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Eugene Curran "Gene" Kelly (August 23, 1912 – February 2, 1996) was an American dancer, actor, singer, film director, producer and choreographer. He was known for his energetic and athletic dancing style, his good looks, and the likeable characters that he played on screen. Best known today for his performances in films such as ''An American in Paris'' (1951), ''Anchors Aweigh'' (1945), and ''Singin' in the Rain'' (1952), he was a dominant force in musical films until they fell out of fashion in the late 1950s. His many innovations transformed the Hollywood musical and he is credited with almost single-handedly making the ballet form commercially acceptable to film audiences.〔 Kelly received an Academy Honorary Award in 1952 for his career achievements. He later received lifetime achievement awards in the Kennedy Center Honors (1982), and from the Screen Actors Guild and American Film Institute. In 1999, the American Film Institute also numbered him 15th in their Greatest Male Stars of Classic Hollywood cinema list. ==Early life== Kelly was born in the East Liberty neighborhood of Pittsburgh. He was the third son of James Patrick Joseph Kelly, a phonograph salesman, and his wife Harriet Catherine Curran.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Heritage Gazette Vol.12 no.1: Entertainment and Recreation (May 2007) )〕 His father was born in Peterborough, Ontario, Canada, to an Irish Canadian family. His maternal grandfather was an immigrant from Derry, Northern Ireland, and his maternal grandmother was of German ancestry. When he was eight, Kelly's mother enrolled him and his brother James in dance classes. They both rebelled, as recalled by Kelly: "We didn't like it much and were continually involved in fistfights with the neighborhood boys who called us sissies...I didn't dance again until I was fifteen." At one time his childhood dream was to play shortstop for the hometown Pittsburgh Pirates.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=On Stage: Kate Hepburn, Richard Rauh and old Nixon )〕 By the time he decided to dance, he was an accomplished sportsman and able to defend himself. He attended St. Raphael Elementary School〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=St Raphael Elementary School )〕 in the Morningside neighborhood of Pittsburgh and graduated from Peabody High School at age sixteen. He entered Pennsylvania State College as a journalism major, but the 1929 crash forced him to work to help his family. He created dance routines with his younger brother Fred to earn prize money in local talent contests. They also performed in local nightclubs.〔 In 1931, Kelly enrolled at the University of Pittsburgh to study economics, joining the Phi Kappa Theta fraternity. He became involved in the university's Cap and Gown Club, which staged original musical productions. After graduating in 1933, he continued to be active with the Cap and Gown Club, serving as the director from 1934 to 1938. He was admitted to the University of Pittsburgh Law School. Kelly's family had opened a dance studio in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood of Pittsburgh. In 1932, they renamed it The Gene Kelly Studio of the Dance. They opened a second location in Johnstown, Pennsylvania in 1933. Kelly served as a teacher at the studio during his undergraduate and law student years at Pitt. In 1931, he was approached by the Rodef Shalom synagogue in Pittsburgh to teach dance, and to stage the annual Kermess. This venture was successful enough that they retained his services for seven years, until he departed for New York.〔cf. Hirschhorn, p.33.〕 Kelly eventually decided to pursue a career as a dance teacher and full-time entertainer, so he dropped out of law school after two months. He began to increasingly focus on performing, and later claimed: "With time I became disenchanted with teaching because the ratio of girls to boys was more than ten to one, and once the girls reached sixteen the dropout rate was very high."〔 In 1937, having successfully managed and developed the family's dance school business, he finally did move to New York City in search of work as a choreographer.〔 Kelly returned to Pittsburgh, to his family home at 7514 Kensington Street by 1940, and worked as a theatrical actor.〔1940 US Census via Ancestry.com〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Gene Kelly」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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