Gene+Kelly

Edited by Elissa (Images: Creative Commons)

Early Life
media type="custom" key="5551657" align="right" Gene Kelly was born in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania in 1912 to a phonograph assistant and a mediocre actress. His father was greatly interested in sports, especially hockey, which Gene played and enjoyed. However his mother influenced his interest in theater, enrolling him in dance classes once he was 8. Gene was bullied for dancing, and didn't start dance classes again until he was 15. After graduating from Peabody High School, Gene went to the University of Pennsylvania for economics, but due to the Depression had to transfer to the University of Pittsburgh to be closer to his family and save money. During this time, Gene and his mother established a dance studio, which was very successful.

Hollywood Success[[image:462px-Gene_Kelly_-_USN.jpg width="133" height="180" align="right"]]
In 1937, Gene moved to New York to find work. He was very successful in New York, and in 1940 was cast as the lead in Pal Joey. His role in Pal Joey caught the attention of MGM Studio, and he was signed in 1942. He starred in his first Hollywood film opposite Judy Garland in For Me and My Gal. In 1945 Gene co stars with ol' blue eyes himself, Frank Sinatra, in Anchors Away while on leave from the US Navy in which he had been enlisted a year earlier. Starting in 1950 with On The Town, Gene started directing many popular musicals, the first of few he starred in as well. Singing in the Rain, the most widely known of Kelly's role, Kelly also directed and choreographed as well as starring in the lead role.

Things Slow Down
In 1959, Gene made the switch from the big screen to television with The Gene Kelly Show which he hosted and produced. He directed the Broadway sh ow Flower Drum Song in 1960. He continued to make movies up until 1980's Xanadu, which is the final time Gene Kelly danced on the big screen. In the following years he was cast in television shows such as North and South and Sins. He was awarded many awards, such as the Golden Globe's Cecil B. Demille award, a National Merit of Arts by Bill Clinton and multiple lifetime achievement awards. At the time of Kelly's death in 1996, he was writing an autobiography.

A Timeline of Gene Kelly's Life
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What was going on in the world during Gene Kelly's life?


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Cited Sources
“About Woodstock 1969.” //Woodstock//. N.p., 2010. Web. 3 Mar. 2010. .

Garber, Steve. “Sputnik and The Dawn of the Space Age.” //NASA History//. NASA, 10 Oct. 2007. Web. 3 Mar. 2010. .

“The Great Depression.” //Eleanor Roosevelt National Historical Site//. National Park Service, 2003. Web. 3 Mar. 2010. .

Hirschhorn, Clive. //Gene Kelly//. New York, NY: St. Martin’s, 1984. Print.

//International Dictionary of Films and Filmmakers, Volume 3: Actors and Actresses//. N.p.: St. James Press, n.d. //Biography Resource Center//. Web. 26 Feb. 2010.

//Kelly Statue//. 11 Jan. 2002. //AP Images//. N.p., 15 Jan. 2002. Web. 22 Feb. 2010. .

“Titanic Facts.” //Encyclopedia Titanica//. N.p., 2010. Web. 3 Mar. 2010. .

Wayne, Gary. “MGM Studios.” //Seeing Stars//. N.p., 2010. Web. 3 Mar. 2010. .

"Gene Kelly." //St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture//. 5 vols. St. James Press, 2000.

Reproduced in //Biography Resource Center//. Farmington Hills, Mich.: Gale, 2010. http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/BioRC