Ginger Rogers did everything Fred Astaire did, backwards and in high heels, and she did it with a wit and a warmth all her own. She was never just a dance partner; she was a star in her own right, in musicals, comedies, and dramas alike.
Born in Independence, Missouri, in 1911, Rogers began performing as a child, won a Charleston contest as a teenager, and reached Broadway before Hollywood called. Her early films included 42nd Street (1933) and Gold Diggers of 1933 (1933), and her first film with Fred Astaire, Flying Down to Rio (1933), launched their partnership.
At RKO Rogers and Astaire made a series of musicals, including The Gay Divorcee (1934), Top Hat (1935), and Swing Time (1936), in which Rogers matched Astaire step for step while also acting the comedy and romance. She also proved herself as a dramatic actress, winning the Academy Award for Best Actress for Kitty Foyle (1940), and she starred in comedies such as Bachelor Mother (1939) and The Major and the Minor (1942).
Rogers continued to work in film, theatre, and television for decades, and she died in 1995. She remains a symbol of grace under pressure, and of a performer who could do it all — and make it look easy.
Image credit: Wikimedia Commons, public domain — File:Ginger_Rogers_in_’Tender_Comrade’,_1943.jpg.