Bob Fosse
Robert Louis Fosse was an American choreographer, dancer, actor, filmmaker, and stage director. He is known for his work on stage and screen, and was arguably the most influential figure in the field of jazz dance in the twentieth century. He received numerous accolades including an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, three Primetime Emmy Awards, nine Tony Awards, and the Palme d'Or. His career began as an actor in the musical productions Call Me Mister (1947), Billion Dollar Baby (1951), and Pal Joey (1952). He transitioned into directing and choreographing musical works, winning Tony Awards for choreographing The Pajama Game (1954), Damn Yankees (1955), Redhead (1959), Little Me (1963), Sweet Charity (1966), Pippin (1972), Dancin' (1978), and Big Deal (1986), and for directing Pippin.
Biography adapted from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA.
Read more Senses of CinemaTSPDTAcademy AwardsIMDb
Photo: Alix Jeffry, Public domain, Wikimedia Commons.
Films
Critical context
Although Bob Fosse died at the relatively young age of 60, he had a career in show business extending for almost five decades. Fosse started training as a dancer at the age of eight at The Chicago Academy of Theatre Arts under the management of Frederic Weaver. Weaver was an eccentric devotee of vaudeville who sported a waxed mustache and always wore formal dress. Young Bobby Fosse learned his first dance steps at the Academy under the tutelage of Marguerite Comerford. When Fosse’s family could…
