Bob Fosse
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Robert Louis Fosse (June 23, 1927 – September 23, 1987) was a musical theater choreographer and director.
Career
Fosse was born in Chicago, Illinois into a Norwegian family. He was the youngest of six children. His career in dance began at an early age when his father taught him ballroom dancing. Fosse began his dance training at the Frederick Weaver Ballet School where he learned tap and acrobatic dancing, and was the only male enrolled. At the age of 13, Fosse teamed up with Charles Grass, another young dancer, and began a collaboration under the appellation The Riff Brothers. They toured various theaters and strip joints all throughout the Chicago area. In less than three years, the team was making the then generous salary of over $100 a week and Fosse was already choreographing as well as writing comedy sketches by age 15. Ever ambitious, however, Fosse moved on and he was working as an emcee at a series of small nightspots. It was at one of those establishments where he choreographed his first number, involving four girls manipulating ostrich fans to the music of Cole Porter. By 1945, Fosse had graduated from Amundsen High in Chicago and landed a job dancing in the show "Tough Situation," which toured military and naval bases in the Pacific. He later said he "perfected his technique as a performer, choreographer, and director while serving his tour of duty". He first appeared in film dancing in Give A Girl A Break, The Affairs of Dobie Gillis and Kiss Me, Kate, all three released in 1953.One year later he worked as a choreographer in his first two Broadway shows, The Pajama Game (1954, in which he first met Gwen Verdon, and Damn Yankees (1955).
Fosse developed a jazz dance style that was immediately recognizable, exuding a stylized, cynical sexuality. Other notable distinctions were his inward knees, rounded shoulders and body isolations. With Fred Astaire as an influence, he used props such as bowler hats, canes and chairs. Fosse started to go bald at age 17, which is why he used hats in his performances. He used gloves in his performances because he did not like his hands. His dance routines are intense and specific, yet had a simplicity to them. Some of his most popular numbers include "Steam Heat" from The Pajama Game and "Hey Big Spender" from Sweet Charity. The filmed routines in Cabaret (1972) are particularly characteristic: the vulgar energy of vaudeville and burlesque updated and coolly contained within a slick, knowing sophistication.
In 1986 he directed and choreographed the Broadway production Big Deal, which he also wrote.
Fosse earned many awards for his works. Among them were a Tony Award for Pippin, the Academy Award for Directing for Cabaret and an Emmy Award for Liza with a Z. He was the first person to win these three most important awards in the same year.
In 2001, Fosse was awarded the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Theatre Choreographer with Ann Reinking for Fosse at the Prince of Wales Theatre.
His musical All That Jazz (1979) won the Palme d'Or. It is an uncompromising, semi-autobiographical fantasy that portrays a chain-smoking choreographer being driven by his A-type personality.
Bob Fosse died from a heart attack at the age of 60.
Bob Fosse was first married to fellow dancer Marian Niles, then to dancer Joan McCracken from 1951 to 1959, and then married dancer Gwen Verdon in 1960. They had one daughter, Nicole Providence Fosse, who is also a dancer like her parents.
Legacy
There was a resurgence of interest in Fosse's work following revivals of his stage shows and the film release of Chicago (2002). Rob Marshall's choreography for the film emulates the Fosse style but avoids using specific moves from the original. In 1999 the stage show Fosse itself won a Tony Award for Best Musical.
Other shows and films
Fosse also choreographed a number of other shows:
- Damn Yankees (1955)
- New Girl in Town (1957)
- Redhead (1959) (director and choreographer)
- How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying (1961)
- Little Me (1962) (director and choreographer)
- Sweet Charity (1966) (director and choreographer)
- Pippin (1972) (director and choreographer)
- Chicago (1975) (director and choreographer)
- Dancin' (1977) (director and choreographer)
- Big Deal (1986)
- Sweet Charity (1969)
- Cabaret (1972)
- Liza with a Z (1972)
- Lenny (1974)
- The Little Prince (1974)
- All That Jazz (1979)
- Star 80 (1983)
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Trivia
- Bob Fosse said of himself in an interview, "My friends know that to me happiness is when I am merely miserable and not suicidal."
- Some say that Michael Jackson's dance moves were copied from Bob Fosse's choreography.
- Bob Fosse danced as 'The Snake' in the film "The Little Prince," in which he ventured out into the desert for inspiration.
- Some claim he was the inventor of the "casting couch".
- When in contract with MGM, Bob would sneak behind the scenes of the film "The Band Wagon" on his breaks to watch Fred Astaire and learn his dance moves.
- Bob Fosse and wife Gwen Verdon studied under the famous acting instructor Sanford Meisner.
- Bob Fosse at one time dated Bette Midler.
- Bob Fosse wanted to make a film version of "Chicago" starring Madonna.
External links
- http://www.fosse.com/
- http://www.nodanw.com/biographies/bob_fosse.htm
- [Photos]
References
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