Donald O’Connor, 1942

“Nobody else in the business could have taken the beating I gave Donald O’Connor in ‘Singin’ In the Rain’ … Donald comes from vaudeville. He’s disciplined. I’ve seen him rehearse a step a thousand times.”

 ~ Gene Kelly ~

“Working with him? Yeah, he was miserable. No, we had a great time together… I was never offended by Gene, I love the guy too much.”

~ Donald O’Connor ~

“I was born and raised to entertain other people. I’ve heard laughter and applause and known a lot of sorrow. Everything about me is based on show business - I think it will bring me happiness. I hope so.”  

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Singin’ in the Rain (1952) dir. Gene Kelly & Stanley Donen

“My full name is Eugene Curran Kelly. Curran was my mother’s family. Her father came from County Clare. And so I’m Irish on both sides.”

“Writing a scene. Directing a show. Those were more fun. Once a dance is made up and I have to perform it, that’s the least interesting part.”

"Dancing is either learning or teaching. If you’re a dancer, you’re learning. If you’re a choreographer, you’re teaching.”

“In film, a dancer should always be shot from head to toe, because that way you can see the whole body and that is the art of dancing. Nowadays they shoot the nose. Left nostril. Right nostril. Hand. Foot. Bust. Derrière. The film prevents you from determining who is a good dancer and who is not. When they do let them sustain on screen from head to toe, though, then you know they must think the person is a good dancer.” (1985)

“You’re right about the Irish dancers. That’s a phenomenon of the time. The Irish really dominated popular dance in twentieth century America, no doubt about it. I think it came from the fact that the dancing in Ireland for centuries has been clog dancing and reels and these dances certainly influenced the American people in the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries so that it actually became part of American tap dancing.”