and final husband was director and producer William Marshall . They married in 1961 and divorced in 1970, after his bouts with alcohol and the financial collapse of their joint film production company in Jamaica.[ 31] Rogers in 1993 Friendships Rogers was lifelong friends with actresses Lucille Ball and Bette Davis . She appeared with Ball in an episode of Here's Lucy on November 22, 1971, in which Rogers danced the Charleston for the first time in many years. Rogers starred in one of the earliest films co-directed and co-scripted by a woman, Wanda Tuchock 's Finishing School (1934). Rogers maintained a close friendship with her cousin, writer/socialite Phyllis Fraser , the wife of Random House publisher Bennett Cerf . Rita Hayworth's maternal uncle, Vinton Hayworth , was married to Rogers's maternal aunt, Jean Owens. Religion Rogers was raised a Christian Scientist and remained a lifelong adherent, Christian Science was a topic she discussed at length in her autobiography.[ 32] Rogers's mother died in 1977. She remained at the 4-Rs (Rogers' Rogue River Ranch) until 1990. When the property was sold, Rogers moved to nearby Medford, Oregon. Interests Rogers was a talented tennis player, and entered the 1950 US Open . However, she and Frank Shields were knocked out of the mixed doubles competition in the first round.[ 33] Legacy The city of Independence, Missouri designated the birthplace of Ginger Rogers a Historic Landmark Property in 1994. On July 16, 1994, Ginger and her secretary, Roberta Olden, visited Independence, Missouri, to appear at the Ginger Rogers' Day celebration presented by the city. Rogers was present when Mayor Ron Stewart affixed a Historic Landmark Property plaque to the front of the house where she was born on July 16, 1911. She signed over 2,000 autographs at this event, which was one of her last public appearances. The home was purchased in 2016 by Three Trails Cottages and restored, then transformed into a museum dedicated to Lela Owens-Rogers and Ginger Rogers. It contains memorabilia, magazines, movie posters, and many items from the ranch that Lela and Ginger owned. Several gowns that Ginger Rogers wore are on display. The museum was open seasonally from April to September, and several special events were held at the site each year. It closed in August 2019.[ 34] Rogers made her last public appearance on March 18, 1995, when she received the Women's International Center (WIC) Living Legacy Award. For many years, Rogers regularly supported, and held in-person presentations, at the Craterian Theater , in Medford, where she had performed in 1926 as a vaudevillian. The theater was comprehensively restored in 1997 and posthumously renamed in her honor as the Craterian Ginger Rogers Theater.[citation needed ] Death Grave of Ginger Rogers at Oakwood Memorial Park Rogers spent winters in Rancho Mirage and summers in Medford, Oregon. She died at her Rancho Mirage home on April 25, 1995, from a heart attack at the age of 83.[ 35] She was cremated and her ashes interred with her mother Lela Emogene in Oakwood Memorial Park Cemetery in Chatsworth, California.[ 36] Legacy Likenesses of Astaire and Rogers, apparently painted over from the "Cheek to Cheek" dance in Top Hat , are in the "Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds " section of The Beatles film Yellow Submarine (1968). Rogers's image is one of many famous women's images of the 1930s and 1940s featured on the bedroom wall in the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam , a gallery of magazine cuttings pasted on the wall created by Anne and her sister Margot while hiding from the Nazis . When the house became a museum, the gallery the Frank sisters created was preserved under glass. Ginger The Musical by Robert Kennedy and Paul Becker which Ginger Rogers approved and was to direct on Broadway the year of her death was in negotiations as late as the 2016–17 Broadway season. Marshall Mason directed its first production in 2001 starring Donna McKechnie and Nili Bassman and was choreographed by Randy Skinner. Rogers was the heroine of a novel, Ginger Rogers and the Riddle of the Scarlet Cloak (1942, by Lela E. Rogers), in which "the heroine has the same name and appearance as the famous actress, but has no connection ... it is as though the famous actress has stepped into an alternate reality in which she is an ordinary person." It is part of a series known as "Whitman Authorized Editions", 16 books published between 1941 and 1947 that featured a film actress as heroine.[ 37] The Dancing House in Prague , sometimes known as Ginger and Fred, designed by the Croatian -Czech architect Vlado Milunić in cooperation with Canadian -American architect Frank Gehry and inspired by the dancing of Astaire and Rogers. In the 1981 film Pennies From Heaven , Bernadette Peters 's character dances with Steve Martin 's as they watch Fred and Ginger's "Let's Face the Music and Dance" sequence from 1936's Follow the Fleet , using it as their inspiration. Federico Fellini 's film Ginger and Fred centers on two aging Italian impersonators of Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire. Rogers sued the production and the distributor when the film was released in the U.S. for misappropriation and infringement of her public personality. Her claims were dismissed. According to the judgment, the film only obliquely related to Astaire and her.[ 38] Rogers was among the sixteen Golden Age Hollywood stars referenced in the bridge of Madonna 's 1990 single "Vogue ".[ 39] Rogers is the namesake of the Ginger Rogers , a cocktail containing gin, ginger, and mint.[ 40] [ 41] [ 42] Rogers was the subject of a quotation summarizing women's capacity to achieve that is popular among feminists: "Rogers did everything [Astaire] did, backwards . . . and in high heels." The quote comes from a 1982 Frank and Ernest comic strip by Bob Thaves .[ 43] A musical about the life of Rogers, entitled Backwards in High Heels , premiered in Florida in early 2007.[ 44] [ 45]