Bob Fosse was born on June 23, 1927 in Chicago, Illinois. His father came from a Norweigian background and his mother was Irish. He was the youngest of six kids. When he was young he took classes and studied wide ranges of dance such as ballet, tap, and acrobatic dance. He started his formal training from local teachers as well as the Frederick Weaver Ballet School. All of his training led him to begin performing on stage at an early age and he was seen performing in Burlesque and Vaudeville shows by the time he was thirteen. He met up with a young dancer named Charles Grass and they began collaborating with each other as The Riff Brothers, they toured together around the Chicago areas. On top of his dancing studies, he also took acting classes in New York City at the American Theatre wing. After graduating from high school, Fosse joined the Navy; he furthered his art while serving his country by being in an entertainment unit. Eventually, Fosse was hired to perform in Tough Situation and this toured around military and naval bases in the Pacific. After World War 2, he continued with acting classes as well as working as a performer. He appeared on Broadway and in film. Unfortunately, Bob Fosse never experienced great success in the movies, which influenced him to return to his roots. He began choreographing and his breakthrough moment came in 1954 when he was given the opportunity to work on The Pajama Game. His career took off from there with a lot of success and years of choreographing and performing. By his last piece, Fosse had earned eight Tony Awards for his work in musicals. Sadly, his busy work schedule, as well as smoking, drinking, and drugs, finally caught up with him and caused heart problems in the 1970s. Even after cutting back from the causes of some of his bad health problems, Bob Fosse died from a heart attack in 1987 at the age of 60.
Choreographing
Fosse moved to New York in hopes of becoming the next Fred Astaire. His performances and dance partnership with his first wife led him to be discovered and to perform in several television appearances and then hired for screen appearances on Give a Girl a Break and Kiss Me Kate. The sequence he performed and choreographed with Carol Haney led him to be discovered by Broadway producers. Unfortunately, Fosse’s acting career on set was very short; supposedly because of his premature balding because that limited the roles he could take. However, this allowed him to move from Hollywood to theatre. In 1954 he choreographed his first musical, The Pajama Game, which was followed by George Abbott’s Damn Yankees in 1955. Fosse also choreographed the film version of Damn Yankees as well as making appearances in the film. In 1957 Fosse choreographed The New Girl in Town. In 1960 Fosse took his first job as being choreographer and director with the musical Redheaded. Next came Sweet Charity with Fosse costarring/choreographing/and directing and Chicago followed this. In 1973 Pippin was produced. Fosse performed a memorable song and dance routine in Stanley Donen’s 1974 film version of The Little Prince and in 1977 he played a small role in the romantic comedy Thieves. In 1975 Chicago made its debut. In 1979 he created a semi-autobioraphical film All That Jazz, in this piece, the main character dies from heart problems.
The Love Life of Fosse
Fosse’s first wife was Mary Ann Niles and they were wed in 1949. She was his dance partner in Call Me Mister. They were frequent performers on Your Hit Parade during the 1950-1951 season. Their performers on this show led them to be discovered and scheduled to appear on the Colgate Comedy Hour. His love for Niles did not last and he soon met his second wife to be. He married Joan McCracken, a dancer, in 1952. However, this marriage also did not last. He met his third wife, Gwen Verdon, while he was working on Damn Yankees and married her in 1960. He was so mesmerized by her that he starred her in his next two productions and created the lead role in Sweet Charity especially for her.
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