Lenny

Director and choreographer Robert Louis “Bob” Fosse was born on June 23rd, 1927 in Chicago, Illinois. He was the youngest of six children born to an Irish mother and a Norwegian father.

Dancing from a young age, Fosse eventually teamed up with another young dancer by the name of Charles Grass. They began collaborating under a joint name, The Riff Brothers, and performed in a number of theaters around Chicago.

Before long Fosse was noted for his talents and was hired for a show called Tough Situation. Slightly larger than his Riff Brothers act, Tough Situation toured a number of military and naval bases abroad in the Pacific, which essentially served as his tour of duty for his nation. Fosse commented later that he perfected his techniques as performer, choreographer and director while on this tour.

After Tough Situation ended Fosse moved to Hollywood, looking to be the next Fred Astaire (a fellow dancer and choreographer). He achieved success relatively quickly given his skills and found work in film as a dancer, appearing in Give A Girl A Break, Kiss Me and The Affairs of Dobie Gillis, among others. It wasn’t until Kiss Me, Kate in 1953 (actually, all of those films were in 1953) that Fosse was really recognized for his talents, when he choreographed a short but complex segment that impressed a number of Hollywood bigwigs.

Unfortunately Fosse’s career on the screen was short lived as he suffered from baldness; however he was reluctant to move from the big screen to the stage, and by 1954 he’d choreographed his first musical titled The Pajama Game. It was followed by Damn Yankees in 1955.

It was in this time that Fosse was halfway through his second marriage; the first was to another dancer, Mary Ann Niles, and his second was to yet another dancer, Joan McCracken. They remained together for eight years, after which they divorced, and in 1960 Fosse married ANOTHER (and his final) dancer, Gwen Verdon. They had one daughter together, who is now also a dancer. Though he was mostly apart from Verdon in the 1970’s the two remained married until Fosse’s death.

Fosse continued to lend his choreography skills to movies for many years, developing a style all his own yet derived from the work of Astaire. He also directed and wrote other productions, such as 1986’s Big Deal, which appeared on Broadway.

Fosse’s big screen directing career was a bit more expansive. He directed five films between 1969 and 1983, the best of which is probably All That Jazz it earned for Fosse and its cast four Academy Awards, as well as two Oscar nominations and a win at the Cannes Film Festival.

Fosse died on September 23, 1987 after collapsing from a heart attack in his Washington Hotel room. A revival of his old musical Sweet Charity was playing in the nearby National Theater. He was taken to George Washington University and died soon after. —bobfosse.net