Gene Kelly

American dancer, actor, singer, director and choreographer (1912–1996)

Gene Kelly (born Eugene Curran Kelly, August 23, 1912February 2, 1996) was an American dancer, actor, singer, director, producer, and choreographer.

Gene Kelly in 1943

Quotes

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  • I really don't know why I clicked. I didn't want to be a dancer, I just did it to work my way through college. But I was always an athlete and gymnast, so it came naturally.
    • Quoted in "Gene Kelly's Musical Memories" by Rex Reed, in The Chicago Tribune (November 29, 1970)
  • In the 1930s, when I started, Martha Graham was the only dancer doing anything modern, but she did it all to classical music. I couldn't see myself doing Swan Lake every night, and I wanted to develop a truly American style. The only dancer in the movies at that time with any success was Fred Astaire, but he did very small, elegant steps in a top hat, white tie, and tails.
    • Quoted in "Gene Kelly's Musical Memories"
  • It's all true. It's true I didn't want to be a dancer. What I really wanted to be was a shortstop for the Pittsburgh Pirates. Then at 14 I discovered girls, and began to study dancing diligently. At that time dancing was the only way you could put your arm around the girl. Dancing was courtship. Only later did I discover you dance joy. You dance love. You dance dreams. Of course, the Pittsburgh Pirates lost a hell of a shortstop.
    • Speaking on March 8, 1985 at the American Film Institute; as quoted in "Hollywood Honors Man Who `Danced Joy'" by Paul Rosenfield, in Los Angeles Times (March 9, 1985)
  • Fred Astaire represented the aristocracy, I represented the proletariat.
    • Quoted in Vaudeville Old and New, Frank Cullen, Florence Hackman, Donald McNeilly (2004) [1]
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