ITV Perspectives - For the Love of Fred Astaire (2015)

Len Goodman is a man who has dedicated his life to dance, and in this film he is travelling across America to explore the extraordinary life, and the imaginative mind of his greatest hero, Fred Astaire. From his daughter to his dance partner, Len leaves no stone untouched as he discovers more about how and why this man became one of the greatest dancers of all time.

Says Len “Growing up in a grey post-war London, my great escape was the pictures and to sit there watching Fred Astaire in white tie and tails, gliding across the floor with effortless ease, well it just captured me. I was spellbound. His technical precision, the sharpness of his movements, the jaw-dropping choreography, all set to the memorable music of Irving Berlin. It's never left me.”

Len heads to New York where a young Fred Astaire learnt to dance at the tender age of six. Forced by his mother to partner his older sister Adele, Fred reportedly hated dance classes but revelled in the rhythmic beat of the teacher keeping time.

Fred's obsession with rhythm was in part inspired by the dance phenomenon that had taken turn of the century New York by storm and here Len meets, and picks up tips from, Jason Samuels Smith, an expert on the history of the new dance that hooked Fred tap. Jason talks about the black artists who influenced Fred and who Fred in turn acknowledged and tried to give credit to through his performance.

ITV Site

Full Version Available Upon Request
Related Documentary