*The photos on this page can be borrowed as long as my web address stays on them. These are from my own personal collection that I acquired of magazine and newspaper clippings from the 1930s and 1940s and I want to share them with all.

She's probably mostly known as Fred Astaire's dancing partner, but Ginger Rogers, born Virginia McMath, was so so much more then that.

Ginger was born on July 16th 1911. She showed a talent for dancing very early. At the age of ten she was doing local shows, but at the age of 14 she won the Texas State Charleston Championship and the prize was four weeks of apperances in four local Texas cities. She had two other red head dancers to back her up and the tour last longer then four weeks. Eventually, the two red heads found work elsewhere, so Ginger became a solo act. Her act led her to Broadway roles. Her debut was in 1929 in the play Top Speed. She also started make films around that time.

Ginger made 19 films before she made her first film with Fred Astaire, Flying Down To Rio. Her and Fred only had one dance number together, but it was enough to show that there was magic whenever the two got together to dance. They made eight more films in the 1930s and while they both had other projects in between those eight films they decided to try other projects, so they split. Ginger then moved on to dramas. Proving herself an well established dramatic actress she won an Oscar for the film Kitty Foyle: The Natural History of a Woman in 1940. Also in the forties she teamed up with Fred Astaire again for what would become their 10th and final film together, The Barkleys Of Broadway.

Her last film was Harlow in 1965 where she played Mama Jean Bello. Ginger then went back to Broadway, having a successful run in Hello! Dolly in 1965 and also performed in Mame in London.

Unfortunately, Ginger never found true love, married and divorced five times. Her last marriage ended in 1970. She passed away on April 25th 1995 from congestive heart failure.

Back