--- name: "Bob Fosse" canonical: "https://film.one/person/bob-fosse" roles: ["Director","Writer"] born: "23 June 1927" died: "23 September 1987" reviewed_on_fi1m: 4 average_fi1m_score: 80 average_as: "director" average_over: 3 updated: "2026-09-20T07:00:41.943257+00:00" licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Bob Fosse Director and writer. Born 23 June 1927 in Chicago, Illinois, USA. Died 23 September 1987. ## Details - **Work:** Director, Writer - **Born:** 23 June 1927, Chicago, Illinois, USA - **Died:** 23 September 1987 - **Active:** 1972–2002 - **Also known as:** Robert Louis "Bob" Fosse, Robert Louis Fosse - **Titles on Fi1m:** 4: 3 directing, 1 writing - **Academy Awards:** 1 Oscar (1 won · 3 nominated) - **Average Fi1m score:** 80, as director, over 3 titles - **Fi1m score by decade:** 1970s 80 (3), 2000s 73 (1) - **Fi1m against the critics:** 80 to 69 across 3 titles - **Score spread:** 2 at 80+, 1 at 60–79, 0 under 60 - **Genres:** Drama 3, Music 1, Romance 1 - **Screen time:** 6 hours of reviewed films - **Box office:** $81m across 2 films with figures - **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Fosse, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q313256, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0002080/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/66777 ## Streaming the US now - **Tubi:** [*Cabaret*](https://film.one/film/cabaret.md) (88), [*All That Jazz*](https://film.one/film/all-that-jazz.md) (84) - **Apple TV:** [*Lenny*](https://film.one/film/lenny.md) (67) For United States; add `?region=XX` for another country. ## Fi1m on Bob Fosse > Fosse's dancers stand with knees turned in and hats over one eye, and he films them from where the paying customer sits. On the strength of *Cabaret* he is the rare director of musicals who distrusted applause, and we rate him highly. A Fosse dancer stands with knees turned in, fingers splayed, shoulders rolled forward and a bowler tipped over one eye. It is a posture borrowed from vaudeville and burlesque, and it looks less like a person dancing than a person being made to. In *Cabaret* (1972) Joel Grey conducts a chorus of them like a man who finds everything funny and nothing surprising, and Fosse keeps the camera down among the tables so that we watch as the clientele does. That is the method in one shot: the number is on a stage, and we are shown who is clapping. He came to the camera late. Fosse was a child performer in Chicago's vaudeville and burlesque houses, a professional dancer at thirteen and then, from *The Pajama Game* (1954), a Broadway choreographer for fifteen years before he directed a film. *Sweet Charity* (1969), from his own stage show, came first. Then *Cabaret*, and then a turn away from song altogether: *Lenny* (1974), a biography of Lenny Bruce told in fragments and interviews; *All That Jazz* (1979), a semi-autobiographical film about a director who cannot stop working; and *Star 80* (1983), a stark drama about the murder of Dorothy Stratten, his last. We have reviewed only *Cabaret*, and it carries the weight here. It can. Fosse's decision that nobody sings unless they are paid to was something the film musical had almost never tried, and it is what makes the film. Geoffrey Unsworth lights the Kit Kat Klub from the footlights, so every face shines with grease, and the songs by John Kander and Fred Ebb are good enough to enjoy and nasty enough to enjoy with a bad conscience. The one number outside the club, a blond boy singing 'Tomorrow Belongs to Me' in a beer garden while the tables get to their feet one at a time, horrified us, and what horrified us was that we had been enjoying the tune. Fosse does not cut to a clenched fist. One old man stays seated. The charge against him, then and since, is that the work is calculated: polished until feeling cannot get in. There is something in it. The sequence in *Cabaret* that cuts a slap-dance against a beating in an alley makes its point on the first cut and keeps making it, and a director less pleased with his own precision would have let it go. He knew the complaint. "I've really tried to vary my choices to try to get rid of whatever it is that people call my style," he said in 1978, and the dramas that followed *Cabaret* are that attempt. He kept the same dancers around him for years: Gwen Verdon, his muse and assistant choreographer, Ann Reinking, Kathryn Doby, all of whom knew what the turned-in knee was for. Start with *Cabaret*, and watch the beer garden twice. The second time you know what is coming, and it is worse. ## Biography Bob Fosse was an American director, choreographer and screenwriter. Born in Chicago, he began his career as a dancer and performer before moving into choreography on Broadway productions including *The Pajama Game* (1954) and *Damn Yankees* (1955). He directed the films *Sweet Charity* (1969), *Cabaret* (1972), *Lenny* (1974), *All That Jazz* (1979) and *Star 80* (1983). Fosse also directed and choreographed stage musicals such as *Pippin* (1972) and *Chicago* (1975). He died in Washington, DC, in 1987. *Sources: imdb.com, allmusic.com, encyclopedia.com.* ## On Fi1m (4) ### Directed (3) — the average rests on these - *All That Jazz* (1979), Fi1m 84, Writer, Choreographer, Director — [page](https://film.one/film/all-that-jazz.md) - *Lenny* (1974), Fi1m 67, as The Interviewer (voice) (uncredited) — [page](https://film.one/film/lenny.md) - *Cabaret* (1972), Fi1m 88, Choreographer, Director — [page](https://film.one/film/cabaret.md) ### Wrote (1) - *Chicago* (2002), Fi1m 73, Book — [page](https://film.one/film/chicago.md) ## Complete filmography (25) Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page. - *Bob Fosse: It's Showtime!* (2019), Actor - *Sweet Charity* (2006), Music Coordinator - *Chicago* (2002), Book — Fi1m 73, [page](https://film.one/film/chicago.md) - *Fosse* (2002), Choreographer - *That's Dancing!* (1985), Actor - *Star 80* (1983), Director, Screenplay - *Pippin* (1981), Choreographer, Stage Director, Director of Photography - *All That Jazz* (1979), Director, Writer, Choreographer — Fi1m 84, [page](https://film.one/film/all-that-jazz.md) - *Thieves* (1977), as Mr. Day - *That's Entertainment, Part II* (1976), as (archive footage) - *Lenny* (1974), as The Interviewer (voice) (uncredited) · Director — Fi1m 67, [page](https://film.one/film/lenny.md) - *The Little Prince* (1974), as The Snake · Choreographer - *Liza with a "Z"* (1972), Producer, Choreographer, Director - *Cabaret* (1972), Director, Choreographer — Fi1m 88, [page](https://film.one/film/cabaret.md) - *Sweet Charity* (1969), Director, Choreographer - *From Stage to Screen---A Director's Dilemma* (1969), Actor - *How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying* (1967), Choreographer - *Startime* (1959), series, Director - *The Garry Moore Show* (1958), series, Actor - *Damn Yankees* (1958), as Mambo Dancer (uncredited) · Choreographer - *The Pajama Game* (1957), Choreographer - *My Sister Eileen* (1955), as Frank Lippincott · Choreographer - *Kiss Me Kate* (1953), as "Hortensio" · Choreographer - *Give a Girl a Break* (1953), as Bob Dowdy - *The Affairs of Dobie Gillis* (1953), as Charlie Trask ## Gallery - ![Bob Fosse](https://film.one/media/person/1244411/gallery-65df5dcbe9ef.jpg) Bob Fosse — Alix Jeffry, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9e/Bob_Fosse_1963_%28cropped%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled) - ![Publicity photo of Bob Fosse and Viveca Lindfors in the 1963 revival of the Broadway musical Pal Joey.](https://film.one/media/person/1244411/gallery-642a9efc753a.jpg) Publicity photo of Bob Fosse and Viveca Lindfors in the 1963 revival of the Broadway musical Pal Joey. — Alix Jeffry, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/dd/Bob_Fosse_and_Viveca_Lindfors_1963.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled) - ![Bob Fosse](https://film.one/media/person/1244411/gallery-60a0dfdd3e9b.jpg) Bob Fosse — Image via TMDB - ![Bob Fosse](https://film.one/media/person/1244411/gallery-cccb5c913b10.jpg) Bob Fosse — Image via TMDB - ![Bob Fosse](https://film.one/media/person/1244411/gallery-2ded23bd98d3.jpg) Bob Fosse — Image via TMDB ## Awards ### Academy Awards — 1 won, 3 nominated - 1980: Best Director (nominated), for *All That Jazz* - 1980: Best Writing, Original Screenplay (nominated), for *All That Jazz* - 1975: Best Director (nominated), for *Lenny* - 1973: Best Director (won), for *Cabaret* ### BAFTA Film Awards — 1 won - 1973: Best Direction (won), for *Cabaret* ### Other awards — 3 won, 6 nominated - Laurence Olivier Award for Best Theatre Choreographer 2001: Laurence Olivier Award for Best Theatre Choreographer (won) - Capezio Dance Award 1987: Capezio Dance Award (won) - Tony Award for Best Direction of a Musical 1986: Tony Award for Best Direction of a Musical (nominated) - Tony Award for Best Direction of a Musical 1978: Tony Award for Best Direction of a Musical (nominated) - Tony Award for Best Direction of a Musical 1976: Tony Award for Best Direction of a Musical (nominated) - Tony Award for Best Direction of a Musical 1973: Tony Award for Best Direction of a Musical (won) - Tony Award for Best Direction of a Musical 1966: Tony Award for Best Direction of a Musical (nominated) - Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical 1964: Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical (nominated) - Tony Award for Best Direction of a Musical 1963: Tony Award for Best Direction of a Musical (nominated) *From Wikidata, which records wins more completely than nominations.* --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/bob-fosse