Gene Kelly
Eugene Curran Kelly was born on August 23, 1912 in Pittsburgh, PA, the third of five children. Kellys father, James Kelly, was a traveling record salesman and his mother, Harriet Curran Kelly, exposed her children to the arts. By the time Gene was eight, “The Five Kellys” (Jay, Jim, Gene, Louise, Fred) were performing dance routines at amateur vaudeville nights. By his teenage years, Gene and his brother Fred took over a failing dance school. In 1933 Gene graduated from the University of Pittsburgh as an economics major. By 1938 Gene had achieved all he could as a teacher, and Broadway beckoned.