She worked from the 1930s to the 1950s, often starring with Fred Astaire in such films as Top Hat 1935 and Swing Time 1936. Her other film work includes Bachelor Mother 1939 and Kitty Foyle 1940 (Academy Award). She later appeared in stage musicals. Rogers first appeared with Astaire when both had secondary roles in Flying Down to Rio 1933. Their dance numbers together made them the most celebrated dance due in screen history. Born in Independence, Missouri, Rogers became a dancer in vaudeville, partly on the strength of winning a charleston competition. From New York nightclub appearances she graduated to Broadway shows, including Crazy for You 1930. Prompted by her indefatigable mother Lela, she moved to Hollywood and had small parts in various films, typically (as in 42nd Street 1933) as a wisecracking member of the chorus line. Although Rogers's aspirations to dramatic roles were vindicated by her winning an Academy Award for playing the title role in Kitty Foyle 1940, comedy remained her forte, and she seemed more at home in such films as Roxie Hart 1942 and The Major and the Minor 1942. In the years after World War II her screen career started to decline. Despite a popularly received reunion with Astaire in The Barkleys of Broadway 1949, few of her subsequent films achieved much impact. Her last screen role was as Jean Harlow's mother in the low-budget Harlow 1965, but she subsequently enjoyed considerable success in the theatre. Having already starred in US touring productions of such shows as Annie Get Your Gun, she took over from Carol Channing in 1966 in the Broadway musical Hello, Dolly!, and in London in 1969 played the lead in Mame.
