The son of a vaudeville entertainer, Fosse began his career as a hoofer in vaudeville and by the age of 13 was a seasoned veteran of many burlesque shows in his native Chicago. Moving to NYC, he acted and danced on stage before becoming an MGM contract player in musical films of the early 50s. He rose through the studio's ranks, and, though Hermes Pan allowed him to create his own dance sequence ("From This Moment On") opposite Carol Haney in "Kiss Me Kate" (1953), "My Sister Eileen" (1955) brought him his first chance to choreograph a film. In between, he crafted dances for his first Broadway show, "The Pajama Game" (1954), earning a Tony Award and introducing in its "Steam Heat" number his trademark sinuous, sharp-angled and tightly-wound style. Fosse embarked on a string of successful Broadway musicals as a director, beginning with 1959's "Redhead" and including such hits as "How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying" (1961), "Little Me" (1963) and "Sweet Charity" (1966). He made his feature directorial debut with the adaptation of "Sweet Charity" in 1969.
The outstanding stage to screen adaptation of "Cabaret", which won eight Academy Awards, established Fosse as a force in Hollywood. Though its narrative sections outside the Kit Kat Club leave something to be desired, it is the action inside the club that makes the picture tick. Its sleazy setting is the real star, borrowing from the director's burlesque background and love of the "nasty" to provide an appropriate backdrop for the disillusion and despair of pre-World War II Germany. Numbers like "The Money Song" (written specifically for the film), "If You Could See Her Through My Eyes" and "Mein Herr" testify to Fosse's brilliance. "Lenny" (1974), despite its absence of musical numbers, was structurally very similar to "Cabaret" with its scenes of comic Lenny Bruce "riffing" in nightclubs providing a counterpoint to the dramatic narrative. Shot in black and white, "Lenny" was also an adaptation of a play, and its preoccupation with death (both the comic's and Fosse's) prefigured the morbidity of the director's next two films.
"All That Jazz" (1979) was a self-important, egomaniacal, wonderfully choreographed, often compelling film which portrayed the energetic life of a workaholic, womanizing genius, his flirtation with death offset by the excitement of dance and work. As always with Fosse, the terpsichorean elements were the best parts of the picture, affording dance aficionados the opportunity to see performances from angles which would be impossible at a live production. Unfortunately, the actual story (co-scripted by the director) fell short, failing to offer much insight to the ultimately unsympathetic autobiographical character's motivations. Fosse's final film, "Star 80" (1983), was a stark, uncompromising biopic of slain PLAYBOY Playmate Dorothy Stratten that could just as easily have turned out a black masterpiece with a little more humor and a little less helpless despair. However, the extremely well-crafted, well-acted movie, once again short on insight, left the viewer with little beyond a feeling of voyeurism.
Though he helmed a mere five films, Fosse proved himself an excellent director of actors in movies, bringing his talent for eliciting outstanding portrayals on stage to the pictures. Liza Minnelli's finest screen moments were as Sally Bowles in "Cabaret", and Hollywood had pretty much written Valerie Perrine off before his revelation of her as Lenny Bruce's wife. He also restored Jessica Lange ("All That Jazz") to respectability, as well as drawing great performances from Dustin Hoffman ("Lenny") and Eric Roberts ("Star 80"). Sure there were flaws in his films, but nobody presented dancing and the club milieu any better on celluloid. Of course, Fosse had more impact in theater as his nine Tony Awards attest, but stage performances are fleeting, here today, gone forever. Thankfully, film and TV provide a historical record of the Fosse style. From the sweetly nostalgic "Shoeless Joe From Hannibal Moe" vignette in "Damn Yankees" (1958) to his own performance as the Snake in "The Little Prince" (1974), Fosse left a film legacy representative of the significantly larger body of theatrical work that places him in the very upper echelon of dance greats.