Fred Astaire: change partners and dance

The famous dancing partnership of Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire ended in 1939 but this did not mean the end for Fred Astaire. In this documentary you will see Astaire “change partners and dance” like never before. Using excerpts from many of his films including “You’ll never get rich” (1941), “Daddy Long Legs” (1955), “Funny face” (1957), we meet some of those partners, often highly regarded in their own right, including Rita Hayworth, Betty Hutton, Leslie Caron, Audrey Hepburn and Barrie Chase. The passing decades reflect Astaire’s change in his dancing movements from swing and tap of the 1940s to cool jazz of the 1950s and 1960s. Also includes interviews with Leslie Caron, Barrie Chase, Bob Fosse, Rodolf Nureyev, Hermes Pan, Jerome Robbins, Roland Petit and others with some rare footage from Astaire’s first television appearance in 1958 on “Toast of the town”. Last but not least is an excerpt from his final television special in 1968 featuring the classic “Puttin’ on the ritz”. Contains b&w footage. Narrated by Joanne Woodward.