One of the most joyful montages in cinema history is Gene Kelly looking absurdly happy in the title dance sequence from ‘Singin’ in the Rain.’ He splashes through puddles, swings from a lamppost, and glides through the iconic musical number without a care in the world. But what few people know is that the actor was running a blistering fever of about 103 degrees.
Kelly shot the number while sick, and he did not have the luxury of disappearing for a few days and letting the production work around him. After all, he was wearing multiple hats, including starring in, co-directing, and choreographing the film. So if Kelly was down, the entire movie stopped. So, how did he pull it off?
Gene Kelly Returned To Shoot The Number Despite High Fever
The title song ‘Singin’ in the Rain’ was not a small pickup scene MGM could shuffle around. It was one of the film’s biggest set pieces, built around Kelly, and was something the production could not easily afford to lose. He took a couple of days off, then came back and filmed it anyway.
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His wife, Patricia Ward Kelly, later explained why there was so little room for him to step away. “You have to remember he’s directing, choreographing and starring in the picture, and so it is hard to have any downtime for someone of that magnitude,” she told Radio Times.
“With Gene, he’s it,” she added. Kelly was not just the face of the project. He was also helping run the film while standing in the middle of one of its hardest numbers, sick enough to be in bed and still expected to perform.
The most inspiring part? You would never know it from the finished scene. The legend never looks like a man trying to get through the day. He looks like Gene Kelly, all control and charm, completely at home in the rain.
The Movie Set Made It Worse For Kelly
The “rain” was not falling on an open street. MGM built the sequence on a controlled set and covered it in black tarpaulin so the crew could shoot during the day and make it look like night. Water poured down while Kelly repeated the choreography under the tarps and hot lights.
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Between takes, he would step out into the daylight and try to sweat the fever out. Patricia Ward Kelly described it in blunt terms: “It was all draped in black tarpaulin, so he would come outside of the tarpaulin into the daylight and just lie in the sunlight and just kind of bake this fever out of him, and go back in and start over again.”
Despite the odds, Kelly delivered a masterpiece while he was sick and hot. He still performed a number that demanded constant movement and perfect timing.
The Scene Hides The Work Completely
The title number lasts a few minutes. It feels loose, playful, and almost casual. Kelly stomps through the street, kicks through puddles, splashes water everywhere, and makes the whole thing look like a man enjoying a walk home.
He and the crew reportedly finished it in about a day and a half. That means he got through one of the most demanding sequences in the film while carrying a 103-degree fever and doing the job of star, choreographer, and co-director at the same time.
That is why this incident makes for such an interesting story. Not because it turns Kelly into some invincible machine, but because the scene gives away none of it. On screen, he looks weightless. Off screen, he was sick, exhausted, and still dancing through one of the most famous scenes in movie history.
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