Gene Kelly movies." "Anchors Aweigh" became one of the most successful films of 1945 and Kelly was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor. In "Ziegfeld Follies" (1946)—which was produced in 1944 but not released until 1946—Kelly collaborated with Fred Astaire, for whom he had the greatest admiration, in the famous "The Babbitt and the Bromide" challenge dance routine. After Kelly returned to Hollywood in 1946, MGM had nothing planned and used him in a routine, black-and-white movie: "Living in a Big Way". The film was considered so weak that the studio asked Kelly to design and insert a series of
Fred Astaire partner, Adele Astaire, made the show pause early in the evening with a beautiful loose-limbed dance." By this time, Astaire's dancing skill was beginning to outshine his sister's, though she still set the tone of their act and her sparkle and humor drew much of the attention, owing in part to Fred's careful preparation and strong supporting choreography. During the 1920s, Fred and Adele appeared on Broadway and on the London stage in shows such as Jerome Kern's "The Bunch and Judy" (1922), George and Ira Gershwin's "Lady, Be Good" (1924), and "Funny Face" (1927) and later in "The Band