Gene Kelly summary

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Below is the article summary. For the full article, see Gene Kelly.

Gene Kelly, orig. Eugene Curran Kelly, (born Aug. 23, 1912, Pittsburgh, Pa., U.S.—died Feb. 2, 1996, Beverly Hills, Calif.), U.S. dancer, choreographer, actor, and movie director. After training at his mother’s dance school in Pittsburgh, he moved to New York in 1938 and danced in Broadway musicals, creating the title role in Pal Joey in 1940. Beginning in 1942, his athletic style and carefree acting—exemplified in the popular Anchors Aweigh (1945), On the Town (1949), An American in Paris (1951), and Singin’ in the Rain (1952), which he also helped choreograph and direct—became hallmarks of the movie musical. His achievements earned him a special Academy Award in 1951. He later choreographed and directed numerous other movies and created a ballet for the Paris Opéra (1960).

Stanley Donen Summary

Stanley Donen was an American motion-picture director and choreographer who was one of the most influential directors of movie musicals in the 1940s and ’50s. Donen, who was the son of a dress-shop owner, faced prejudice growing up in one of the few Jewish families in his South Carolina community

Academy Award Summary

Academy Award, any of a number of awards presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, located in Beverly Hills, California, U.S., to recognize achievement in the film industry. The awards were first presented in 1929, and winners receive a gold-plated statuette commonly

Vincente Minnelli Summary

Vincente Minnelli was an American motion-picture director who infused a new sophistication and vitality into filmed musicals in the 1940s and ’50s. (Read Martin Scorsese’s Britannica essay on film preservation.) He was born to Italian-born musician Vincent Minnelli and French Canadian singer Mina

musical Summary

Musical, theatrical production that is characteristically sentimental and amusing in nature, with a simple but distinctive plot, and offering music, dancing, and dialogue. The antecedents of the musical can be traced to a number of 19th-century forms of entertainment including the music hall, comic