Gene Kelly
The star of the movie is musical actor, dancer, director, and choreographer Gene Kelly. Loved by audiences and revered for his athletic dancing style, Kelly's trademarks were his easy-going, genial personality, his gentle singing voice, and his impressive dance chops. These qualities made him much like his character Don: a crowd-pleaser and a charismatic leading man.
Kelly initially aspired to be an athlete and lawyer, before deciding to become a dancer full-time two years into law school and never looking back. His best known movie roles were in An American in Paris, Anchors Aweigh (for which he was nominated for an Academy Award), For Me and My Gal, On the Town, It's Always Fair Weather, Inherit the Wind, What a Way to Go!, Singin' in the Rain, Invitation to Dance, and Xanadu. He also directed many films, including On the Town, Singin' in the Rain, and Hello Dolly! In addition to his accomplishments as a movie star, he is largely credited as popularizing ballet in America, and with changing perceptions of dance in the public eye to make it less feminine and less explicitly classed. Kelly differentiated himself from more puckish, elegant dancers like Fred Astaire by eschewing tuxedos in favor of regular clothes and making his choreography more athletic and masculine. He is quoted as saying, “You dance love, and you dance joy, and you dance dreams. And I know if I can make you smile by jumping over a couple of couches or running through a rainstorm, then I'll be very glad to be a song and dance man.”
Debbie Reynolds
Debbie Reynolds was a gymnast and beauty pageant winner with a few bit parts to her name when she booked Singin' in the Rain, which catapulted her to stardom. As Kathy, Reynolds gave a sincere and authentic performance at just 19 years old. The process was no walk in the park, however, and Reynolds once said, "Making Singin’ in the Rain and childbirth were the two hardest things I’ve ever done." Allegedly, director Gene Kelly pushed his dancers and performers to their limit, and at one point it was demanded that Reynolds come to the studio for shooting against doctor's orders. When she took the role of Kathy, Reynolds had no dancing experience, which disheartened the workhorse Kelly. However, she was a quick study and was helped out of a particularly pessimistic slump by iconic on-screen dancer Fred Astaire, who assured Reynolds, "That’s what it’s like to learn to dance. If you’re not sweating, you’re not doing it right." This advice gave Reynolds the strength to go on, and it resulted in an iconic and impressive musical performance.
Reynolds, strengthened by a humble upbringing (she was raised in poverty in Texas) and her down-to-earth high-spiritedness, went on to have a long career. Her notable film roles include a slew of MGM musicals, an impressive Academy Award-nominated turn as the title character in The Unsinkable Molly Brown, and The Singing Nun. She also had a lengthy musical and cabaret career, appearing at many venues well into old age, and appearing on Broadway 3 times, once with her daughter, actress Carrie Fisher.
Jean Hagen
Interestingly enough, Jean Hagen was one of only two collaborators to receive Academy Award nominations in 1952 for Singin' in the Rain. While the role of Lina Lamont was originally slated for comedienne and longtime Comden & Green collaborator Judy Holliday, Holliday was unavailable for Singin' in the Rain, so Comden & Green asked her understudy from the Broadway production of Born Yesterday to audition. After doing a spot-on imitation of Holliday, Hagen won the role.
Hagen's other most notable performance (for which she received 3 Emmy nominations) was on the television series, Make Room for Daddy. After appearing in many Broadway plays, Hagen broke into film as a comic femme fatale character in the Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy vehicle, Adam's Rib.
Millard Mitchell
Mitchell is perfectly cast as the studio boss balancing the business world of bottom lines and realistic expectations with the fantasy world of cinema magic. He plays a likable studio man who wants to do the right thing and a trailblazer at the same time. Mitchell was a successful character actor throughout his career, winning a Golden Globe for his performance in My Six Convicts. Other notable credits include A Foreign Affair, Twelve O'Clock High, and The Gunfighter.
Donald O'Connor
Donald O'Connor's career in show business began as a kid, and his first film job was at age 11 in the film It Can't Last Forever. A child of vaudeville performers, O'Connor was very comfortable onstage and on camera, and his numerous early films include Sing You Sinners, Sons of the Legion, Tom Sawyer, Detective, Boy Trouble, Million Dollar Legs, Beau Geste, Top Man, Mister Big, Chip Off the Old Block, Francis, and The Milkman. His role as Cosmo earned him a Golden Globe award and his rendition of "Make 'Em Laugh" is a tour de force of both dance and physical comedy.
Cyd Charisse
One of the interesting things about this film is that it was one of the earliest to feature a young contract actress, Cyd Charisse. Although her role is unnamed, she stands out and this role was definitely a springboard for her. Her performance as the sultry flapper in the "Broadway Melody" sequence is memorable and breathtaking. Iconic film critic Pauline Kael once wrote of Charisse, "When the bespangled Charisse wraps her phenomenal legs around Astaire, she can be forgiven everything, even her three minutes of 'classical' ballet and the fact that she reads her lines as if she learned them phonetically."
Other Charisse films include Silk Stockings opposite Fred Astaire, Sombrero, The Band Wagon, Brigadoon, Party Girl, and Something's Got to Give (Marilyn Monroe's final film, left unfinished).
Rita Moreno
While Rita Moreno doesn't have much to do in Singin' in the Rain, she is one of the most famous musical actresses in stage and film history. A Puerto Rican actress, dancer, and singer, she is known for her performance as Anita in the film of West Side Story (for which she won an Academy Award), The King and I, and The Ritz.
