BIO: Suave and handsome dancer, actor and choreographer, Gene Kelly, was an American icon who changed dance history. He transformed Hollywood musicals, and brought a new grace and athleticism to the arts, Kelly died on Friday, February 2, 1996. He was 83 years old. Eugene Curran Kelly, Irish on both sides, was born in Pittsburg, PA, on August 23, 1913, one of five Kelly children (two girls and three boys) all of whom took music and dance instruction at a school run by his mother who was from Co. Clare. His father, James Patrick Joseph Kelly, encouraged his children in the arts, but the great Depression was to play a major role in Gene Kelly's life, first when he was forced to postpone his education at the University of Pennsylvania, where he studied dance and played football and hockey, and then when he graduated from the University of Pittsburgh in 1933, and found to his chagrin that there were no jobs for economics majors in Depression-era America! Kelly worked alongside his father at Mrs. Kelly's dance school, and in a few years it was renamed The Gene Kelly Studio of Dance, with a successful branch opening shortly thereafter. In 1938, Kelly went to NY where he got his first job as a chorus boy in "Leave It to Me," dancing alongside Mary Martin. A year later he appeared in "The Time of Your Life," and his career took a giant step forward when he was cast as the main character in "Pal Joey," where his ability to weave together character dancing and singing won rave reviews from the toughest critics in the dance world. His 1942 film, "For Me and My Gal" made him one of Hollywood's hottest performers. His ability to blend elements of jazz, ballet and tap into an accessible form made him popular with both men and women. Kelly elevated cinema-dancing from a background diversion to the forefront of musicals where it advanced the plot and developed the characters. In 1945, Kelly starred in "Anchors Aweigh," the first film to employ live dance with animation. He was memorable in a scene with Fred Astaire in "Babbitt, he costarred in "The Pirate" with Judy Garland, and was unforgettable in "Slaughter on 10th Avenue." The year 1949 saw him star with Frank Sinatra in the first musical ever to be shot on location, "On The Town," and in 1951 Kelly received solo star billing for Gershwin's "An American in Paris," which won eight Academy Awards, including Best Picture and an Oscar for his choreography. In this film he danced with Leslie Caron. It was in 1952 when Kelly starred in the classic "Singin' in the Rain" with Donald O'Connor. "I love to create the dance even more than I love to dance it," Kelly remarked in 1990. Who can forget Kelly in "Brigadoon." Kelly married actress Betsy Blair in 1941. They were divorced in 1957. He then married his assistant choreographer and former dance student, Jeanne Coyne, who died after 23 years of marriage. His third marriage was to writer Patricia Ward. Kelly named his oldest daughter Kerry, after Co. Kerry and the Ring of Kerry. Gene Kelly maintained his duel citizenship and was given several awards during this lifetime including those from President Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton. Kelly commented, "The Irish really dominated the popular dance in 20th-century America. I think it came from the fact that the dancing in Ireland for centuries has been clog dancing and reels and these dances certainly influenced the American people so that it actually became part of American tap-dancing. They blended the tap-dancing of the Irish, as I would call it, with the syncopation of the music of the blacks and created a whole new form of tap-dancing." Kellly was a life-long liberal democrat. His style of dancing was athletic and reflected the common man.