Ginger Rogers

Ginger Rogers, Virginia Katherine McMath in fact, (* July 16, 1911 in Independence, Missouri, † April 25, 1995 in Rancho Mirage, California ) was an American actress. Together with Fred Astaire she made ten films together, a popular screen couple.

Life

Ginger Rogers was prepared by her ambitious mother, a little successful screenwriter, early on a career as a dancer. The age of 14 she performed as a dancer in vaudeville shows. Due to their success in the Broadway musical Girl Crazy Paramount was aware of them and took them under contract. Since 1929, Rogers starred in many films before it, the breakthrough came in 1933 through their participation in Flying Down to Rio, the first of ten appearances alongside Fred Astaire star. The two were a popular screen couple in 1936 and # 3 on the most bankable actor in America. Ginger tried early, not being bound to the image as a partner of Astaire.

Her talent for light comedies they therefore had quickly become one of the biggest stars of her studio RKO. In 1937, she turned in common with Katharine Hepburn in the film Stage Door, for which she received rave reviews. In 1939, she had one of her greatest successes with the film The Findelmutter. Dissatisfied with the most lightweight scripts, they demanded increasingly more serious roles. For the performance in Miss Kitty she got to the general surprise at the Academy Awards 1941 Oscar as best actress. Her portrayal of a woman with dubious background in the melodrama Primrose Path won her extra praise and recognition of the trade press. Rogers left the studio in 1943, even though you promised her a new contract with $ 330,000 salary per year.

By the end of the 1940s she was a successful actress with correspondingly high salaries. Among her better-known roles included the film adaptation of the Kurt -Weil musical Lady in the Dark in 1944 and Weekend At The Waldorf, a remake of people in the hotel in 1945, where she took on the role of Greta Garbo. In 1949 she replaced the ailing Judy Garland and played one last time with Fred Astaire together in the film The dancers from Broadway. Rogers therefore also focused increasingly on the theater, with whom she still felt connected. Only in the year 1984, she announced her retirement from show business. In 1991, she published her autobiography titled Ginger, My Story. A star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, height 6772 Hollywood Blvd., Recalls the actress.

Private life

Ginger Rogers was married five times. The marriage with Jack Pepper held from 1929 to 1931, in 1934 she married actor Lew Ayres. This marriage broke up in 1941 and only two years later she married his third wife Jack Briggs, 1949, the marriage ended in divorce. In the 1950s, their marriage ended with Jacques Bergerac as well as with a divorce, the last marriage to William Marshall 1961-1969.

Filmography (selection)

Awards

• Oscars 1941: Academy Award / Best Actress for Miss Kitty

• Golden Globe Awards 1953: Nomination as Best Actress Musical / Comedy for Honey, I 'm going to younger