Actor, Dancing Legend Gene Kelly Dead At 83 -- Famed For `Singin' In The Rain'

LOS ANGELES - Gene Kelly, dancer and choreographer who brought his athletic grace and Irish charm to "Singin' in the Rain," "On the Town" and other great movie musicals of the 1940s and '50s, died today, his publicist said. He was 83.

"Gene died peacefully in his sleep this morning, his wife, Patricia, at his bedside," Warren Cowan, his longtime publicist, told KCBS-TV. He had suffered strokes in 1994 and 1995, and Cowan said he never really recovered from them.

Mr. Kelly reigned at MGM in the postwar era, when the studio was the champion of movie musicals. He also had serious acting roles and directed "Hello, Dolly!" and other films.

His most memorable dance was the title number of "Singin' in the Rain," in which he splashed through puddles on a near-deserted street, his love for Debbie Reynolds rendering him oblivious to the downpour.

Mr. Kelly was co-director as well as choreographer and actor in the 1952 film, a lighthearted look at the early days of talking pictures. In 1989, "Singin' in the Rain" was one of the first 25 films selected by the Library of Congress for its National Film Registry.

Mr. Kelly's acrobatic dance style contrasted with the more elegant style of Fred Astaire, who began his film career a decade earlier.

"People would compare us, but we didn't dance alike at all!" he said in a 1994 Los Angeles Times interview. "Fred danced in tails - everybody wore them before I came out here - but I took off my coat, rolled up my sleeves and danced in sweatshirts and jeans and khakis."

The pair danced together only twice: as two casual friends spouting cliches in "Ziegfeld Follies" (1946); and at the end of their dancing careers in a light-footed duet for "That's Entertainment Part II."

Mr. Kelly had more unusual dance partners in the 1945 film "Anchors Aweigh," sharing the screen with cartoon characters such as Tom and Jerry. The film, which also starred Frank Sinatra and Kathryn Grayson, won him a 1945 Oscar nomination as best actor.

Mr. Kelly choreographed many of his films and began taking more control by co-directing "On the Town" with Stanley Donen in 1949. He said it was his favorite film "because it was my first directing job, and I loved it for the ground it broke." The story of sailors on leave in New York broke the mold by being shot on location.

Mr. Kelly and Donen combined again on "Singin' in the Rain" and "It's Always Fair Weather."

Mr. Kelly's most bravura performance came with "An American in Paris." He created the dances, climaxed by the 17-minute ballet with Leslie Caron to George Gershwin's music. The number cost $500,000.

The film won the Academy Award as best picture of 1951, and Mr. Kelly was given a special award "in appreciation of his versatility as actor, singer, director and dancer, and especially for his brilliant achievements in the art of choreography on film."

Mr. Kelly always sought to elevate the art of dance in films. His first work as solo director was "Invitation to the Dance" (1956), which contained no dialogue.

"We had a great group of people who were all very serious about making musicals an indigenous American art form," he said in 1994. "And we succeeded - of course, not without some yelling at studio heads."

Mr. Kelly began concentrating on dramatic roles and directing in the late '50s, particularly after a knee injury sidelined him from dancing for a couple of years.

His nonmusical films included "Marjorie Morningstar," "Inherit the Wind" and "40 Carats." His films as director were limited: "Tunnel of Love," "Gigot," "A Guide to the Married Man," "Hello Dolly" and "The Cheyenne Social Club" (with Henry Fonda and James Stewart).

Kelly's last movie as a performer was 1980's "Xanadu" with Olivia Newton-John, in which he performed on roller skates.