Ginger Rogers

Ginger Rogers was born Virginia Katherine McMath in Independence, Missouri on July 16, 1911. Her mother, known as Lelee, went to Independence to have Ginger away from her husband. She had a baby earlier in their marriage and he allowed the doctor to use forceps and the baby died. She was kidnapped by her father several times until her mother took him to court. Ginger's mother left her child in the care of her parents while she went in search of a job as a scriptwriter in Hollywood and later to New York City. Mrs. McMath found herself with an income good enough to where she could send for Ginger.

Lelee became a Marine in 1918 and was in the publicity department and Ginger went back to her grandparents in Missouri. During this time her mother met John Rogers.

After leaving the Marines they married in May, 1920 in Liberty, Missouri. He was transferred to Dallas and Ginger (who treated him as a father) went too.

Ginger won a Charleston contest in 1925 (age 14) and a 4 week contract on the Interstate circuit. She also appeared in vaudeville acts which she did until she was 17 with her mother by her side to guide her. Now she had discovered true acting.

She married in March, 1929, and after several months realized she had made a mistake. She acquired an agent and she did several short films.

She went to New York where she appeared in the Broadway production of "Top Speed" which debuted Christmas Day, 1929.

Her first film was in 1929 in A Night in a Dormitory (1930). It was a bit part, but it was a start.

Later that year, Ginger appeared, briefly in two more films, A Day of a Man of Affairs (1929) and Campus Sweethearts (1930). For awhile she did both movies and theatre.

The following year she began to get better parts in films such as Office Blues (1930) and The Tip-Off (1931).

But the movie that enamored her to the public was Gold Diggers of 1933 (1933). She did not have top billing but her beauty and voice was enough to have the public want more. One song she popularized in the film was the now famous, "We're in the Money".

Also in 1933 she was in 42nd Street (1933). She suggested using a monocle and this also set her apart.

They were first paired in 1933's Flying Down to Rio (1933) and later in 1935's Roberta (1935) and Top Hat (1935).

In 1934, she starred with Dick Powell in Twenty Million Sweethearts (1934). It was a well received film about the popularity of radio. Ginger's real stardom occurred when she was teamed with Fred Astaire where they were one of the best cinematic couples ever to hit the silver screen. This is where she achieved real stardom.

For the "Cheek to Cheek" number in Top Hat (1935), she wanted to wear an elaborate blue dress heavily decked out with ostrich feathers. When director Mark Sandrich and Fred Astaire saw the dress, they knew it would be impractical for the dance. Sandrich suggested that Rogers wear the white gown she had worn performing "Night and Day" in The Gay Divorcee (1934). Rogers walked off the set, finally returning when Sandrich agreed to let her wear the offending blue dress. As there was no time for rehearsals, she wore the blue feathered dress for the first time during filming of the "Cheek to Cheek" number, and as Astaire and Sandrich had feared, feathers started coming off the dress. Astaire later claimed it was like "a chicken being attacked by a coyote". In the final film, some stray feathers can be seen drifting off it. To patch up the rift between them, Astaire presented Rogers with a charm of a gold feather to add to her charm bracelet. This was the origin of Rogers' nickname "Feathers". The shedding feathers episode was recreated to hilarious results in a scene from Easter Parade (1948) in which Astaire danced with a clumsy, comical dancer played by Judy Garland.

Salary for 1938: $219,500 (adjusted for 2017 inflation: approximately $3.8 million).

Ginger also appeared in some very good comedies such as Bachelor Mother (1939) and Fifth Avenue Girl (1939) both in 1939.

Also that year she appeared with Astaire in The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle (1939). The film made money but was not anywhere successful as they had hoped. After that studio executives at RKO wanted Ginger to strike out on her own.

She made several dramatic pictures but it was 1940's Kitty Foyle (1940) that allowed her to shine. Playing a young lady from the wrong side of the tracks, she played the lead role well, so well in fact, that she won an Academy Award for her portrayal.

Through the rest of the 1940s and early 1950s she continued to make movies but not near the caliber before World War II.

Ginger followed that project with the delightful comedy, Tom, Dick and Harry (1941) the following year. It's a story where she has to choose which of three men she wants to marry.

Turned down lead roles in To Each His Own (1946) and The Snake Pit (1948). Both of these roles went on to be played to great acclaim by Olivia de Havilland.

She and Fred Astaire acted in 10 movies together: The Barkleys of Broadway (1949), Carefree (1938), Flying Down to Rio (1933), Follow the Fleet (1936), The Gay Divorcee (1934), Roberta (1935), Shall We Dance (1937), The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle (1939), Swing Time (1936), and Top Hat (1935).

Related to Random House publisher and What's My Line? (1950) panelist Bennett Cerf through marriage; Cerf married Rogers' cousin Phyllis Fraser.

After Oh, Men! Oh, Women! (1957) in 1957, Ginger didn't appear on the silver screen for seven years.

By 1965, she had appeared for the last time in Harlow (1965). Afterward, she appeared on Broadway and other stage plays traveling in Europe, the U. S. and Canada.

Was fashion consultant for the J.C. Penney chain from 1972-1975.

According to the 1974 book "Holly-Would", Rogers was taught the Charleston by Eddie Foy Jr.. and went on the win the championship of Texas when she was only 15.

After 1984, she retired and wrote an autobiography in 1991 entitled, "Ginger, My Story".

In a 1991 TV interview, when asked why the Fred Astaire / Rogers union wasn't known as "Ginger & Fred" rather than "Fred & Ginger" (as Rogers had been in films longer), she replied, "It's a man's world".

When Rogers received a Kennedy Center Honor in 1992, Robyn Smith, widow of Fred Astaire, withheld all rights to clips of Rogers' scenes with Astaire, demanding payment. The Kennedy Center refused and Rogers received her honor without the retrospective show.

She made her final public appearance on March 18, 1995 (just five weeks before her death) when she received the Women's International Center (WIC) Living Legacy Award.

Inducted into the Hall of Famous Missourians in 2009.