Episode Details

Fred Astaire's first screen test produced the verdict: "Can't act. Slightly bald. Can dance a little." He spent the next forty years proving that wrong with a perfectionism so relentless that he would rehearse a single routine until his feet bled, then film it in a single unbroken take so the audience could see every step was real.

This episode traces Astaire from his vaudeville childhood with his sister Adele through his partnership with Ginger Rogers, his insistence on full-body camera shots, and the discipline that made effortlessness look easy.

• He insisted that dance sequences be filmed in long, unbroken takes showing his entire body — no close-ups, no editing tricks
• His partnership with Ginger Rogers produced ten films that defined the Hollywood musical of the 1930s
• He rehearsed obsessively, often for weeks on a single number, until every movement appeared spontaneous
• Balanchine, Nureyev, and Michael Jackson all cited him as the greatest dancer of the twentieth century