The Dancer and the Deck: Fred Astaire's Surprising Skateboarding Passion

When one pictures Fred Astaire, the image is immediate and iconic: a figure of impossible elegance in a top hat and tails, gliding across a polished floor with a partner in his arms. He is the personification of controlled grace, a master whose every movement was meticulously perfected. It is an image so deeply ingrained in our cultural consciousness that the thought of Astaire swapping his tap shoes for a slab of wood on four polyurethane wheels seems like a flight of fancy. Yet, in one of the most charming footnotes to a legendary career, that is precisely what happened.

An Unexpected Spark

The year was 1977. At the age of 78, long after he had cemented his status as Hollywood's greatest dancer, Fred Astaire found a new fascination. It wasn't in a ballroom or on a soundstage, but on the sun-drenched sidewalks of his Beverly Hills neighborhood. He saw local kids zipping by on skateboards and was utterly captivated by their fluid motion. As he later explained on The Dick Cavett Show, his reaction was simple and direct: "I have to have one of those." True to his word, he bought a board for his grandkids and, of course, one for himself. His wife at the time, Robyn Smith, referred to him as a "closet jock," and this new pursuit was a perfect example of his understated athleticism.

Mastering a New Rhythm

With the same dedication he applied to his intricate dance routines, Astaire began practicing. He took to his driveway, learning to balance and glide. For a man whose entire career was built on an almost supernatural sense of balance, the transition was surprisingly natural. He wasn't aiming for vert ramps or kickflips; he was exploring a new form of personal movement, a different kind of choreography. But even for a master, new disciplines carry new risks. After a few weeks of practice, the inevitable happened.

The Inevitable "Cropper"

Astaire's skateboarding career was briefly, and painfully, interrupted when he broke his left wrist. It wasn't a dramatic, high-speed crash, but a simple lapse in concentration that could happen to anyone. He recounted the incident with his typical self-effacing charm:

I was just goin' along the driveway on my skateboard... and I stupidly turned around to see if the dog was comin' after me, you see, and with that, my balance was gone. I came a cropper, as the English say.

The injury was significant, but it did little to dampen the story's appeal. If anything, it made the tale more real, more human. The world's most graceful man was not immune to the humbling physics of a skateboard.

An Honor from a New Generation

The story of the dancing legend's new hobby did not go unnoticed. The burgeoning skate community was delighted by its most unlikely new enthusiast. In a gesture that beautifully bridged the gap between old Hollywood glamour and new-wave counterculture, Astaire was awarded a lifetime membership to the National Skateboard Society. He cherished the honor, proudly showing off his membership card during television interviews. It was a fitting tribute to a man who, even in his later years, refused to stop moving, proving that true grace is not about the medium, but the spirit of the artist.

Sources

• From the Archives: Fred Astaire, the master of dance, dies at 88
• The dancing legend who swapped his top hat for a skateboard
• Fred Astaire: the legendary dancer was a skateboarder
• Fred Astaire on Skateboarding (Merv Griffin Show 1977)