I think there's no question that Michael Jackson was the foremost entertainer of his generation; perhaps of all time, arguably, taking the skills of a Sammy Davis, Jr., bringing together the street dance of African American urban culture, joining them to the politics of dance, of Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly on that sphere alone.

Michael Eric Dyson

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I dug up my dad's old Fred Astaire tapes, and now I find him super-inspiring. He's, like, one of the best dancers.

I have a photograph at home of Fred Astaire from the knees down with his feet crossed. It's kind of inspiring because it reminds me his feet were bleeding at the end of rehearsals. Yet when you watch him, all you see is freedom. It's a reminder of what the job is about in general, not just being in musicals.

Alan Rickman

Music Home Freedom

My uncle, who was a little more flamboyant, always said the guy who dressed the best was Fred Astaire.

Andy Garcia

Ya Who Ways

The Fred Astaire movies made a huge impression on me.

Anton du Beke

Movies T Red

I was asked to act when I couldn't act. I was asked to sing 'Funny Face' when I couldn't sing, and dance with Fred Astaire when I couldn't dance - and do all kinds of things I wasn't prepared for. Then I tried like mad to cope with it.

Audrey Hepburn

Funny Wit UN

Astaire was ballroom, basically, and Gene Kelly had such athleticism - that's always what I responded to and what just blew my head open when I watched Gene Kelly's numbers. But, Fred Astaire was just so incredibly inventive and so, so smooth - so smooth.

Brian Stokes Mitchell

Ways Way Watched

I can sing as well as Fred Astaire can act.

Burt Reynolds

Well T Sing

I wish I was born in that era: dancing with Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly, going to work at the studio dressed in beautiful pants, head scarves, and sunglasses.

Catherine Zeta-Jones

Work Car Wit

Fred Astaire is my hero. I love him because he was willing to kill himself to make his art look effortless. And because he proved it's possible to be an artist and a good person.

Connie Willis

Love Good Art

I'm really influenced by Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly.

Cris Judd

T Red Really

As a little girl, I didn't dream of being a ballet dancer; I dreamt of being a movie star like Ginger Rogers and dancing with Fred Astaire. I used to watch the Sunday double-bills on TV and Iong to be part of what seemed a perfect Disneyland world. Astaire was a genius.

Darcey Bussell

Art World Wit

I would love to do a Fred Astaire/Gene Kelly type movie musical - a fun, song and dance, romantic comedy. Or, even just play the lead in one of those broad comedies - that would just be fantastic.

Dash Mihok

Romantic Music Love

No one around me was obsessed with Fred Astaire except for me. It just snowballed, really. I started with tap lessons. When I didn't have tap shoes, I taped nickels on the bottom of my penny loafers.

David Hallberg

Art Wit Us

Fred Astaire was retired when he worked in 'The Pleasure of His Company.' They were lucky to get him to play the father part.

Debbie Reynolds

Work Art Worked

Fred Astaire was my dream dancer.

Debbie Reynolds

T Red Fred Astaire

I loved Fred Astaire's way of dancing. He led you into the dance.

Debbie Reynolds

Love You Way

I asked Fred Astaire once when he was about my age if he still danced, and he said 'Yes, but it hurts now.' That's exactly it. I can still dance, too, but it hurts now!

Dick Van Dyke

Age Yes Too

I wanted to be Stan Laurel, then I wanted to be Fred Astaire and then Captain Kangaroo. I actually started out as a radio announcer when I was 17 and never left the business, so that's literally 70 years.

Dick Van Dyke

Business Art Years

From Fred Astaire I learned discipline and hard work.

Dirk Benedict

Work T Red

I live in a wonderful world of make-believe. A world of Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire. A world of Winnie the Pooh and Edward Bear. Things like that. Wonderful things. Funny things.

Eileen Ford

War Funny World

My mom was a huge fan of 'Dirty Dancing.' I couldn't quite get a break, and she was like, 'Patrick Swayze was a dancer!' And Fred Astaire. I started dancing, and it led me to acting. It helps with fighting or whatever choreography in general.

Falk Hentschel

You sail into the harbor, and Staten Island is on your left, and then you see the Statue of Liberty. This is what everyone in the world has dreams of when they think about New York. And I thought, 'My God, I'm in Heaven. I'll be dancing down Fifth Avenue like Fred Astaire with Ginger Rogers.'

Frank McCourt

Whether it's Cyd Charisse and Fred Astaire or 'West Side Story,' see it on the big screen. That's the way we should appreciate it.

George Chakiris

While I was making my solo films, RKO was busily trying to get me and Fred Astaire back together. The studio wanted to capitalize on the success of 'Flying Down to Rio' and realized that the pairing of Rogers and Astaire had moneymaking potential.

Ginger Rogers

Over the years, myths were built up about my relationship with Fred Astaire. The general public thought he was a Svengali, who snapped his fingers for his little Trilby to obey; in their eyes, my career was his creation.

Ginger Rogers

When I was a kid, I loved Nicholas brothers films. It was like skateboarding. Even Gene Kelly: I always preferred him to Fred Astaire, just because he was more athletic, like skateboarding.

Harmony Korine

Did any artist ever bring more pure joy to more people than Fred Astaire?

Jack Kroll

When I am cast in a movie where I feel that the woman's part is more interesting, I usually start thinking about Spencer Tracy and Fred Astaire. They seem to be the most clear actors when working with women.

Jack Nicholson

I love the old Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly movies; they're so beautiful to look at. It's such a shame we don't make them anymore. Although, I don't know how you could make tap dancing current and topical.

Jamie Bell

I've always had an innate ability to dance, but I'm not as spiffy as those cinema legends like Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire.

John Travolta

I did a dance with Fred Astaire in the movie 'Bandwagon.' I got to waltz just from left of camera to right of camera, and I'm taller than Fred Astaire. Fortunately, I was wearing a long skirt, so I waltzed with bended knees.

Julie Newmar

The thing is that my idols have always been the types of guys who could do anything: Gene Kelly, Fred Astaire, Sinatra, Dean Martin; and when you look up to people like that, you don't accept that you need to be compartmentalised.

Justin Timberlake

I felt Michael Jackson was inspired a little bit more from the elegance of a Fred Astaire. Michael loved Sammy Davis, Jr. and James Brown and Judy Garland and Fred Astaire. But he wasn't any of those people. To be inspired is one thing, but he made it all his own.

Kenny Ortega

There's an old Fred Astaire movie where the stage becomes bigger and deeper and more complex. Moments like that really did impact on me and influence me.

Kenny Ortega

I studied dancing for 13 years. And loved to dance. Always wanted to dance with Fred Astaire.

Lauren Bacall

Fred Astaire was a more formal, trained dancer who loved waltzing and only danced with the girls.

Leslie Caron

I spent an entire evening seated between Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly, being charmed from either side. It was pure Hollywood magic.

Lorna Luft

As a dancer, obviously, we are all inspired by Michael Jackson, and I always looked up to Gene Kelly. He was a bigger version of Fred Astaire, and he was amazing as well.

Maksim Chmerkovskiy

Fred Astaire is my real idol.

Matthew Bourne

I grew up with the movies of Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire and Judy Garland - these are the kinds of shows and the kinds of numbers in shows that I dreamed of being in and doing when I was a kid.

Max von Essen

I think there's no question that Michael Jackson was the foremost entertainer of his generation; perhaps of all time, arguably, taking the skills of a Sammy Davis, Jr., bringing together the street dance of African American urban culture, joining them to the politics of dance, of Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly on that sphere alone.

Michael Eric Dyson

No dancer can watch Fred Astaire and not know that we all should have been in another business.

Mikhail Baryshnikov

I remember vividly seeing 'Tarzan' and Fred Astaire, the Chaplin films, Fred Astaire musicals, MGM, because of my mother. She was just interested in everything and she took me to opera and ballet, and then ballet got me hooked.

Mikhail Baryshnikov

I've worked with Jack Warner and Jimmy Stewart - and Angelina Jolie, Brad Pitt, and Johnny Depp twice. I've had dinners with Fred Astaire and Cary Grant.

Peter Guber

I could talk for seven hours about Johnny Depp. There's no one like him. He has this amazing ability to watch something and then pick it up and do it, within seconds. He'll hate me for saying this, but I don't care. I'm going to say it anyway. He's Fred Astaire. He's this genius dancer. He says that he can't dance, but he can.

Rob Marshall

I make up cassettes all the time - to take on the road with me - a song from this album, a song from that album. That's the way I listen to music; it's like one of those K Tel things: it's from all over. I listen to Fred Astaire, I listen to African folk music, I listen to Talking Heads.

Robert Palmer

Look at the greatest dressers in history - Philadelphia socialite and diplomat Angier Biddle Duke, Sir Anthony Eden, Fred Astaire, the Duke of Windsor, John F. Kennedy, and Gary Cooper - they all sport the well placed pocket adornment.

Roger Stone

My mom always had me and my brother watching old Fred Astaire movies.

Savion Glover

I loved old black and white movies, especially the Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers musicals. I loved everything about them - the songs, the music, the romance and the spectacle. They were real class and I knew that I wanted to be in that world.

Sharon Stone

I want to do with skates what Fred Astaire is doing with dancing.

Sonja Henie