Virginia Katherine McMath, who became known as Ginger Rogers, was born in Independence, Missouri on July 16, 1911. She was an American singer, actress, and well-known dancer. Her mother Lela Emogene was a scriptwriter, newspaper reporter, and film producer. When Ginger Rogers was born, Lela left her husband William and went away to have her daughter as in an earlier pregnancy William had allowed the doctor to use forceps to deliver the baby who subsequently died and so Lela did not want her child to be born in a hospital.

Ginger’s childhood was a bit rough. Her parents divorced shortly after she was born, and her father kidnapped her several times, with Lela finally taking him to court. She was very close with her mother since her father eventually stopped seeing her and she didn’t have any living siblings although she did have cousins, which is where the name Ginger came from, as they apparently had trouble saying Virginia.

In 1915 her mother left Ginger with her grandparents for a while to search for a scriptwriting job across the country in Hollywood, California. She eventually succeeded in getting an essay she had written turned into a film and she subsequently continued to write scripts for Fox.

When Ginger Rogers was nine years old, her mother married John Logan Rogers, and although Ginger was never officially adopted by him, she took his surname. They all lived together in Fort Worth where Ginger attended the Central High School, but she never graduated.

At fourteen years old, Ginger won a Charleston dance contest which helped launch a successful Vaudeville career. She also became known on Broadway for her role in ‘Crazy Girl’. Her success was not just in theatre, however. Her first film roles consisted of a trio of short films made in 1929 and in the following year she landed herself a seven-year deal with Paramount Pictures.

Throughout her career Ginger Rogers appeared in a total of 73 films but the roles which made her famous are generally thought of as those where she appeared alongside her dance partner, Fred Astaire, including their first film together Flying Down to Rio which was released in 1933. They also co-starred in Top Hat in 1935 and Shall We Dance in 1937. In 1934’s The Gay Divorcee she also sang a song called ‘The Continental’, which won the first Academy Award for Best Original Song.

Ginger Rogers is also associated with the phrase “backwards and in high heels.” It means that although Fred Astaire was a brilliant dancer, Ginger was even more impressive as she had to do everything whilst going backward, not being able to see where she was going, and all the time looking fantastic in flowing gowns and high heeled shoes. Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers made ten films together, and despite some misconceptions, they were never romantically involved. Fred Astaire said of her that, “Ginger was brilliantly effective. She made everything work fine for her. Actually, she made things very fine for both of us and she deserves most of the credit for our success.”

They also made a lot of films independent from each other, with Ginger Rogers doing very well in several non-musical dramas such as Stage Door in 1937. In fact, she was so successful that by 1942 she had become one of Hollywood’s highest-paid stars earning over $350,000 per year. She didn’t fritter her money away either, investing it in blue-chip stocks and land.Fred and Ginger’s film Top Hat was the first time Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers had a film written exclusively for them, and it was one of the most financially successful films of 1935, with worldwide revenues of $3.2 million as well as being the most profitable RKO film of the 1930s. Together they were voted number four on the Top Ten Money Making Stars Poll put out by Quigley Publishing Company.

Ginger Rogers earned several awards during her career including an Oscar for Best Actress...