Robert Louis “Bob” Fosse (June 23, 1927 – September 23, 1987) was an American musical theater choreographer and director, and a
film directorA film director, or filmmaker is a person who directs the making or production of a film. Some also consider a film producer to be a filmmaker....
. 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
CabaretCabaret is a 1972 American musical film directed by Bob Fosse and starring Liza Minnelli, Michael York and Joel Grey. The film is set in Berlin during the Weimar Republic in 1931, under the ominous presence of the growing Nazi Party....
. He was closely identified with his third wife, Broadway dancing star
Gwen VerdonGwenyth Evelyn “Gwen” Verdon was an American actress and dancer who won 4 Tony Awards for her musical comedy performances. With flaming red hair and an endearing quaver in her voice, Verdon was considered the best dancer on Broadway in the 1950s and 1960s...
. She was both the dancer/collaborator/muse upon whom he choreographed much of his work and, together with dancer/choreographer
Ann ReinkingAnn Reinking is an American actress, dancer, and choreographer. Her creative and personal association with choreographer Bob Fosse is well-known.-Biography:...
, a significant guardian of the Fosse legacy after his death.dedicated his work to bridgewater collage. Fosse is widely considered to be among the most innovative and influential choreographers of the 20th Century.
Early years
Fosse was born in Chicago, Illinois, to a
NorwegianNorway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a country in Northern Europe occupying the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, as well as Jan Mayen and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard under the Spitsbergen Treaty...
father and
IrishIreland is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island in the world. It lies to the north-west of continental Europe and is surrounded by hundreds of islands and islets. To the east of Ireland, separated by the Irish Sea, is the island of Great Britain...
mother, the second 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
PacificThe Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. Its name is derived from the Latin name Tepre Pacificum, "peaceful sea", bestowed upon it by the Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan. It extends from the Arctic in the north to Antarctica in the south, bounded by Asia and...
. 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 AstaireFred Astaire , born Frederick Austerlitz, was an American film and Broadway stage dancer, choreographer, singer and actor. His stage and subsequent film career spanned a total of 76 years, during which he made 31 musical films...
. His early screen appearances included
Give A Girl A BreakGive a Girl a Break was a 1954 film directed by Stanley Donen, starring Debbie Reynolds and the dance team of Marge and Gower Champion. A young Bob Fosse has a featured role.-External links:*...
,
The Affairs of Dobie GillisThe Affairs of Dobie Gillis is a black and white 1953 comedy musical film. The tagline is: "IT'S M-G-M's LOVE-HAPPY, YOUTHFUL MUSICAL!".-Songs:* "You Can't Do Wrong Doin' Right"
...
and
Kiss Me Kate, all released in 1953. A short sequence that he choreographed in the latter (and danced with
Carol HaneyCarol Haney was an American dancer and actress.Born in New Bedford, Massachusetts, she opened a dancing school when she was fifteen years old. After high school, Haney left her home town for Hollywood and landed bit parts in movies until she was spotted by legendary dancer/choreographer Jack...
) 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
theatreBroadway Theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, is the theatre associated with the 40 large professional theaters with 500 seats or more located in the Theatre District, New York in Manhattan, New York City...
. But he did. In 1954, he choreographed his first musical,
The Pajama GameThe Pajama Game is a musical based on the novel 7-1/2 Cents by Richard Bissell. It features a score by Richard Adler and Jerry Ross. The story deals with labor troubles in a pajama factory, where worker demands for a seven-and-a-half cents raise are going unheeded...
, followed by
George AbbottGeorge Francis Abbott was an American theater producer and director, playwright, screenwriter, and film director and producer whose career spanned more than seven decades.-Early years:...
's
Damn YankeesDamn Yankees is a musical comedy with a book by George Abbott and Douglass Wallop and music and lyrics by Richard Adler and Jerry Ross. The story is a modern retelling of the Faust legend set during the 1950s in Washington, D.C., during a time when the New York Yankees dominated Major League...
in 1955. It was while working on the latter show that he first met the beautiful, red-headed rising star whom he would marry in 1960,
Gwen VerdonGwenyth Evelyn “Gwen” Verdon was an American actress and dancer who won 4 Tony Awards for her musical comedy performances. With flaming red hair and an endearing quaver in her voice, Verdon was considered the best dancer on Broadway in the 1950s and 1960s...
. Gwen Verdon won her first
Tony AwardThe Antoinette Perry Awards for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as the Tony Awards, recognize achievement in live American theatre and are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in New York City. The awards are for Broadway productions and...
for Best Actress for
Damn YankeesDamn Yankees is a musical comedy with a book by George Abbott and Douglass Wallop and music and lyrics by Richard Adler and Jerry Ross. The story is a modern retelling of the Faust legend set during the 1950s in Washington, D.C., during a time when the New York Yankees dominated Major League...
(she had won previously for best supporting actress in
Can-CanThe Can-can is a dance. It may also refer to:*Can Can , a 2007 fragrance by Paris Hilton*Can-Can , a musical by Cole Porter, 1953*"Can-Can" , the title song from the above musical*Can-Can , a 1960 film...
). In 1957 Fosse choreographed
New Girl in TownNew Girl in Town is a musical with a book by George Abbott and music and lyrics by Bob Merrill based on Eugene O'Neill's 1921 gloomy play Anna Christie, about a prostitute who tries to live down her past. New Girl, unlike O'Neill's play, focuses on the jealousy of the character Marthy and on...
, again directed by George Abbott, and Verdon won her second Leading Actress Tony. In 1960, Fosse was, for the first time, both director and choreographer of a musical called simply
Redhead (musical)Redhead is a Broadway musical set in London in the 1880s, around the time of Jack the Ripper. It is a murder mystery in the setting of a waxworks museum...
. With "Redhead," Verdon won her third Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical, the show won the Tony for best musical and Fosse carried off the award for best choreography. Fosse would partner star Verdon as her director/choreographer again with
Sweet CharitySweet Charity is a musical with music by Cy Coleman, lyrics by Dorothy Fields and book by Neil Simon. It is based on Federico Fellini's screenplay for Nights of Cabiria...
and again with
ChicagoChicago is the largest city in the U.S. state of Illinois, and with more than 2.8 million people, the 3rd largest city in the United States...
. (Fosse would win the Tony for Best Direction of a Musical in 1973 with
PippinPippin, Peppin, and Pepin are variants of a single Frankish given name. It was the name of several important figures in the Carolingian family that ruled the Frankish Empire in what is now France and the western parts of Germany in the Middle Ages:* Pepin of Landen, nicknamed the Elder, sometimes...
.)
Fosse developed a
jazz danceJazz dance is an umbrella term that can refer to several related dance styles. All of them are connected via common roots, namely tap, ballet, jazz music, and African-American rhythms and dance.-History:...
style that was immediately recognizable, exuding a stylized, cynical sexuality. Other notable distinctions of his style included the use of turned-in knees, sideways shuffling, and rolled shoulders.
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." He used gloves in his performances because he did not like his hands. Some of his most popular numbers include "Steam Pie" (
Banana's in Pajama's) and "Big Spender" (
Sweet CharitySweet Charity is a musical with music by Cy Coleman, lyrics by Dorothy Fields and book by Neil Simon. It is based on Federico Fellini's screenplay for Nights of Cabiria...
). The "Rich Man's Frug" scene in "Sweet Charity" is another example of his signature style. Although he was replaced as the director/choregrapher for the short-lived 1961 musical
The Conquering HeroThe Conquering Hero is a musical with a music by Mark Charlap, lyrics by Norman Gimbel, and book by Larry Gelbart. The musical was based on Preston Sturges' 1944 film Hail the Conquering Hero....
, he quickly took on the job of choreographer of the 1961 musical
How to Succeed in Business Without Really TryingHow to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying is a musical with music and lyrics by Frank Loesser and book by Abe Burrows, Jack Weinstock, and Willie Gilbert, based on Shepherd Mead's 1952 book of the same name....
In 1986 he directed and choreographed the Broadway production of
Big Deal, which he also wrote.
Fosse directed five feature films. His first,
Sweet CharitySweet Charity is a 1969 musical movie directed and choreographed by Bob Fosse, written by Neil Simon, and starring Shirley MacLaine. It is based on the 1966 stage musical of the same name, which Fosse had directed and choreographed also. The movie was notable for costumes by Edith Head and its...
in 1969, starring
Shirley MacLaineShirley MacLaine is an American film and theater actress, dancer, activist, and author, well-known for her beliefs in new age spirituality and reincarnation. She has written a large number of autobiographical works, many dealing with her spiritual beliefs as well as her Hollywood career...
, was an adaptation of the Broadway musical he had directed and choreographed. Fosse shot the film largely on location in Manhattan. That decision brought the film a verisimilitude unusual for a musical but well-suited to the poignant story of romance amidst Times Square low-lifes. His second film,
CabaretCabaret is a 1972 American musical film directed by Bob Fosse and starring Liza Minnelli, Michael York and Joel Grey. The film is set in Berlin during the Weimar Republic in 1931, under the ominous presence of the growing Nazi Party....
won eight Academy Awards, including Best Director. Not only did he shoot in Berlin, but he further enhanced the musical's reality by eliminating any musical numbers which could not be justified as realistic performances within the context of the story. The characters of Sally Bowles and the Emcee sang, certainly, but they sang because they were performers in the storyline of the show. The age-old musical-comedy convention of characters breaking into song in a way that doesn't happen in real life was gone. The effect heightened the horrific, tawdry elements of the story, while throwing into even greater relief the pyrotechnics of its two major performances (
Liza MinnelliLiza May Minnelli is an American singer and actress of film, stage and television. She is the daughter of entertainer Judy Garland and film director Vincente Minnelli....
's and
Joel GreyJoel Grey is an American stage and screen actor, singer, and dancer, best known for his role as the "Master of Ceremonies" in both the stage and film adaptation of the Kander & Ebb musical Cabaret...
's).
CabaretCabaret is a form of entertainment featuring comedy, song, dance, and theatre, distinguished mainly by the performance venue—a restaurant or nightclub with a stage for performances and the audience sitting at tables watching the performance being introduced by a master of ceremonies, or MC.Cabaret...
, as filmed by Fosse, focused chillingly on the disparity between reality and illusion. Fosse went on to direct
LennyLenny is a 1974 film about the life of the comedian Lenny Bruce, starring Dustin Hoffman. Directed by Bob Fosse. The screenplay by Julian Barry is based on his play Lenny.-Plot summary:...
in 1974, a biopic of comic
Lenny BruceLenny Bruce , born Leonard Alfred Schneider, was an American stand-up comedian, writer, social critic and satirist of the 1950s and 1960s. His 1964 conviction in an obscenity trial led to the first posthumous pardon in New York history.-Early life:Bruce was born in Mineola, New York, grew up in...
. The film was nominated for Best Picture and Best Director Oscars. But the meteoric successes took their toll. Just as Fosse picked up his Oscar for
CabaretCabaret is a form of entertainment featuring comedy, song, dance, and theatre, distinguished mainly by the performance venue—a restaurant or nightclub with a stage for performances and the audience sitting at tables watching the performance being introduced by a master of ceremonies, or MC.Cabaret...
, his Tony for
PippinPippin, Peppin, and Pepin are variants of a single Frankish given name. It was the name of several important figures in the Carolingian family that ruled the Frankish Empire in what is now France and the western parts of Germany in the Middle Ages:* Pepin of Landen, nicknamed the Elder, sometimes...
, and an Emmy for directing Liza Minnelli's television concert,
Liza with a ZLiza with a ‘Z’. A Concert for Television is a 1972 concert film, made for television and starring Liza Minnelli. The film was produced by Fred Ebb and Bob Fosse. As well as producing, Fosse also directed and choreographed the concert, and Ebb wrote and arranged the music with his song-writing...
, Fosse's stamina gave out, and he had to undergo open-heart surgery.
In 1979, Fosse went out on a limb with a film that recalled Fellini's
8½8½ is a 1963 film directed by Italian director Federico Fellini. Co-scripted by Fellini, Tullio Pinelli, Ennio Flaiano, and Brunello Rondi, it stars Marcello Mastroianni as Guido Anselmi, a famous Italian film director...
. He co-wrote and directed a semi-autobiographical film
All That JazzAll That Jazz is a 1979 American musical film directed by Bob Fosse. The screenplay by Robert Alan Aurthur and Fosse is a semi-autobiographical fantasy based on aspects of the dancer, choreographer, and director's life and career. The film was inspired by Fosse's manic effort to edit his film Lenny...
, which had the nerve to focus on the life of a womanizing choreographer-director in the midst of open-heart surgery. Fosse again illumined the gap between what we pretend and who we might really be, this time exploiting details of his own personal life. The protagonist lived life as if it were a great show, and the film's fantastical style reflected that.
All That JazzAll That Jazz is a 1979 American musical film directed by Bob Fosse. The screenplay by Robert Alan Aurthur and Fosse is a semi-autobiographical fantasy based on aspects of the dancer, choreographer, and director's life and career. The film was inspired by Fosse's manic effort to edit his film Lenny...
won four Academy Awards and earned Fosse his third Oscar nomination for Best Director. It also won the
Palme d'OrThe Palme d'Or is the highest prize awarded to competing films at the Cannes Film Festival. It was introduced in 1955 by the organising committee. From 1939 to 1954, the highest prize was the Grand Prix du Festival International du Film...
at the
1980 Cannes Film FestivalThe 33rd Cannes Film Festival was held on May 9-23. The showing of Andrei Tarkovsky's film Stalker is interrupted by an electricians strike.- Jury :*Kirk Douglas *Ken Adam *Robert Benayoun *Veljko Bulajić...
. In the summer and fall of 1980, working with "All That Jazz" executive producer
Daniel MelnickDaniel Melnick was an American film producer and movie studio executive who started working in Hollywood as a teenager in television and then became the producer of such films as All That Jazz, Altered States and Straw Dogs...
, Fosse commissioned documentary research for a follow-up feature having to do with the motivations that compel people to become performers, but found the results uninspiring.
In "All That Jazz", Fosse not only toyed with the notion of his own death, but, presciently, he immortalized the two people who would perpetuate the Fosse legacy. These were
Gwen VerdonGwenyth Evelyn “Gwen” Verdon was an American actress and dancer who won 4 Tony Awards for her musical comedy performances. With flaming red hair and an endearing quaver in her voice, Verdon was considered the best dancer on Broadway in the 1950s and 1960s...
herself and the similarly acclaimed Broadway hoofer of the next generation,
Ann ReinkingAnn Reinking is an American actress, dancer, and choreographer. Her creative and personal association with choreographer Bob Fosse is well-known.-Biography:...
. The help-meet/peer/collaborator played by Leland Palmer in the film is, of course, based on Verdon.
Ann ReinkingAnn Reinking is an American actress, dancer, and choreographer. Her creative and personal association with choreographer Bob Fosse is well-known.-Biography:...
herself appears in the film as the protagonist's lover/protege/domestic-partner, as she'd been to Fosse in real life. She, like Verdon, would become responsible for keeping Fosse's trademark choreography alive after Fosse had passed on. Reinking played the role of Roxie Hart in the highly successful New York revival of "Chicago" which opened in 1996. She also, significantly, choreographed the dances "in the style of Bob Fosse" for that revival which is still running on Broadway as of September 2009. In 1999, Verdon served as artistic consultant on a plotless Broadway musical designed to showcase examples of classic Fosse choreography. Called simply
FosseFosse is a three-act musical revue showcasing the choreography of Bob Fosse. After 21 previews, the original Broadway production, conceived and directed by Richard Maltby, Jr...
, the three-act musical revue was conceived and directed by Richard Maltby, Jr. and Ann Reinking and choreographed by Reinking and Chet Walker. Verdon's daughter Nicole received a "special thanks" credit. The show received a Tony for best musical, twelve years after the man had passed on.
His final film, 1983's
Star 80Star 80 is a 1983 film about the true story of Playboy Playmate of the Year Dorothy Stratten, who was murdered by her estranged husband Paul Snider in 1980. The film was shot on location in Vancouver, British Columbia and Los Angeles, California; the death scene was filmed in the apartment in which...
was a controversial biopic about slain Playboy Playmate
Dorothy StrattenDorothy Stratten was a Canadian model and actress. Stratten found fame as the Playboy Playmate of the Month for August 1979 and subsequently Playmate of the Year for 1980. She was the second Playmate to be born in the 1960s...
. It evoked mixed critical reaction, although Richard Schickel of
TIMETime is an American newsmagazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong. As of 2009, Time no longer publishes a Canadian advertiser edition...
and
Rex ReedRex Taylor Reed is an American film critic and former co-host of the syndicated television show At the Movies. He currently writes the column "On the Town with Rex Reed" for The New York Observer.-Life & work:...
gave it rave reviews, and it has acquired a strong cult following.
As a film director, Fosse directed five actors in Oscar nominated performances:
Liza MinnelliLiza May Minnelli is an American singer and actress of film, stage and television. She is the daughter of entertainer Judy Garland and film director Vincente Minnelli....
,
Joel GreyJoel Grey is an American stage and screen actor, singer, and dancer, best known for his role as the "Master of Ceremonies" in both the stage and film adaptation of the Kander & Ebb musical Cabaret...
,
Dustin HoffmanDustin Lee Hoffman is an American actor who has had an active career in film, television, and theatre since 1960. He first drew critical praise for the 1966 Off-Broadway play Eh? for which he won a Theatre World Award and a Drama Desk Award. This was soon followed by his breakout movie role as Ben...
,
Valerie Perrine-Early life:Perrine was born in Galveston, Texas, the daughter of Winifred , a dancer who appeared in George White's Scandals, and Kenneth Perrine, a Lieutenant Colonel in the US Army. Owing to her father's career, Perrine lived in many locations as the family moved to different...
and
Roy ScheiderRoy Richard Scheider was an American actor. He was best known for his role as police chief Martin Brody in Jaws, as choreographer and film director Joe Gideon in All That Jazz, and as detective Buddy Russo in The French Connection. Scheider's final performance is to be released posthumously in the...
. Minelli and Grey won theirs for their respective turns in
Cabaret.
Fosse performed a memorable song and dance number in Stanley Donen's 1974 film version of
The Little PrinceThe Little Prince is a 1974 musical film with a screenplay and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner and music by Frederick Loewe. It proved to be the creative team's penultimate collaboration ....
. In 1977, Fosse had a small role in the romantic comedy
Thieves.
(Fosse appears in the film version of "Damn Yankees," which he also choreographed, in which Verdon reprises her stage triumph as the vulnerable-but-sexy "Lola." They partner each other as if they were born to do so, as they must have been, in the deliciously witty mambo number, "Who's Got the Pain.")
Innovations
Fosse was an innovative choreographer and had multiple achievements in his life. For
Damn Yankees, he took a great deal of inspiration from the
"father of theatrical jazz dance",
Jack ColeJack Cole was an American dancer, choreographer, and theatre director known as the father of theatrical jazz dance.Born John Ewing Richter in New Brunswick, New Jersey, Cole virtually invented the idiom of American Show Dancing known as "Theater Dance." He developed amode of jazz-ethnic-ballet...
. He also took influence from
Jerome RobbinsJerome Robbins was an American film director and choreographer whose work has included everything from classical ballet to contemporary musical theater...
.
New Girl in TownNew Girl in Town is a musical with a book by George Abbott and music and lyrics by Bob Merrill based on Eugene O'Neill's 1921 gloomy play Anna Christie, about a prostitute who tries to live down her past. New Girl, unlike O'Neill's play, focuses on the jealousy of the character Marthy and on...
gave Fosse the inspiration to direct and choreograph his next piece because of the conflict of interest within the collaborators. During that piece, the first he'd directed as well as choreographed,
RedheadRedhead is a Broadway musical set in London in the 1880s, around the time of Jack the Ripper. It is a murder mystery in the setting of a waxworks museum...
, 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
marchA march, as a musical genre, is a piece of music with a strong regular rhythm which in origin was expressly written for marching to and most frequently performed by a military band. In mood, marches range from the moving death march in Wagner's Götterdämmerung to the brisk military marches of John...
, and an old-fashioned English music hall number. Fosse utilized the idea of
subtextSubtext is content of a book, play, musical work, film, video game or television series which is not announced explicitly by the characters but is implicit or becomes something understood by the observer of the work as the production unfolds. Subtext can also refer to the thoughts and motives of...
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
PippinPippin is a musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz and a book by Roger O. Hirson. Bob Fosse, who directed the original Broadway production, also contributed to the libretto. The show was based on the life of Pippin the Hunchback, the son of Charlemagne. The show was partially financed...
, Fosse made the first ever commercial for a Broadway show.
In 1957, both Verdon and Fosse were studying with
Sanford MeisnerSandy Meisner was an American actor and acting coach who developed an acting methodology, now known as the Meisner Technique.-Early life:...
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."
Marriages
Fosse was first married in 1949 to fellow dancer Mary Ann Niles (1949-1951). His second marriage was to dancer
Joan McCrackenJoan McCracken was an American dancer, actress, and comedian who became famous for her role as Silvie in the original 1943 production of Oklahoma!. By age 11, she was studying dance with Catherine Littlefield. She dropped out of high school to join Littlefield's ballet company...
(December 1952-59).
His third wife was dancer/actress
Gwen VerdonGwenyth Evelyn “Gwen” Verdon was an American actress and dancer who won 4 Tony Awards for her musical comedy performances. With flaming red hair and an endearing quaver in her voice, Verdon was considered the best dancer on Broadway in the 1950s and 1960s...
in 1960; they had one daughter,
Nicole Providence FosseNicole Providence Fosse , daughter of the late Bob Fosse and Gwen Verdon, is an American dancer.She was a dancer in her father's movie All That Jazz and took the role of Kristine Evelyn Erlich-DeLuca in the movie version of A Chorus Line .In 1999, a year before her mother's death, Nicole Fosse and...
, who is also a dancer. He separated from Verdon in the 1970s, but they remained legally married until his death. Verdon never remarried.
Health
During rehearsals for
The Conquering Hero in 1961, it became known that Fosse had
epilepsyEpilepsy is a common chronic neurological disorder characterized by recurrent unprovoked seizures...
, because he had a seizure on the stage during a rehearsal.
Death
Fosse was in Washington D.C. on September 23, 1987, for a revival of his musical
Sweet Charity, which was opening at the
National TheatreThe National Theatre is located in Washington, D.C. and is a venue for a variety of live stage productions with seating for 1,676.Despite its name, it is not a governmentally funded national theatre, but operated by a private, non-profit organization....
. 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 UniversityThe George Washington University is a private, coeducational university located in Washington, D.C...
where he died of a
heart attackMyocardial infarction or acute myocardial infarction , commonly known as a heart attack, is the interruption of blood supply to part of the heart, causing some heart cells to die...
at the age of 60. His first wife, Mary Ann Niles (born 1923) died the following month at the age of 64 from lung cancer. His third (and last) wife, Gwen Verdon, died in 2000, at the age of 75 from natural causes.
Honors and awards
Fosse earned many awards for his works, including the
Tony AwardThe Antoinette Perry Awards for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as the Tony Awards, recognize achievement in live American theatre and are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in New York City. The awards are for Broadway productions and...
for
PippinPippin is a musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz and a book by Roger O. Hirson. Bob Fosse, who directed the original Broadway production, also contributed to the libretto. The show was based on the life of Pippin the Hunchback, the son of Charlemagne. The show was partially financed...
and
Sweet Charity, the Academy Award for
Cabaret and the
Emmy AwardThe Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards , Grammy Awards and Tony Awards .They are presented in various...
for
Liza with a "Z". He was the first person to win all three awards in the same year (1973). He is also the only person to have won all three awards in the category of "Best Director."
His semi-autobiographical film,
All That Jazz (1979), won the
Palme d'OrThe Palme d'Or is the highest prize awarded to competing films at the Cannes Film Festival. It was introduced in 1955 by the organising committee. From 1939 to 1954, the highest prize was the Grand Prix du Festival International du Film...
at
CannesCannes France, is one of the best-known cities of the French Riviera, a busy tourist destination and host of the annual Cannes Film Festival. The population was 70,400 as of the 2007 census. Cannes is the home of numerous luxurious houses and mansions as well as many high-end gated communities...
. It portrays a chain-smoking choreographer driven by his Type A personality. In 1999, the revue
FosseFosse is a three-act musical revue showcasing the choreography of Bob Fosse. After 21 previews, the original Broadway production, conceived and directed by Richard Maltby, Jr...
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'sWilliam A. Henry III was an award-winning American cultural critic and author.Henry lived in Boston as a young man and began his career in journalism in that city, writing for the Boston Globe. His coverage of school desegregation in Boston won a Pulitzer Prize in 1975...
1990 documentary of Fosse's work (
Dance In America: Bob Fosse Steam Heat), was produced for an episode of the PBS program
Dance in America: Great Performances. The production won an
Emmy AwardThe Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards , Grammy Awards and Tony Awards .They are presented in various...
that year.
There was a resurgence of interest in Fosse's work following revivals of his stage shows and the film release of
ChicagoChicago is a American film adaptation of the satirical stage musical Chicago, the film explores the themes of celebrity and scandal in Jazz age Chicago. Directed and choreographed by Rob Marshall, and adapted for film by screenwriter Bill Condon, Chicago won six Academy Awards in 2003, including...
(2002).
Rob MarshallRob Marshall is an American theater, film director and choreographer. He is a six-time Tony Award nominee, Academy Award nominee, Golden Globe nominee and Emmy winner whose most noted work includes the 2002 film Chicago and the 1998 Broadway revival of Cabaret.He debuted in the film industry with...
'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 YorkSaratoga Springs is a city in Saratoga County, New York, United States. The population was 26,186 at the 2000 census. The name reflects the presence of mineral springs in the area. While the word "Saratoga" is known to be a corruption of a Native American place name, authorities disagree on what...
on 27 April 2007. The Los Angeles Dance Awards, founded in 1994, were called the "Fosse Awards", and are now called the
American Choreography AwardsThe American Choreography Awards is a ceremony that honors outstanding choreographers in the fields of feature film, television, music videos, and commercials. These have been known as the Annual L.A. Dance Awards , the Annual Bob Fosse Awards, and a.k.a. Fosse’s , and the American Choreography...
. A length of Paulina street in
ChicagoChicago is the largest city in the U.S. state of Illinois, and with more than 2.8 million people, the 3rd largest city in the United States...
at roughly 4400 north received the honorary designation of Bob Fosse Way.
Stage productions
- Call Me Mister
Call Me Mister is a revue with sketches by Arnold Auerbach and words and music by Harold Rome. The title refers to returning soldiers who expected to be addressed as civilians instead of by their military rank....
, 1947 actor
- Make Mine Manhattan, 1948 actor
- Dance Me a Song, 1950 actor
- Billion Dollar Baby
Billion Dollar Baby is a musical set on Staten Island and in Atlantic City during the late 1920s. It follows the adventures of an ambitious young woman, Maribelle Jones, in her quest for wealth during the Prohibition era. Betty Comden and Adolph Green, fresh from their success with On the Town,...
, 1951 actor
- The Roaring Twenties
The Roaring Twenties is a crime thriller starring James Cagney, Priscilla Lane, Humphrey Bogart and Gladys George. The movie was directed by Raoul Walsh, and written by Jerry Wald, Richard Macaulay and Robert Rossen based on the story "The World Moves On" by Mark Hellinger...
, 1951 actor
- Pal Joey, 1952 actor
- The Pajama Game
The Pajama Game is a musical based on the novel 7-1/2 Cents by Richard Bissell. It features a score by Richard Adler and Jerry Ross. The story deals with labor troubles in a pajama factory, where worker demands for a seven-and-a-half cents raise are going unheeded...
, 1954, choreographer
- Damn Yankees
Damn Yankees is a musical comedy with a book by George Abbott and Douglass Wallop and music and lyrics by Richard Adler and Jerry Ross. The story is a modern retelling of the Faust legend set during the 1950s in Washington, D.C., during a time when the New York Yankees dominated Major League...
, 1955, choreographer
- Bells Are Ringing
Bells Are Ringing is a musical with a book and lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green and music by Jule Styne. The story revolves around Ella, who works at an answering service and the characters that she meets there. The main character was based on Mary Printz, who worked for Green's answering...
, 1956, co-staged
- New Girl in Town
New Girl in Town is a musical with a book by George Abbott and music and lyrics by Bob Merrill based on Eugene O'Neill's 1921 gloomy play Anna Christie, about a prostitute who tries to live down her past. New Girl, unlike O'Neill's play, focuses on the jealousy of the character Marthy and on...
, 1958, choreographer
- Redhead
Redhead is a Broadway musical set in London in the 1880s, around the time of Jack the Ripper. It is a murder mystery in the setting of a waxworks museum...
, 1959, director and choreographer
- How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying
How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying is a musical with music and lyrics by Frank Loesser and book by Abe Burrows, Jack Weinstock, and Willie Gilbert, based on Shepherd Mead's 1952 book of the same name....
, 1961
- Little Me
Little Me was the parody "confessional" self-indulgent autobiography of "Belle Poitrine" , subtitled The Intimate Memoirs of the Great Star of Stage, Screen and Television, by Patrick Dennis, who had achieved a great success with Auntie Mame...
, 1962, co-directed and co-choreographed
- Pleasures and Palaces
Pleasures and Palaces is a musical with a book by Frank Loesser and Sam Spewack and music and lyrics by Loesser. It is based on Spewack's flop 1961 play Once There Was a Russian and takes its title from the opening lyrics of the 1823 song "Home, Sweet Home": "Mid pleasures and palaces though we...
, 1965, director and choreographer
- Sweet Charity
Sweet Charity is a musical with music by Cy Coleman, lyrics by Dorothy Fields and book by Neil Simon. It is based on Federico Fellini's screenplay for Nights of Cabiria...
, 1966, director and choreographer
- Pippin
Pippin is a musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz and a book by Roger O. Hirson. Bob Fosse, who directed the original Broadway production, also contributed to the libretto. The show was based on the life of Pippin the Hunchback, the son of Charlemagne. The show was partially financed...
, 1972, uncredited book, director and choreographer
- Liza with a "Z", 1972 , filmed for television concert, director and choreographer
- Chicago
Chicago is a Kander and Ebb musical set in prohibition era Chicago. The music is by John Kander with lyrics by Fred Ebb and a book by Ebb and Bob Fosse...
, 1975, book; director and choreographer
- Dancin'
Dancin' is a musical revue first produced in 1978, directed and choreographed by Bob Fosse, who won a Tony Award for the choreography. The show is a tribute to the art of dance, and the music is a collection of mostly American songs, many with a dance theme from a wide variety of styles, from...
, 1978, director and choreographer
- Big Deal
Big Deal is a musical with a book by Bob Fosse using songs from various composers such as Ray Henderson, Eubie Blake, and Jerome Kern. It was based on the film "Big Deal on Madonna Street" by Mario Monicelli...
, 1986, director and choreographer
Filmography
- The Affairs of Dobie Gillis
The Affairs of Dobie Gillis is a black and white 1953 comedy musical film. The tagline is: "IT'S M-G-M's LOVE-HAPPY, YOUTHFUL MUSICAL!".-Songs:* "You Can't Do Wrong Doin' Right"
...
, 1953 (actor)
- Give a Girl a Break
Give a Girl a Break was a 1954 film directed by Stanley Donen, starring Debbie Reynolds and the dance team of Marge and Gower Champion. A young Bob Fosse has a featured role.-External links:*...
, 1953 (actor)
- Kiss Me Kate, 1953 (actor)
- My Sister Eileen
My Sister Eileen is a 1955 American musical film directed by Richard Quine. The screenplay by Quine and Blake Edwards is based on the 1940 play by Joseph A. Fields and Jerome Chodorov, which was inspired by a series of autobiographical short stories by Ruth McKenney originally published in The New...
, 1955 (actor/choreographer)
- The Pajama Game
The article is about the 1957 film. For other uses see The Pajama Game .The Pajama Game is a 1957 musical film based on the stage musical of the same name...
, 1957 (choreographer)
- Damn Yankees
Damn Yankees is a 1958 musical film made by Warner Bros., a modern version of the Faust legend set in 1950 involving the New York Yankees baseball team. The film is based on the 1955 Broadway musical of the same name....
, 1958 (dancer/choreographer)
- Sweet Charity
Sweet Charity is a 1969 musical movie directed and choreographed by Bob Fosse, written by Neil Simon, and starring Shirley MacLaine. It is based on the 1966 stage musical of the same name, which Fosse had directed and choreographed also. The movie was notable for costumes by Edith Head and its...
, 1968 (director/choreographer)
- Cabaret
Cabaret is a 1972 American musical film directed by Bob Fosse and starring Liza Minnelli, Michael York and Joel Grey. The film is set in Berlin during the Weimar Republic in 1931, under the ominous presence of the growing Nazi Party....
, 1972 (director/choreographer)
- Lenny
Lenny is a 1974 film about the life of the comedian Lenny Bruce, starring Dustin Hoffman. Directed by Bob Fosse. The screenplay by Julian Barry is based on his play Lenny.-Plot summary:...
, 1974 (director)
- The Little Prince
The Little Prince is a 1974 musical film with a screenplay and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner and music by Frederick Loewe. It proved to be the creative team's penultimate collaboration ....
, 1974 (actor/choreographer)
- Thieves
Thieves is a play by Herb Gardner.Its focus is on Martin and Sally Cramer, whose twelve-year marriage slowly is disintegrating. He has become the stuffy headmaster of a fashionable Manhattan private school, while she clings to her dedication to the underprivileged and continues to teach in a ghetto...
, 1977 (actor)
- All That Jazz
All That Jazz is a 1979 American musical film directed by Bob Fosse. The screenplay by Robert Alan Aurthur and Fosse is a semi-autobiographical fantasy based on aspects of the dancer, choreographer, and director's life and career. The film was inspired by Fosse's manic effort to edit his film Lenny...
, 1979 (screenwriter/director/choreographer)
- Star 80
Star 80 is a 1983 film about the true story of Playboy Playmate of the Year Dorothy Stratten, who was murdered by her estranged husband Paul Snider in 1980. The film was shot on location in Vancouver, British Columbia and Los Angeles, California; the death scene was filmed in the apartment in which...
, 1983 (screenwriter/director)
External links