Page "Gene Kelly" Paragraph 24

There followed in quick succession two musicals which have secured Kelly's reputation as a major figure in the American musical film, An American in Paris ( 1951 ) and – probably the most popular and admired of all film musicals – Singin ' in the Rain ( 1952 ).

As co-director, lead star and choreographer, Kelly was the central driving force.

Johnny Green, head of music at MGM at the time, described him as follows :" Gene is easygoing as long as you know exactly what you are doing when you're working with him.

He's a hard taskmaster and he loves hard work.

If you want to play on his team you'd better like hard work, too.

He isn't cruel but he is tough, and if Gene believed in something he didn't care who he was talking to, whether it was Louis B. Mayer or the gatekeeper.

He wasn't awed by anybody, and he had a good record of getting what he wanted ".

An American in Paris won six Academy Awards, including Best Picture and, in the same year, Kelly was presented with an honorary Academy Award for his contribution to film musicals and the art of choreography.

The film also marked the debut of Leslie Caron, who Kelly had spotted in Paris and brought to Hollywood.

Its dream ballet sequence, lasting an unprecedented seventeen minutes, was the most expensive production number ever filmed up to that point.

It was described by Bosley Crowther as, " whoop-de-doo ... one of the finest ever put on the screen.

" Singin ' in the Rain featured Kelly's celebrated and much imitated solo dance routine to the title song, along with the " Moses Supposes " routine with Donald O ' Connor and the " Broadway Melody " finale with Cyd Charisse.

Though the scene did not initially generate the same enthusiasm as An American in Paris, it subsequently overtook the earlier film to occupy its current pre-eminent place among critics and filmgoers alike.