Ginger Rogers

Acting • Born 1911-07-16 – Died 1995-04-25

Acting1Independence, Missouri, USA

Biography

Ginger Rogers (July 16, 1911 – April 25, 1995) was an American actress, dancer, and singer who appeared in film, and on stage, radio, and television throughout much of the twentieth century. During her long career, she made a total of 73 films and is noted for her role as Fred Astaire's partner in a series of ten musical films. She achieved great success in a variety of film roles and won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in Kitty Foyle. After winning a 1925 Charleston dance contest that launched a successful vaudeville career, 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 role as a supporting actress in 42nd Street. In the 1930s, Rogers' nine films with Fred Astaire gave RKO Pictures some of its biggest successes, most notably Top Hat and Swing Time. But after two commercial failures with Astaire, she branched out into dramatic and comedy films. Her acting was well received by critics and audiences, and she became one of the biggest box-office draws and highest paid actresses of the 1940s. Her performance in Kitty Foyle won her the Oscar for Best Actress. Rogers' popularity peaked by the end of the decade. She reunited with Astaire in 1949 in the commercially successful The Barkleys of Broadway. After an unsuccessful period in the 1950s, she 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 also made television acting appearances until 1987. In 1992, Rogers was recognized at the Kennedy Center Honors. She died of a heart attack in 1995, at age 83. Rogers is associated with the phrase "backwards and in high heels", which is attributed to Bob Thaves' Frank and Ernest 1982 cartoon with the caption "Sure he [Astaire] was great, but don't forget that Ginger Rogers did everything he did...backwards and in high heels". This phrase is sometimes incorrectly attributed to Ann Richards, who used it in her keynote address to the 1988 Democratic National Convention. A Republican and a devout Christian Scientist, Rogers married five times with all of them ending in divorce, and having no children. During her long career, Rogers made 73 films, and her musical films with Astaire are credited with revolutionizing the genre. Rogers was a major movie star during the "Golden Age" of Hollywood and is often considered an American icon. She ranks number 14 on the AFI's 100 Years...100 Stars list of female stars of classic American cinema. Her autobiography Ginger: My Story was published in 1991.

Filmography

141 credits

42nd Street

Movie • 1933

Ann

Top Hat

Movie • 1935

Dale Tremont

Swing Time

Movie • 1936

Penny Carrol

I'll Be Seeing You

Movie • 1944

Mary Marshall

We're Not Married!

Movie • 1952

Ramona Gladwyn

Monkey Business

Movie • 1952

Edwina Fulton

Gold Diggers of 1933

Movie • 1933

Fay

Shall We Dance

Movie • 1937

Linda Keene

Hollywood on Parade No. A-1

Movie • 1932

Self

Roberta

Movie • 1935

Scharwenka

A Shriek in the Night

Movie • 1933

Pat Morgan

Cinderella

Movie • 1965

Queen

Vivacious Lady

Movie • 1938

Francey

Tales of Manhattan

Movie • 1942

Diane

Storm Warning

Movie • 1951

Marsha Mitchell

The Gay Divorcee

Movie • 1934

Mimi Glossop

Flying Down to Rio

Movie • 1933

Honey Hale

Follow the Fleet

Movie • 1936

Sherry Martin

Bachelor Mother

Movie • 1939

Polly Parrish

Carefree

Movie • 1938

Amanda Cooper

Heartbeat

Movie • 1946

Arlette Lafron

The Barkleys of Broadway

Movie • 1949

Dinah Barkley

Once Upon a Honeymoon

Movie • 1942

Katherine Butt-Smith

Stage Door

Movie • 1937

Jean Maitland

Black Widow

Movie • 1954

Carlotta Marin

Fifth Avenue Girl

Movie • 1939

Mary Grey

Having Wonderful Time

Movie • 1938

Teddy Shaw

The Major and the Minor

Movie • 1942

Susan Applegate

The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle

Movie • 1939

Irene Castle

Primrose Path

Movie • 1940

Ellie May Adams

Star of Midnight

Movie • 1935

Donna Mantin

Perfect Strangers

Movie • 1950

Terry Scott

It Had to Be You

Movie • 1947

Victoria Stafford

Roxie Hart

Movie • 1942

Roxie Hart

Tight Spot

Movie • 1955

Sherry Conley

Teenage Rebel

Movie • 1956

Nancy Fallon

The Thirteenth Guest

Movie • 1932

Lela / Marie Morgan

Dreamboat

Movie • 1952

Gloria Marlowe

Tom, Dick and Harry

Movie • 1941

Janie

Week-End at the Waldorf

Movie • 1945

Irene Malvern

Kitty Foyle

Movie • 1940

Kitty Foyle

Tender Comrade

Movie • 1944

Jo Jones

Beautiful Stranger

Movie • 1954

Johnny Victor

Lady in the Dark

Movie • 1944

Liza Elliott

The Groom Wore Spurs

Movie • 1951

AJ Furnival

Oh, Men! Oh, Women!

Movie • 1957

Mildred Turner

Hollywood: The Dream Factory

Movie • 1972

Self (archive footage)

Twenty Million Sweethearts

Movie • 1934

Peggy Cornell

Rafter Romance

Movie • 1933

Mary

Happy Birthday, Bob: 50 Stars Salute Your 50 Years with NBC

Movie • 1988

Self (archive footage)

Chance at Heaven

Movie • 1933

Marge Harris

The Tip-Off

Movie • 1931

Baby Face

Forever Female

Movie • 1953

Beatrice Page

Lucky Partners

Movie • 1940

Jean Newton

The Tenderfoot

Movie • 1932

Ruth Weston

Honor Among Lovers

Movie • 1931

Doris Brown

Don't Bet on Love

Movie • 1933

Molly Gilbert

In Person

Movie • 1935

Carol Corliss

Sitting Pretty

Movie • 1933

Dorothy

The First Traveling Saleslady

Movie • 1956

Rose Gillray

Office Blues

Movie • 1930

Miss Gravis

Romance in Manhattan

Movie • 1935

Sylvia Dennis

Finishing School

Movie • 1934

Pony

Upperworld

Movie • 1934

Lilly Linda

Queen High

Movie • 1930

Polly Rockwell

Young Man of Manhattan

Movie • 1930

Puff Randolph

Carnival Boat

Movie • 1932

Honey

Suicide Fleet

Movie • 1931

Sally

Magnificent Doll

Movie • 1946

Dolly Madison

Professional Sweetheart

Movie • 1933

Glory

Broadway Bad

Movie • 1933

Flip Daly

Change of Heart

Movie • 1934

Madge Rountree

Follow the Leader

Movie • 1930

Mary Brennan

You Said a Mouthful

Movie • 1932

Alice Brandon

Going Hollywood: The '30s

Movie • 1984

(archive footage)

The Sap from Syracuse

Movie • 1930

Ellen Saunders

Hat Check Girl

Movie • 1932

Jessie King

"All -Singing All-Dancing" Before And After

Movie • 2006

Archive Footage

Quick, Let's Get Married

Movie • 1964

Madame Rinaldi

Hollywood on Parade

Movie • 1932

Self

That's Entertainment!

Movie • 1974

(archive footage)

Night of 100 Stars II

Self (archive footage)

That's Dancing!

Movie • 1985

Screen Snapshots: Series 16, No. 12

Movie • 1937

Self (uncredited)

A Day of a Man of Affairs

Movie • 1929

Campus Sweethearts

Movie • 1930

Fred Astaire donne le 'la'

The Mystery of Marilyn Monroe: The Unheard Tapes

Movie • 2022

Here's Lucy

TV • 1968

Ginger Rogers

The Merv Griffin Show

TV • 1962

Self

Glitter

TV • 1984

Margaret Davis

The Hollywood Palace

TV • 1964

Self

The Dinah Shore Chevy Show

Self (archive footage)

The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson

TV • 1962

Self

Burt Reynolds' Conversations with...

TV • 1991

Self

The Ed Sullivan Show

TV • 1948

TV • 1968

Self - Guest

The RKO Story: Tales From Hollywood

TV • 1987

Self

The Dean Martin Celebrity Roasts

TV • 1973

Self

Great Performances

TV • 1971

Self

Omnibus

TV • 1967

Self (archive footage)

Hollywood '84

TV • 1984

Self