Ginger Rogers was born Virginia Katherine McMath in Independence, Missouri on July 16, 1911. Her family moved to Texas when she was a toddler because her father had found employment there. It wasn't long before Ginger's parents separated and she and her mother moved into a hotel. Her father, twice, kidnapped her, but both times she was returned to her mother. He received very little in visitation rights and Ginger only saw him sporadically thereafter. He died when she was 11 years old. She, then, moved with her mother to her grandparents in Kansas City, Missouri where Mrs. McMath managed to get Ginger in some advertising films. Now she was developing a taste for the cinema. Ginger's mother left her child in the care of her parents while she went in search of a job as a scriptwriter in Hollywood and later to New York City. Mrs. McMath found herself with an income good enough to where she could send for Ginger. Later, the two packed up and moved to Fort Worth, Texas where Ginger attended high school and appeared in the school productions, while her mother remarried. The theater became Ginger's passion. At the age of 14, she was also appearing in vaudeville acts which she did until she was 17. Now she had discovered true acting. She went to New York where she appeared in the Broadway production of "Top Speed." She did a superb job which began to encourage her to seek work in feature films. A screen test turned out well and she was off to the movies. Her first film was in 1929 in A Night in a Dormitory. It was a bit part, but it was a start. Later that year, Ginger appeared, briefly in two more films, A Day of a Man of Affairs and _Campus Sweethearts (1929)_ . The following year she began to get better parts in films such as Office Blues and The Tip-Off. But the movie that enamored her to the public was Gold Diggers of 1933. She did not have top billing but her beauty and voice was enough to have the public want more. One song she popularized in the film was the now famous, "We're in the Money". In 1934, she starred with Dick Powell in Twenty Million Sweethearts. It was a well received film about the popularity of radio. Ginger's real stardom occurred when she was teamed with Fred Astaire where they were one of the best cinematic couples ever to hit the silver screen. This is where she achieved real stardom. They were first paired in 1933's Flying Down to Rio and later in 1935's Roberta and Top Hat. Ginger also appeared in some very good comedies such as Bachelor Mother and 5th Ave Girl both in 1939. Also that year she appeared with Astaire in The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle. The film made money but was not anywhere successful as they had hoped. After that studio executives at RKO wanted Ginger to strike out on her own. She made several dramatic pictures but it was 1940's Kitty Foyle: The Natural History of a Woman that allowed her to shine. Playing a young lady from the wrong side of the tracks, she played the lead role well, so well in fact, that she won an Academy Award for her portrayal. Ginger followed that project with the delightful comedy, Tom Dick and Harry the following year. It's a story where she has to choose which of three men she wants to marry. Through the rest of the 1940's and early 1950's she continued to make movies but not near the caliber before World War II. After Oh, Men! Oh, Women! in 1957, Ginger didn't appear on the silver screen for seven years. By 1965, she had appeared for the last time in Harlow. Afterward, she appeared on Broadway and other stage plays traveling in Europe, the U.S. and Canada. After 1984, she retired and wrote an autobiography in 1991 entitled, "Ginger, My Story" which is a very good book. On April 25, 1995, Ginger died of natural causes in Rancho Mirage, California. She was 83.



The Barkleys of Broadway (1949): $12,500/week

Daughter of Lela E. Rogers Was given the name "Ginger" by her little cousin who couldn't pronounce "Virginia" correctly. Interred at Oakwood Memorial Park, Chatsworth, California, USA, the same cemetery as long-time dancing/acting partner Fred Astaire is located. Sort-of cousin of Rita Hayworth. Ginger's aunt married Rita's uncle. Directed her first stage musical, "Babes In Arms", at age 74. A keen artist, Ginger did many paintings, sculptures and sketches in her free time but could never bring herself to sell any of them. Author Graham Greene always said he would have liked Ginger to play the role of Aunt Augusta in the film version of his novel "Travels With My Aunt". When the film _Travels with My Aunt (1972)_ was made in 1972 the role was played by Maggie Smith. Always the outdoor sporty type, she was a near-champion tennis player, a topline shot and loved going fishing. Was badly affected by illness in her last years after suffering two strokes that had left her wheelchair-bound and visibly overweight, while her voice had become a shrunken rasp. Related to Random House publisher and "What's My Line?" (1950) panelist Bennett Cerf through marriage, when he married Ginger's cousin Phyllis Fraser, who later became known as Phyllis Cerf. Aunt of Christopher Cerf and Jonathan Cerf. Turned down lead roles in To Each His Own (1946) and The Snake Pit (1948). Both of these roles went on to be played to great acclaim by Olivia de Havilland. In a 1991 TV interview when asked why the Fred Astaire / Rogers union wasn't known as "Ginger & Fred" rather than "Fred & Ginger" (as Ginger had been in films longer), she replied, "It's a man's world". Was named #14 Actress on The AFI 50 Greatest Screen Legends She and Fred Astaire acted in 10 movies together: The Barkleys of Broadway (1949), Carefree (1938), Flying Down to Rio (1933), Follow the Fleet (1936), The Gay Divorcee (1934), Roberta (1935), Shall We Dance (1937), The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle (1939), Swing Time (1936) and Top Hat (1935) A distant cousin of Lucille Ball, according to Lucie Arnaz. During the last years of her life she retired in Oregon and bought a ranch in the Medford area because she liked the climate. She donated money to the community and funded the Craterian Ginger Rogers Theater in downtown Medford, which was named after her. Has a street named after her in Rancho Mirage, California, her final winter home. Ginger Rogers Road is located in the Mission Hills Golf Course. It crosses Bob Hope Drive, between Gerald Ford Drive and Dinah Shore Drive and 2 blocks from Frank Sinatra Drive. Salary for 1938, $219,500. Her great-great-grandfather was a doctor who discovered quinine, the cure for malaria. Turned down Donna Reed's role in It's a Wonderful Life (1946). Replaced Judy Garland in the film The Barkleys of Broadway (1949) after Garland was suspended from MGM due to her tardiness.