Fred Astaire: Films and Books

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Films with Fred Astaire

Follow the Fleet

Astaire in Hollywood
Fred Astaire actually had several different careers. When he and his sister Adele ended their combined stage act in 1932, they had already spent some 28 years in show business. It was then that Fred headed for Hollywood, Ginger Rogers, and a string of very successful musical films. His dancing career and movie musicals in general came to an end by the late 1960s. Astaire then became known for his non-dancing, dramatic roles in films such as On the Beach (1959), The Towering Inferno (1974) and Ghost Story (1981), his last movie appearance. He also proved to be very capable as an actor, almost as talented as he was as a dancer. – See the full Fred Astaire filmography below.

Did you know that Astaire’s real name was Austerlitz? He was born in Omaha, Nebraska, but his father was born in Austria. See our Fred Astaire bio for all the details.

Films on Blu-ray

Fred Astaire films on Blu-ray. Note that some of the Astaire films below (and others) may also be on DVD or available on streaming Prime Video.

Blu-ray

Available on Blu-ray or DVD from Amazon.com.

Swing Time – The Criterion Collection
Legendary dancing duo Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers are at the pinnacle of their art in this musical masterpiece from Hollywood’s Golden Age. Includes the Oscar-winning classic “The Way You Look Tonight” in a new 2K digital restoration, plus lots of extras including archival interviews with Fred, Ginger, and choreographer Hermes Pan. Get this film on Blu-ray or DVD from Amazon.com.

Holiday Inn (75th Anniversary Edition)
Bing Crosby, Fred Astaire, Mark Sandrich (Director, Producer)
Screen legends Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire sing and dance their way into your heart in one of the most timeless holiday classics ever, Holiday Inn. Featuring the Academy Award-winning song, “White Christmas,” Crosby plays a song-and dance man who leaves showbiz to run an inn that is open only on holidays. Astaire plays his former partner and rival in love. Contains both the original B&W version and a colorized version. Get this film on Blu-ray from Amazon.com.

Daddy Long Legs (1955)
Fred Astaire, Leslie Caron, Jean Negulesco (Director)
This classic cinemascope musical directed Jean Negulesco received three 1955 Oscar nominations and featured the incomparable Fred Astaire in some of his most stunning dance sequences. Daddy Long Legs follows a young French girl (Leslie Caron) through college, her education sponsored by a mysterious man with long legs. Millionaire Jervis Pendleton III (Astaire) is from old money, and although generous with his wealth, he must learn how to give of his emotions. Amid sparkling musical numbers and dream sequences, comic relief comes from Fred Clark. Get this film on Blu-ray from Amazon.com.

Silk Stockings
Fred Astaire (Actor), Cyd Charisse (Actor), Rouben Mamoulian (Director)
Nina Yoshenka (Cyd Charisse), a lovely yet severe Soviet envoy sent to Paris to rescue wayward comrades from the perils of champagne and capitalism. Get this film on Blu-ray from Amazon.com.

Ghost Story
Fred Astaire (Actor), Melvyn Douglas (Actor), John Irvin (Director)
One of several dramatic, non-dancing films that Astaire made. Four of Hollywood’s most distinguished statesmen (Fred Astaire, Melvyn Douglas, Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., and John Houseman) join forces against a paranormal nemesis in Ghost Story, based on the terrifying novel by best-selling author Peter Straub. Get this film on Blu-ray from Amazon.com.

On the Beach
Gregory Peck, Ava Gardner, Fred Astaire, Anthony Perkins. Director: Stanley Kramer
The war is over. Nobody won. Only the inhabitants of Australia and the men of the U.S. submarine Sawfish have escaped the nuclear destruction and radiation. Captain Dwight Towers (Gregory Peck) takes the Sawfish on a mission to see if an approaching radiation cloud has weakened, but returns with grim news: the cloud is lethal. With the days and hours dwindling, each person confronts the grim situation in his or her own way. One (Fred Astaire) realizes a lifetime Grand Prix ambition; another (Ava Gardner) reaches out for a chance at love. From acclaimed director Stanley Kramer. Get this film on Blu-ray from Amazon.com.

Finian’s Rainbow (1968)
Fred Astaire; Petula Clark; Tommy Steele; Don Francks; Keenan Wynn; Barbara Hancock; (Actor), Francis Ford Coppola (Director)
The great entertainer sang and danced his last musical lead in Finian’s Rainbow, director Francis Ford Coppola’s exuberant movie of the 1947 Broadway hit. Astaire plays an Irish rogue who plants a stolen crock of leprechaun gold in the soil near Fort Knox to reap what he thinks will be a rich harvest. Get this film on Blu-ray from Amazon.com.

The Band Wagon
Fred Astaire and Cyd Charisse dazzle in director Vincente Minnelli’s classic, featuring numbers set in a train station (“By Myself”), a penny arcade (“A Shine on Your Shoes”), a backlot Central Park (“Dancing in the Dark”) and a smoky café (“The Girl Hunt”). As the hallmark song which originated here goes, “That’s Entertainment!” Get this film on Blu-ray from Amazon.com.

Fred Astaire Filmography

Many of the films listed below are available on Blu-ray and/or DVD/Prime Video.

  • Dancing Lady (1933, MGM) with Joan Crawford, Clark Gable; Fred’s Hollywood debut.
  • Flying Down to Rio (1933, RKO) with Ginger Rogers, Delores Del Rio. Available as part of the TCM Collection 2.
  • The Gay Divorcee (1934, RKO) with Ginger Rogers, Alice Brady, and Edward Everett Horton. Score by Max Steiner. Available as part of the TCM Collection 1.
  • Roberta (1935, RKO) with Ginger Rogers, Irene Dunne, and Randolph Scott. Available as part of the TCM Collection 2.
DVD - Top Hat

Available on DVD from Amazon.com.

  • Top Hat (1935, RKO) with Ginger Rogers, Edward Everett Horton. Get it on DVD from Amazon.com. Also available as part of some DVD box sets.
  • Follow the Fleet (1936, RKO) with Ginger Rogers, Betty Grable, Randolph Scott, Lucille Ball. Available from Amazon.com on DVD and Prime Video.
  • Swing Time (1936, RKO) with Ginger Rogers, Victor Moore, Betty Furness. Get this film on Blu-ray or DVD from Amazon.com.
  • Shall We Dance? (1937, RKO) with Ginger Rogers, Edward Everett Horton. Get it on DVD from Amazon.com. Also available as part of the TCM Collection 1.
  • Holiday Inn (1942, Paramount) with Bing Crosby, Marjorie Reynolds. Remade as White Christmas in 1954, with Crosby, Danny Kaye, and Rosemary Clooney. Get it on Blu-ray, DVD, or Prime Video from Amazon.com.
  • Easter Parade (1948, MGM) with Judy Garland, Peter Lawford. Music by Irving Berlin, including some of Astaire and Garland’s best-known songs: “Easter Parade,” “Steppin’ Out with My Baby” and “We’re a Couple of Swells.” Get it on Blu-ray from Amazon.com.
  • Royal Wedding (1951, MGM) with Jane Powell, Peter Lawford, Keenan Wynn; fluffy musical that features Fred’s famous “dancing on the ceiling” scene.
  • The Band Wagon (1953, MGM) with Cyd Charisse, Oscar Levant, and Nanette Fabray. Considered one of the best Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer musicals, although it was only a modest box-office success. Get it on DVD or Prime Video from Amazon.com.
  • Daddy Long Legs (1955) with Leslie Caron. Director: Jean Negulesco. Get it on Blu-ray or DVD from Amazon.com.
  • Silk Stockings (1957, MGM) with Cyd Charisse, Peter Lorre; a musical “Ninotchka.” Directed by Rouben Mamoulian. In color and CinemaScope. Get it on Blu-ray or DVD from Amazon.com.
  • On the Beach (1959) – An atomic disaster drama with Ava Gardner, Gregory Peck. Stanley Kramer directed Astaire’s first dramatic film, in which he plays a man who longs for a final Grand Prix racing win. Get it on Blu-ray or DVD from Amazon.com.
  • The Pleasure of His Company (1961, Paramount) is a non-musical comedy with Debbie Reynolds, Lilli Palmer, Tab Hunter. Astaire won a Golden Globe award for his performance as Biddeford “Pogo” Poole.
  • The Notorious Landlady (1962) is a comedy/mystery with Kim Novak, Jack Lemmon, and Fred Astaire. Available on DVD or Prime Video.
  • Finian’s Rainbow (1968) is a musical film directed by Francis Ford Coppola that stars Astaire (as Finian McLonergan) and Petula Clark (as Sharon McLonergan). Get this film on DVD, Blu-ray or Prime Video from Amazon.com.
  • The Towering Inferno (1975) with Steve McQueen, Paul Newman, William Holden. Astaire was nominated for an Oscar as Best Supporting Actor. Get it on DVD or Prime Video from Amazon.com.
  • Ghost Story (1981) is a horror film with Melvyn Douglas, Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., John Houseman. It was the last film appearance for Astaire, Fairbanks, and Douglas. Get it on DVD, Blu-ray or Prime Video from Amazon.com.

Books about or by Fred Astaire

Most of these titles are available from Amazon.com.

Steps in Time book

Astaire’s autobiography was first published in 1959. This is the 2015 edition.

  • Steps in Time: An Autobiography by Fred Astaire (2008). Paperback, hardcover. Fred’s autobiography, written without a ghostwriter in 1959, is now available in several formats. But some of Astaire’s autobiography needs to be taken with a grain of salt. For an accurate bio, see our Fred Astaire bio.
  • Puttin’ On the Ritz: Fred Astaire and the Fine Art of Panache, A Biography (Kindle or hardcover) by Peter Levinson (2015). Amazon: “Fred Astaire defined elegance on the dance floor. With white tie, tails and a succession of elegant partners – Ginger Rogers, Cyd Charisse, Rita Hayworth, Eleanor Powell, Judy Garland and others – he created an indelible image of the Anglo bon vivant. His origins, though, were far more humble: Born in Omaha, Nebraska, Fred Astaire came from Midwestern stock that partially had its origin in the late nineteenth century Jewish communities of Austria.”
  • American Legends: The Life of Fred Astaire by Charles River Editors, 2013. Kindle, paper, audio. Profiles the life and career of one of America’s most famous entertainers. Along with pictures of important people, places, and events, you will learn about Fred Astaire like you never have before.
  • Astaire: The Man, the Dancer by Bob Thomas (1987). Hardcover: used, new, collectible.
  • Astaire: The Biography by Tim Satchell, 1988. Paperback. Although Satchell’s biography also contains some factual errors, it is the best researched book on Astaire to date. While most other biographers merely lift info out of Fred’s autobiography without even checking it, Satchell actually did some independent research, particularly on Fred’s Omaha years and his Austrian paternal and German maternal background.
  • Fred Astaire: A Wonderful Life by Bill Adler, 1987. Used.
  • The Astaires: Fred & Adele (Kindle edition) by Kathleen Riley (2012). Amazon: “Before Fred and Ginger, there was Fred and Adele, a show-business partnership and cultural sensation like no other. In our celebrity-saturated era, its hard to comprehend what a genuine phenomenon these two siblings from Omaha were. At the height of their success in the mid-1920s, the Astaires seemed to define the Jazz Age.” – Also available in other formats.
  • Footwork: The Story of Fred and Adele Astaire (Candlewick Biographies) by Roxane Orgill (Author), Stephane Jorisch (Illustrator), 2013. Hardcover, paper. Amazon: “In 1905, four-and-a-half-year-old Fred Astaire put on his first pair of dancing shoes — and from that moment, his life was filled with singing, dancing, and fancy footwork. Fred’s older sister, Adele, was the real dancer, but Fred worked hard to get all the steps just right… In this fascinating story of child stars who hoof their way to knockout success on Broadway and beyond, Roxane Orgill and Stéphane Jorisch team up for a bravura performance, capturing the sophistication, fluidity, and grace of two of the biggest names in dance history.”
  • Turn Left at the Black Cow: One Family’s Journey from Beverly Hills to Ireland by Richard McKenzie (1998). Hardcover. In this revealing memoir, Richard McKenzie weaves an engaging account of life with his wife Ava and her close relationship with her father Fred Astaire, vignettes of their contrasting childhoods in California, and life in the far reaches of the Irish countryside – where they moved with sons Kevin and Tyler in 1975.

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