Bob Fosse Biography

Quick Facts

NAME: Bob Fosse
OCCUPATION: Choreographer, Director
BIRTH DATE: June 23, 1927
DEATH DATE: September 23, 1987
PLACE OF BIRTH: Chicago, Illinois

PLACE OF DEATH: Washington, D.C.
Originally: Robert Louis Fosse

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Best Known For

Bob Fosse was an American theater and motion-picture choreographer and director of musical plays.

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Bob Fosse

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Synopsis

In 1953, Bob Fosse performed in three film musicals, including Kiss Me Kate. The next year, he won his first Tony award for choreographing The Pajama Game on Broadway, becoming noted for his clever, angular groupings of dancers and fresh, stylistically exaggerated staging. Fosse also choreographed and directed the successful motion-picture musicals Cabaret (1972) and All That Jazz (1979).

Profile

(born June 23, 1927, Chicago, Ill., U.S.—died Sept. 23, 1987, Washington, D.C.) American theatre and motion-picture choreographer and director of musical plays.

The son of a vaudevillian, Fosse attended dance schools as a child and began dancing professionally at the age of 13. A chorus dancer in national tours and Broadway musicals between 1947 and 1953, he signed a contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in the latter year and danced and sang in three film musicals, including Kiss Me Kate. He returned the next year to Broadway, where he won his first Tony award for choreographing The Pajama Game (1954), becoming noted then and later for his clever, angular groupings of dancers and fresh, stylistically exaggerated staging. He then arranged the dances for several Broadway shows, winning Tony awards for Damn Yankees (1955), Redhead (1959), Little Me (1963), Sweet Charity (1966), Pippin (1972), and Dancin' (1978).

Fosse choreographed and directed the successful motion-picture musicals Cabaret (1972) and All That Jazz (1979). He also directed the nonmusical films Lenny (1974), based on the life of comedian Lenny Bruce, and Star 80 (1983).