Ginger Rogers Ginger Rogers Ginger Rogers (born Virginia Katherine McMath; July 16, 1911 – April 25, 1995) was an American actress, dancer, and singer. She is known for her starring role in "Kitty Foyle" (1940), but is best remembered for performing in RKO's musical films (partnered with Fred Astaire) on stage, radio and television, throughout much of the 20th century. Born in Independence, Missouri, and raised in Kansas City, Rogers and her family moved to Fort Worth, Texas, when she was nine years old. After winning a 1925 Charleston dance contest that launched a successful vaudeville career, she gained recognition as a
Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers for Astaire and Rogers, "Shall We Dance", which co-starred Edward Everett Horton. Although the film was RKO's biggest film of the year with worldwide rentals of $2.2 million, it did not perform as well as expected by the studio. "Shall We Dance" had the first Hollywood score by the brothers George and Ira Gershwin, and included the song "They Can't Take That Away from Me". Although Astaire and Rogers would go on to make two more films together for RKO, the film's comparative disappointment in the box office was the beginning of the end for their partnership. After an unusually