Gene Kelly

Gene Kelly on Film "An American in Paris" Kelly sings and dances to Gershwin tunes in this 1951 Oscar best picture winner "Anchors Aweigh" Kelly meets Tom and Jerry in this 1945 musical, for which he earned a lead actor Oscar nomination "Cover Girl" Kelly and Rita Hayworth dance up a storm in this 1944 musical-comedy

There are myriad reasons why the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is celebrating Gene Kelly's centennial with two special evenings this Thursday and Friday. After all, he was the complete package, an innovative actor, dancer, choreographer and director. But let's not forget another obvious fact - few dancers have looked as sexy on the silver screen. While lean, dapper Fred Astaire, who came into films almost a decade before Kelly in 1933, often danced dressed in a top hat, white tie and tails, the athletic Kelly preferred tight, form-fitting pants and shirts.

Fred Astaire's 1943 musical comedy-drama "The Sky's the Limit" received mixed reactions from critics, as did Gene Kelly's first film after serving in World War II, 1947's "Living in a Big Way. " But time can change perceptions. Both films, which were just released by Warner Archive on DVD, deserve a second chance. "The Sky's the Limit" finds Astaire as a Flying Tiger pilot on leave. The best moment is when a drunken Astaire introduces the Harold Arlen-Johnny Mercer standard "One for My Baby (and "One More for the Road")

Gene Kelly on Film "An American in Paris" Kelly sings and dances to Gershwin tunes in this 1951 Oscar best picture winner "Anchors Aweigh" Kelly meets Tom and Jerry in this 1945 musical, for which he earned a lead actor Oscar nomination "Cover Girl" Kelly and Rita Hayworth dance up a storm in this 1944 musical-comedy

Re "Gene Kelly Dies; Legendary Dancer Was 83," Feb. 1: In the '40s and '50s I spent numerous Saturday afternoons singing and dancing my way home from the Golden State Theater in East L.A. after Gene Kelly movies. In the '60s, on a trip to Paris, I searched fruitlessly up and down the banks of the Seine for the spot where he danced with Leslie Caron in "An American in Paris" only to realize it must have been the sound stage at MGM. Thank you, Mr. Kelly, for the magic, the music and the memories.

Re Twyla Tharp's Gene Kelly appreciation ("Gene Kelly: The Charming Maestro of Movement," Feb. 7) and her reference to his loafers. It reminded me of the one time I met the great showman. A friend and I were late to an evening of Ghanaian music in the basement of UCLA's Schoenberg Hall in the early '60s. Kelly arrived at the same time and seemed lost, so we walked him down with us. What most struck me were those marvelous, supple, magical penny loafers and his grace of motion. I bought a pair the next day and have worn them ever since.

Gene Kelly is rightly credited with bringing a massive and much needed dose of vitality, masculinity and athleticism to American dance. The reason for this achievement was simple--Kelly, who died last week at the age of 83, had the common sense to realize the plain fact that there is honor in showing work, in dropping the pretense of effortlessness.

Entertainer Gene Kelly was hospitalized after suffering a mild stroke, officials at UCLA Medical Center said Sunday. Kelly, 81, was in stable condition and resting comfortably, hospital spokesman Chris Woodson said. Kelly, known for his singing and dancing in Hollywood musicals such as "An American in Paris" and "Singin' in the Rain," was admitted to the hospital Saturday, Woodson said. Woodson said he did not know when Kelly would be released.

"Phantom of the Opera" star and Tony Award winner Michael Crawford says he owes his success to Gene Kelly, who once scolded him out for not being expressive enough. "Without his help I doubt whether I'd have ever reached this point," Crawford said of his mentor in an interview. The two met during the making of the movie version of "Hello, Dolly!" in 1968, when the veteran song-and-dance man was directing Crawford, then 26, in one of his first starring roles.

"So this is what a gathering of the Hollywood-Irish clan looks like," Pierce Brosnan said while performing emcee duties at Thursday night's American Ireland Fund salute to Gene Kelly.

Fred Astaire's 1943 musical comedy-drama "The Sky's the Limit" received mixed reactions from critics, as did Gene Kelly's first film after serving in World War II, 1947's "Living in a Big Way. " But time can change perceptions. Both films, which were just released by Warner Archive on DVD, deserve a second chance. "The Sky's the Limit" finds Astaire as a Flying Tiger pilot on leave. The best moment is when a drunken Astaire introduces the Harold Arlen-Johnny Mercer standard "One for My Baby (and "One More for the Road")

The Hollywood Bowl has long been a favorite place to shoot movie and TV scenes. One of the first major films to shoot at the Bowl was 1937's iconic tale of Hollywood, "A Star Is Born" — that's where fledgling actress Janet Gaynor encounters drunk superstar Norman Maine (Fredric March). Frank Sinatra and Gene Kelly sneak into the Bowl in 1945's "Anchors Aweigh. " Other films using the Cahuenga Pass landmark are 1944's "Double Indemnity" and 1980's "Xanadu. " TV series that have filmed there include "The Beverly Hillbillies," "Seinfeld" and "Melrose Place.

Born Margarita Cansino in Brooklyn, NY, in 1918, Rita Hayworth began her career as professional nightclub dancer before entering movies as a teenager in 1935's "Dante's Inferno. " In 1937, she was signed by Columbia Studios and got her big break as Richard Barthelmess' wife in the 1939 Howard Hawks' classic, "Only Angels Have Wings. " During the 1940s, Hayworth was known as "The Love Goddess" and she starred in musicals ? she was dubbed because she couldn't sing ? film noirs and period dramas.

The Method Fest Independent Film Festival, which celebrates the art of the actor, opens Thursday at the Regency Agoura 9 in Agoura Hills with James Ivory's latest film, "The City of Your Final Destination," starring Anthony Hopkins. Among the 30 features and 59 shorts at the festival, which continues through Wednesday, will be "The Good Heart," with Brian Cox, "The Lightkeepers " with Richard Dreyfuss and Bruce Dern, who also will be honored at the festival, and "The Greatest," with Pierce Brosnan and Susan Sarandon.

Leslie Caron says she got rid of the "deadwood" writing her autobiography, "Thank Heaven." "I must say writing this book, it is a new world for me," the lithe 78-year-old film star reports. "In the end it was very cathartic." The candid, lyrically written tome of the French actress' storied life chronicles her childhood in Paris, her suffering through World War II, her teenage years as a ballet dancer with Roland Petit's acclaimed company where she was discovered by Gene Kelly, her career at MGM starring in such classics as "An American in Paris," "Lili," "Daddy Long Legs" and "Gigi," her two Oscar nominations, her three failed marriages and high-profile love affair with Warren Beatty, her mother's suicide and her own battles with depression and alcohol.

Roller skating movies seemed like a passing fad of the disco era with the release of such camp classics as "Xanadu," "Roller Boogie" and "Skatetown U.S.A." But that would be skating over the truth -- movies featuring roller skating have a rich heritage that has attracted some pretty heavy star power. The latest in the genre, "Whip It," which opens today, stars Oscar nominee Ellen Page ("Juno") and marks costar Drew Barrymore's directorial debut. Here's a look at some of the famous and even infamous who have donned roller skates for the silver screen: Charlie Chaplin: In real life, the comic genius loved to play tennis, but in reel life he was a comedic skating master.

Gene Kelly, the exuberant, charismatic hoofer who danced, sang, smiled and splashed his way into the hearts of generations, died Friday after several years of declining health. He was 83. As respected as he was likable, Kelly "died peacefully in his sleep" in his Beverly Hills home with his wife, Patricia, at his bedside, according to his publicist, Warren Cowan. Kelly had suffered strokes in 1994 and 1995 and had been in ill health since then. His life was the stuff of a Hollywood musical.

In her new memoir, "The Memory of All That: Love and Politics in New York, Hollywood and Paris," stage and screen actress Betsy Blair describes her chance meeting at age 16 with Gene Kelly -- then a 28-year-old first-time choreographer -- at Billy Rose's Diamond Horseshoe club in New York City. This encounter, and how it led to Kelly's hiring, then marrying, the naively self-assured New Jersey-born hoofer, isn't new to anyone who's ever skimmed one of Kelly's many biographies.

The American Cinematheque and UCLA Film & Television Archive are celebrating the cinematic dregs -- films so bad they're great. The Cinematheque's So Bad They're Brilliant fest commences tonight at the Egyptian with a juicy double feature: 1964's "Kitten With a Whip" -- meow -- starring Ann-Margret and John Forsythe, and 1983's "The Lonely Lady," with Pia Zadora. Friday brings the cult 1980 musical "Xanadu" with Olivia Newton-John as a muse and Gene Kelly in a pinball machine -- don't ask -- and " Staying Alive," the 1983 sequel to "Saturday Night Fever" directed by Sylvester Stallone and starring John Travolta.

Kenny Kong, a 22-year-old undergrad who gives break dancing lessons to fellow UC Berkeley students, clicked open a forwarded link to a new Volkswagen commercial -- the one popping up on plenty of hip-hop blogs and other Web threads these past few weeks. "A friend sent me the same link last week," he said, as he watched the opening shot of Gene Kelly humming a few bars to himself during a rain shower on an empty street. But Kong still digs it.