Fosse's tilted hats remade jazz dance forever
Robert Louis Fosse lived from 23 June 1927 to 23 September 1987 and turned turned-in knees, bowlers, and jazz hands into a modern dance language. Hardware spanned an Oscar, a BAFTA, three Emmys, nine Tonys, and Cannes' Palme d'Or—rare reach across stage and screen.
Born in Chicago's Uptown district to salesman Cyril Kingsley Fosse and Sarah Alice Stanton, he was the fifth of six children and named for novelist Robert Louis Stevenson. Formal lessons began at eight under Marguerite Comerford at the Chicago Academy of Theatre Arts. By thirteen he toured as half of The Riff Brothers; at fifteen he choreographed Hold Evry'thing!, drawing on burlesque houses he later called formative. After Amundsen High School and Navy Special Services shows across Pacific bases, he chased Fred Astaire dreams in New York in 1947.
Broadway producers noticed his Kiss Me Kate Hortensio steps with Carol Haney in 1953. Jerome Robbins handed him The Pajama Game the next year; Tonys followed for choreography on Damn Yankees, Redhead, Little Me, Sweet Charity, Pippin, Dancin', and Big Deal, plus directing Pippin. He married collaborator Gwen Verdon in 1960 after meeting her on Damn Yankees. Film directing began with Sweet Charity in 1969; Cabaret in 1972 won him Best Director among eight Oscars for the picture, while a Liza Minnelli concert film brought Emmy directing and choreography prizes the same year.
All That Jazz in 1979, a semi-autobiographical fever dream with Roy Scheider, earned another directing Oscar nomination and the 1980 Palme d'Or. Pauline Kael called him a late-blooming film prodigy. His final feature, Star 80 in 1983, probed the murder of Dorothy Stratten; Roger Ebert praised its harsh clarity. Signature vocabulary—the Fosse Amoeba, sideways shuffles, gloves hiding hands he disliked, hats covering baldness—still defines numbers like Steam Heat and Big Spender.
Source: Bob Fosse
