Bob Fosse
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| Born | Robert Louis Fosse June 23, 1927 Chicago, Illinois, USA |
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| Died | September 23, 1987 (aged 60) Washington D.C., USA |
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| Spouse(s) | Mary Ann Niles (1949-1951) Joan McCracken (1951-1959) Gwen Verdon (1960-1987) |
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Robert Louis “Bob” Fosse (June 23, 1927 – September 23, 1987) was an American musical theater choreographer and director, and a film director. He won an unprecedented eight Tony Awards for choreography, as well as one for direction. He was nominated for an Academy Award four times, winning for his direction of Cabaret.
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Biography
Early years
Fosse was born in Chicago, Illinois, to a Norwegian father and Irish mother,[1] the youngest of six children. He teamed up with Charles Grass, another young dancer, and began a collaboration under the name The Riff Brothers. They toured theatres throughout the Chicago area.
Eventually Fosse was hired for the show Tough Situation, which toured military and naval bases in the Pacific. He later said that he had perfected his technique as a performer, choreographer, and director while serving his tour of duty.
Career
Fosse moved to Hollywood with the ambition of being the next Fred Astaire. His early screen appearances included Give A Girl A Break, The Affairs of Dobie Gillis and Kiss Me, Kate, all released in 1953. A short sequence that he choreographed in the latter brought him to the attention of Broadway producers.
Although Fosse's career in film was cut short by premature balding, which limited the roles he could take, he was reluctant to move from Hollywood to theatre. In 1954, he choreographed his first musical, The Pajama Game, followed by Damn Yankees in 1955. It was while he was working on the latter show that he first met Gwen Verdon.
Fosse developed a jazz dance style that was immediately recognizable, exuding a stylized, cynical sexuality. Other notable distinctions of his style included the use of inward knees, rounded shoulders and body isolations.
With Fred Astaire as an influence, he used props such as bowler hats, canes and chairs. His trademark use of hats was influenced by his own self-consciousness. According to Martin Gottfried in his biography of Fosse, "His baldness was the reason that he wore hats, and was doubtless why he put hats on his dancers. [2] He used gloves in his performances because he did not like his hands. His dance routines were intense and specific, yet had a simplicity to them.
Some of his most popular numbers include "Steam Heat" from The Pajama Game and "Big Spender" from Sweet Charity. The "Rich Man's Frug" scene in "Sweet Charity" is another example of his signature style. The filmed routines in Cabaret (1972) are particularly characteristic of Fosse, the vulgar energy of vaudeville and burlesque updated and coolly contained within a slick, conscious sophistication.
In 1986 he directed and choreographed the Broadway production Big Deal, which he also wrote.
Fosse directed five feature films. His first, Sweet Charity in 1969, was an adaptation of the Broadway musical. His second film, Cabaret, won eight Academy Awards, including Best Director. Fosse next directed Lenny in 1974, a biopic of the self-destructive comic Lenny Bruce; it was nominated for Best Picture and Best Director Oscars. In 1979, Fosse co-wrote and directed the semi-autobiographical All That Jazz, which won four Academy Awards and earned Fosse his third Oscar nomination for Best Director. It also won the Grand Prize at the 1980 Cannes Film Festival. Fosse's final film, 1983's Star 80, was a controversial biopic of slain Playboy Playmate Dorothy Stratten. It evoked mixed critical reaction, although Richard Schickel of TIME and Rex Reed gave it rave reviews, and it has acquired a strong cult following.
Fosse performed a memorable song and dance number in Stanley Donen's 1974 film version of The Little Prince. In 1977, Fosse had a small role in the romantic comedy Thieves.
Innovations
Fosse was an innovative choreographer and had multiple achievements in his life. For Damn Yankees, Fosse took a great deal of inspiration from the "father of theatrical jazz dance", Jack Cole. He also took influence from Jerome Robbins. New Girl in Town gave Fosse the inspiration to direct and choreograph his next piece because of the conflict of interest within the collaborators. During Redhead, Fosse utilized one of the first ballet sequences in a show that contained five different styles of dance; Fosse’s jazz, a cancan, a gypsy dance, a march, and an old-fashioned English music hall number." The Conquering Hero, was Fosse’s most challenging piece. During this show, it became known that Fosse had epilepsy, because he had a seizure on the stage during a rehearsal.
His successes continued to flourish after this, and he contributed even more innovative ideas to the world of Broadway choreography. He utilized the idea of subtext and gave his dancers something to think about during their numbers. He also began the trend of allowing lighting to influence his work and direct the audience's attention to certain things. During Pippin, Fosse made the first ever commercial for a Broadway show. And in 1957, both Verdon and Fosse were studying with Sanford Meisner to develop a better acting technique for themselves. Fosse believed that, “The time to sing is when your emotional level is too high to just speak anymore, and the time to dance is when your emotions are just too strong to only sing about how you feel."
Personal life
Fosse was first married to fellow dancer Mary Ann Niles, then to dancer Joan McCracken from 1951 to 1959. He then married actress Gwen Verdon in 1960. They had one daughter, Nicole Providence Fosse, who is also a dancer. He separated from Gwen Verdon in the 1970s, but remained married to her until his death. In the interim, he was romantically involved with Ann Reinking and Jessica Lange.
Fosse was in Washington D.C. On September 23, 1987, for a revival of his musical Sweet Charity, which was opening at the National Theater. He collapsed in his room at the Willard Hotel at about 7 p.m. as the show was beginning nearby. He was taken to George Washington University where he died of a heart attack at the age of 60.[3]
Honours and awards
Fosse earned many awards for his works, including the Tony Award for Pippin and Sweet Charity, the Academy Award for Cabaret and the Emmy Award for Liza with a "Z". He was the first person to win all three awards in the same year (1973).
His semi-autobiographical film, All That Jazz (1979), won the Palme d'Or. It portrays a chain-smoking choreographer driven by his Type A personality. In 1999, the revue Fosse won a Tony Award for best musical, and in 2001 the show earned Fosse (together with Ann Reinking) a Laurence Olivier Award for Best Theatre Choreographer.
Bill Henry's 1990 documentary of Fosse's work (Dance In America: Bob Fosse Steam Heat), was produced for an episode of the PBS programme Dance in America: Great Performances. The production won an Emmy Award that year.
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.
Fosse was inducted into the National Museum of Dance in Saratoga Springs, New York on 27 April 2007. The Los Angeles Dance Awards, founded in 1994, were called the "Fosse Awards", and are now called the American Choreography Awards. A length of Paulina street in Chicago at roughly 4400 north received the honorary designation of Bob Fosse Way.
Work
Choreography
- The Pajama Game, 1954, choreographer
- Damn Yankees, 1955, choreographer
- Bells Are Ringing, 1956, co-staged
- New Girl in Town, 1958, choreographer
- Redhead, 1959, director and choreographer
- How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, 1961, musical staging
- Little Me, 1962, co-directed and co-choreographed
- Pleasures and Palaces, 1965, director and choreographer
- Sweet Charity, 1966, director and choreographer
- Pippin, 1972, director and choreographer
- Liza, 1974, director and choreographer
- Chicago, 1975, book; director and choreographer
- Dancin', 1978, director and choreographer
- Big Deal, 1986, director and choreographer
Acting
- Call Me Mister, 1947
- Make Mine Manhattan, 1948
- Dance Me a Song, 1950
- Billion Dollar Baby, 1951
- The Roaring Twenties, 1951
- Pal Joey, 1952
Filmography
- The Affairs of Dobie Gillis, 1953 (actor)
- Give a Girl a Break, 1953 (actor)
- Kiss Me, Kate, 1953 (actor)
- My Sister Eileen, 1955 (actor/choreographer)
- The Pajama Game, 1957 (choreographer)
- Damn Yankees, 1958 (dancer/choreographer)
- Sweet Charity, 1968 (director/choreographer)
- Cabaret, 1972 (director/choreographer)
- Lenny, 1974 (director)
- The Little Prince, 1974 (actor/choreographer)
- Thieves, 1977 (actor)
- All That Jazz, 1979 (screenwriter/director/choreographer)
- Star 80, 1983 (screenwriter/director)
Further reading
- Beddow, Margery (1996). Bob Fosse's Broadway. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann. ISBN 0435070029.
- Martin Gottfried (1998). All His Jazz: The Life and Death of Bob Fosse. Da Capo Press. ISBN 0306808374.
References
- ↑ "Hardcover in Brief", The Washington Post (18 November 1990). Retrieved on 2008-08-07.
- ↑ Gottfried, p. 85
- ↑ Irvin Molotsky (1987-09-24). "Bob Fosse, Director and Choreographer, Dies", The New York Times. Retrieved on 2008-05-21.
External links
- Bob Fosse at Find A Grave
- Bob Fosse at the Internet Broadway Database
- Bob Fosse at the Internet Movie Database
- Fosse.com
- Bob Fosse bio. - "The Guide to Musical Theatre"
- Bob Fosse bio.
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