Ginger Rogers was a highly popular 20th century actress, singer and dancer who won the Academy Award for Best Actress in 1940 for “Kitty Foyleâ€, but who is best remembered as Fred Astaire’s dancing partner. Born Virginia Katherine McMath in Independence, Missouri, Ginger was an only child of divorce, who took her stepfather’s name, Rogers. She entered show business via her mother’s work as a Hollywood script writer, and became a star at 19 when she appeared in the Gershwin Broadway show, “Girl Crazyâ€. Much of her successful film career was carried out at RKO, including the famous Astaire collaboration, although she acted as an independent agent in later years. Ginger Rogers was very close to her mother, both professionally and personally, and embraced both her mother’s religion, Christian Science, and her conservative political views. Married five times, she had no children. In addition to her legacy on screen, stage, radio and television, Ginger Rogers also inspired the feminist-adopted slogan that declared “she did everything Astaire did, but also while dancing backwards and in high heelsâ€.
