Ginger Rogers filmography with RKO Radio Pictures, where she was paired with dancer Fred Astaire in commercially successful "Flying Down to Rio" (1933). The pair achieved greater success in subsequent musicals "The Gay Divorcee" (1934), "Top Hat" (1935), "Swing Time" (1936), and "Shall We Dance" (1937), totaling 8 films made between 1933 and 1939. Without Astaire, Rogers starred in critically and commercially successful non-musicals throughout the remainder of the 1930s such as "Stage Door" (1937) with Katharine Hepburn, "Vivacious Lady" (1938) with James Stewart, and "Bachelor Mother" (1939) with David Niven, culminating with an Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in
Ginger Rogers on November 22, 1971, in which Rogers danced the Charleston for the first time in many years. Rogers starred in one of the earliest films co-directed and co-scripted by a woman, Wanda Tuchock's "Finishing School" (1934). Rogers maintained a close friendship with her cousin, writer/socialite Phyllis Fraser, wife of Random House publisher Bennett Cerf, but was not Rita Hayworth's natural cousin, as has been reported. Hayworth's maternal uncle, Vinton Hayworth, was married to Rogers' maternal aunt, Jean Owens. She was raised a Christian Scientist and remained a lifelong adherent. She devoted a great deal of time in her autobiography to