August 23rd: Gene Kelly's birthday

Dancer and actor Gene Kelly was born on this date in 1912. Here are 10 things you might not know about him:

1. When he was eight, Kelly's mother enrolled him and his brother James in dance classes. They both hated it. Looking back, Kelly said: "We didn't like it much and were continually involved in fistfights with the neighbourhood boys who called us sissies...I didn't dance again until I was fifteen."
2. He studied economics at university and after graduation, went on to study law - but dropped out after two months to pursue a career as a dance teacher.
3. His first film was For Me and My Gal (1942) co-starring Judy Garland.
4. Critics were not always kind. Noted critic Manny Farber was impressed with his acting but wrote, "The two things he does least well - singing and dancing - are what he is given most consistently to do." However, he later changed his tune after seeing Kelly dancing with Jerry Mouse. The he wrote, "Kelly is the most exciting dancer to appear in Hollywood movies."
5. In 1944, Kelly enlisted in the U.S. Naval Air Service and was commissioned as lieutenant junior grade. He was stationed in the Photographic Section, Washington DC, where he was involved in writing and directing documentaries. This got him interested in the production side of film-making.
6. He didn't just star in Singin' in the Rain. He was also co-director and choreographer.
7. Kelly was offered the job of directing The Sound of Music. He wasn't at all keen. He threw Ernest Lehman out of his house saying "Go find someone else to direct this piece of shit."
8. After Hollywood musicals declined, Kelly worked in TV, and starred as a Catholic priest in a series called Going My Way, which was cancelled after one series but was popular outside the US.
9. Kelly was married three times. To Betsy Blair from 1941 to 1957; Jeanne Coyne from 1960 to 1973, and Patricia Ward from 1990 until his death in 1996.
10. He was raised as a Roman Catholic, and he was a member of the Good Shepherd Parish and the Catholic Motion Picture Guild in Beverly Hills, but became disenchanted by the Roman Catholic Church's support for Francisco Franco against the Spanish Republic, and the church's failure to help the poor in Mexico. He severed his ties with the church in September 1939. He then became an agnostic and remained so for the rest of his life.