Robert Louis Fosse

 Robert Louis Fosse (June 23, 1927 – September 23, 1987)

Fosse was a dancer, musical theatre choreographer, director, screenwriter, film director and actor. He won eight Tony Awards for choreography, more than anyone else, as well as one for direction. He was nominated for four Academy Awards, winning for his direction of Cabaret. His appearance with his first wife and dance partner Mary Ann Niles was in Call Me Mister brought him to the attention of Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis. Fosse and Niles were regular performers on Your Hit Parade during its 1950-51 season, and during this season Martin and Lewis caught their act in New York's Pierre Hotel and scheduled them to appear on the Colgate Comedy Hour. Fosse was signed to a MGM contract in 1953. His early screen appearances included Give A Girl A Break, The Affairs of Dobie Gillis and Kiss Me Kate, all released in 1953. A short sequence that he choreographed in the last (and danced with Carol Haney) brought him to the attention of Broadway producers. Although Fosse's acting career in film was cut short by typecasting, he was reluctant to move from Hollywood to theater. Nevertheless, he made the move, and in 1954, he choreographed his first musical, The Pajama Game, followed by George Abbott's Damn Yankees in 1955. It was while working on the latter show that he first met the rising star whom he was to marry in 1960, Gwen Verdon. Verdon won her first Tony Award for Best Actress in Damn Yankees. In 1960, Fosse was, for the first time, both director and choreographer of a musical called simply Redhead. With Redhead, Verdon won her third Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical; the show won the Tony for best musical and Fosse won the award for best choreography. Fosse directed five feature films. His first, Sweet Charity (1969), starring Shirley MacLaine, is an adaptation of the Broadway musical he had directed and choreographed. Fosse shot the film largely on location in Manhattan. His second film, Cabaret (1972), won eight Academy Awards, including Best Director, which he won over Francis Ford Coppola for The Godfather. In 1979, Fosse co-wrote and directed a semi-autobiographical film All That Jazz (1979), which portrayed the life of a womanizing, drug-addicted choreographer-director in the midst of triumph and failure. All That Jazz won four Academy Awards, earning Fosse his third Oscar nomination for Best Director.

On September 23, 1987, Fosse died at George Washington University Hospital from a heart attack, while the revival of Sweet Charity was opening at the nearby National Theatre. Verdon held him in her arms as he suffered a fatal heart attack on the sidewalk outside the Willard Hotel as the revival of Sweet Charity was beginning across the street. He was taken to George Washington University Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.