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 last long. Astaire returned to the big screen to replace an injured Kelly in "Easter Parade" (1948) opposite Judy Garland, Ann Miller, and Peter Lawford and for a final reunion with Rogers (replacing Judy Garland) in "The Barkleys of Broadway" (1949). Both of these films revived Astaire's popularity and in 1950 he starred in two musicals – one for M-G-M – "Three Little Words" with Vera-Ellen and Red Skelton and one on loan-out to Paramount – "Let's Dance" with Betty Hutton. While "Three Little Words" did quite well at the box office, "Let's Dance" was a financial disappointment. "Royal Wedding"