--- name: "Busby Berkeley" canonical: "https://film.one/person/busby-berkeley" fi1m_id: "busby-berkeley" imdb_id: "nm0000923" tmdb_id: 95293 wikidata_id: "Q503258" roles: ["Choreographer","Director"] born: "29 November 1895" died: "14 March 1976" reviewed_on_fi1m: 4 average_fi1m_score: 78 average_over: 3 updated: "2026-09-25T02:51:43.956606+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." --- # Busby Berkeley ## Identity Busby Berkeley - **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/busby-berkeley - **Type:** Person - **Fi1m ID:** busby-berkeley - **IMDb ID:** nm0000923 - **TMDB ID:** 95293 - **Wikidata ID:** Q503258 - **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Busby_Berkeley, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q503258, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000923/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/95293 Choreographer and director. Born 29 November 1895 in Los Angeles, California, USA. Died 14 March 1976. ## Details - **Work:** Choreographer, Director - **Born:** 29 November 1895, Los Angeles, California, USA - **Died:** 14 March 1976 - **Active:** 1933–1939 - **Also known as:** William Berkeley Enos, 巴斯比·伯克利 - **Titles on Fi1m:** 4: 1 directing, 3 crew - **Academy Awards:** 3 Oscar nominations - **Score spread:** 2 at 80+, 1 at 60–79, 0 under 60 - **Lead roles:** 0 of 1 acting credits billed first or second - **Genres:** Comedy 3, Drama 2, Music 1, Romance 1 - **Screen time:** 5 hours of reviewed films - **Box office:** $8m across 3 films with figures - **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Busby_Berkeley, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q503258, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000923/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/95293 ## Fi1m on Busby Berkeley > Busby Berkeley makes dance for a camera positioned where no theatre audience could sit. We admire the overhead patterns and the freedom from stage-bound space; the storytelling is less dependable, and sometimes his stars have to do the rescuing. The dancers arrange themselves into a pattern that makes sense only when Berkeley's camera looks straight down. A chorus becomes a geometric shape, and the number expands beyond anything that could fit on the stage where it began. He also uses close-ups to pick out individual faces, a welcome detail among so many synchronised bodies. His preference for a single camera gives him control over how each formation is seen. His Hollywood work began in 1930 with Samuel Goldwyn's Eddie Cantor films, after dance direction on Broadway. His choreography for *42nd Street* (1933) helped establish his style at Warner Bros.; in *Gold Diggers of 1935* (1935), he was both director and choreographer. The move to producer Arthur Freed's MGM unit brought films built more closely around their stars, including *Babes in Arms* (1939). There, the test was how well he could sustain a musical comedy whose chief assets were Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland. *Babes in Arms* is an agreeable but limited example of his work, and we would recommend it chiefly to admirers of its leads. We enjoyed the musical numbers, whose reliable pleasures made the returns to the tired story disappointing. Rooney and Garland hold our attention, but the screenplay depends too heavily on them to keep familiar plotting interesting. Across its 93 minutes, the entertainment is sufficient for an interested look without making the weaknesses disappear. It is a useful warning against choosing a whole film on the strength of the name attached to its musical numbers. The geometric routines can become repetitive, too, especially when another symmetrical arrangement adds little surprise. His later work still found room for large-scale invention: *The Gang’s All Here* (1943) features Carmen Miranda and elaborate, prop-heavy numbers. Berkeley remains most interesting when a number is allowed to escape the limits of its supposed theatre. Start with the musical sequences in *42nd Street*; save *Babes in Arms* for an evening when Rooney and Garland are already sufficient enticement. ## Biography Busby Berkeley (born William Berkeley Enos) was an American film director and musical choreographer. He was born on 29 November 1895 in Los Angeles and died on 14 March 1976. Berkeley began his career directing dances for Broadway musicals in the 1920s. He moved to Hollywood in 1930 and became known for staging elaborate production numbers in films such as *42nd Street* (1933), *Gold Diggers of 1933* (1933) and *Dames* (1934). He later directed features including *Gold Diggers of 1935* (1935), *Babes in Arms* (1939), *For Me and My Gal* (1942) and *Take Me Out to the Ball Game* (1949). *Sources: en.wikipedia.org, imdb.com.* ## On Fi1m (4) ### Directed (1) - *Babes in Arms* (1939), Fi1m 66, Director — [page](https://film.one/film/babes-in-arms.md) ### Crew (3) — the average rests on these - *42nd Street* (1933), Fi1m 82, Choreographer — [page](https://film.one/film/42nd-street.md) - *Footlight Parade* (1933), Fi1m 70, Choreographer — [page](https://film.one/film/footlight-parade.md) - *Gold Diggers of 1933* (1933), Fi1m 82, as Call Boy (uncredited) — [page](https://film.one/film/gold-diggers-of-1933.md) ## Complete filmography (51) Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page. - *That's Entertainment, Part II* (1976), Thanks - *The Phynx* (1970), as Busby Berkeley - *Rose Marie* (1954), Choreographer - *Easy to Love* (1953), Choreographer - *Million Dollar Mermaid* (1952), Choreographer - *The Blue Veil* (1951), Co-Director, Choreographer - *Two Weeks with Love* (1950), Choreographer - *Take Me Out to the Ball Game* (1949), Director - *Romance on the High Seas* (1948), Choreographer, Director - *Cinderella Jones* (1946), Director - *The Gang's All Here* (1943), Director, Choreographer - *Three Cheers for the Girls* (1943), Choreographer - *For Me and My Gal* (1942), Director - *Calling All Girls* (1942), Choreographer - *We Must Have Music* (1942), Director - *Babes on Broadway* (1941), Director - *Lady Be Good* (1941), Director - *Blonde Inspiration* (1941), Director - *Strike Up the Band* (1940), Director - *Forty Little Mothers* (1940), Director - *Babes in Arms* (1939), Director — Fi1m 66, [page](https://film.one/film/babes-in-arms.md) - *Fast and Furious* (1939), Director - *They Made Me a Criminal* (1939), Director - *Comet Over Broadway* (1938), Director - *Garden of the Moon* (1938), Director - *Men Are Such Fools* (1938), Director - *Gold Diggers in Paris* (1938), Choreographer, Director - *Hollywood Hotel* (1938), Director - *The Go-Getter* (1937), Director - *Gold Diggers of 1937* (1936), Choreographer - *Stage Struck* (1936), Director - *I Live for Love* (1935), Director, Choreographer - *Bright Lights* (1935), Director - *In Caliente* (1935), Choreographer - *Gold Diggers of 1935* (1935), Director, Choreographer - *Dames* (1934), Director, Choreographer - *Wonder Bar* (1934), Choreographer - *Fashions of 1934* (1934), as Songs · Music Director, Music - *Roman Scandals* (1933), Choreographer - *Footlight Parade* (1933), Choreographer — Fi1m 70, [page](https://film.one/film/footlight-parade.md) - *She Had to Say Yes* (1933), Director - *Gold Diggers of 1933* (1933), as Call Boy (uncredited) · Choreographer — Fi1m 82, [page](https://film.one/film/gold-diggers-of-1933.md) - *42nd Street* (1933), Choreographer — Fi1m 82, [page](https://film.one/film/42nd-street.md) - *The Kid from Spain* (1932), Choreographer - *Bird of Paradise* (1932), Choreographer - *Sky Devils* (1932), Choreographer - *Flying High* (1931), Choreographer - *Palmy Days* (1931), as Fortune Teller (uncredited) · Choreographer - *Kiki* (1931), Choreographer - *Whoopee!* (1930), Choreographer - *Buzz*, Book ## Gallery - ![Busby Berkeley](https://film.one/media/person/1226156/gallery-e12e5c375365.jpg) Busby Berkeley — Public Use, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/95/Busby_Berkeley_Portrait.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled) - ![Famed director and choreographer Busby Berkeley attending court to face three murder charges after he caused a car accident that resulted in fatalities after le](https://film.one/media/person/1226156/gallery-0426dad79989.jpg) Famed director and choreographer Busby Berkeley attending court to face three murder charges after he caused a car accident that resulted in fatalities after le — Los Angeles Daily News, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/ff/Busby_Berkeley_during_his_murder_trial_%28cropped%29.jpg/1280px-Busby_Berkeley_during_his_murder_trial_%28cropped%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail) ## Awards ### Academy Awards — 0 won, 3 nominated - 1938: Best Dance Direction (nominated), for *Varsity Show* - 1937: Best Dance Direction (nominated), for *Gold Diggers of 1937* - 1936: Best Dance Direction (nominated), for *Gold Diggers of 1935* *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/busby-berkeley