Robert Louis Fosse (/ˈfɒsi/; June 23, 1927 – September 23, 1987) was an American choreographer, dancer, filmmaker, and stage director.

Fosse started his career acting in the musical productions of Call Me Mister (1947), Billion Dollar Baby (1951), and Pal Joey (1952).

Fosse forged an uncompromising modern style, characterized by finger-snapping, tilted bowler hats, fishnet stockings, splayed gloved fingers, turned-in knees and toes, shoulder rolls and jazz hands.

A Streamlined Extravaganza in Two Parts, which featured showgirls wearing strapless dresses and performing a fan dance, inspired by his time in burlesque houses.

[8] After graduating from Amundsen High School[9][10][11] in 1945, Fosse was recruited into the U.S. Navy toward the end of World War II at Naval Station Great Lakes, where he was sent to be prepared for combat.

Fosse petitioned his manager, Frederick Weaver, to advocate on his behalf to his superiors after his own failed attempts to be placed in the Special Services Entertainment Division.

[8] Fosse was soon placed in the variety show Tough Situation, which toured military and naval bases in the Pacific Ocean.

He began to study acting at the American Theatre Wing, where he met his first wife and dance partner, Mary Ann Niles (1923–1987).

Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis saw their act in New York's Pierre Hotel and scheduled the couple to appear on The Colgate Comedy Hour in 1951.

In 1948, Tony Charmoli danced in Make Mine Manhattan, but gave the part to Fosse when the show toured nationally.

[17] His early screen appearances as a dancer included Give a Girl a Break, The Affairs of Dobie Gillis and Kiss Me Kate, all released in 1953.

[18] In Kiss Me Kate, Fosse starred alongside Howard Keel, Kathryn Grayson, and Ann Miller.

[19] In 1954, Fosse choreographed his first musical, The Pajama Game, followed by My Sister Eileen and George Abbott's Damn Yankees in 1955.

In 1957, Fosse choreographed New Girl in Town, also directed by Abbott, and Verdon won her second Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical in 1958.

The next year, Fosse appeared in and choreographed the film version of Damn Yankees, in which Verdon reprised her stage triumph as the character Lola.

The story revolves around an ambitious man, J. Pierrepont Finch (Morse), who, with the help of the book How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, rises from window washer to chairman of the board of the World Wide Wicket Company.

In 1972, Fosse directed his second theatrical film, Cabaret, starring Liza Minnelli, Michael York and Joel Grey.

The film focuses on a romance between Sally Bowles (Minnelli), who performs at the Kit Kat Klub, and a young British idealist, Brian Roberts, played by York.

[31] In 1979, Fosse co-wrote and directed a semi-autobiographical film All That Jazz (1979), starring Roy Scheider, which portrayed the life of a womanizing, drug-addicted choreographer and director in the midst of triumph and failure.

[33] Vincent Canby of The New York Times described the film as "Mr. Fosse's answer to 8½ in which Federico Fellini wittily examined his own life at a point when he feared his creativity was at an end".

The "Rich Man's Frug" scene (starring a young Ben Vereen) in Sweet Charity is another example of his signature style.

Fosse's extramarital affairs put a strain on the marriage and by 1971 they were separated, although they remained legally married until his death in 1987.

To alleviate loneliness and insomnia brought on by his prescribed amphetamines, Fosse would often contact dancers he would work with and try to date them, making it hard for many to refuse his advances, but also giving him the affirmation of success he sought.

[8] Fosse died of a heart attack on September 23, 1987, at George Washington University Hospital while the revival of Sweet Charity was opening at the nearby National Theatre.

The Bob Fosse–Gwen Verdon Fellowship was established by their daughter, Nicole Fosse, in 2003 at the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater.

In 1999, Verdon served as artistic consultant on a Broadway musical designed to showcase examples of classic Fosse choreography.

The series, which tells the story of the couple's troubled personal and professional relationship, is based on the biography Fosse by Sam Wasson.