Ginger Rogers
Actress and Welsh great granddaughter
Ginger Rogers was born Virginia Katherine McMath on 16 July 1911 in Independence, Missouri, the only child of William Eddins McMath, an electrical engineer, and Lela Emogene Owens, later a journalist and screenwriter. Her parents separated soon after her birth and she was raised largely by her mother and grandparents; the nickname 'Ginger' came from a young cousin's attempt to say 'Virginia'.
Rogers' Welsh ancestry runs through her mother's side of the family: her great-great-grandfather, Edward W. Owens, was born in Wales around 1825 before emigrating to the United States. No specific Welsh town or county has been confirmed for the Owens family, so the connection, while genuine, is a distant one rooted several generations back rather than in Rogers' own upbringing.
After a successful stint on the vaudeville and Broadway stages, Rogers moved into film in 1930 and rose to stardom as the dance partner of Fred Astaire, with whom she made ten musicals for RKO and MGM between 1933 and 1949, including 'Top Hat' (1935) and 'Swing Time' (1936). Determined to be seen as more than a dancer, she pursued dramatic roles and won the Academy Award for Best Actress for 'Kitty Foyle' (1940); by the mid-1940s she was reported to be the highest-paid star in Hollywood.
Rogers continued to act on film, television and stage for decades afterward, including a celebrated run in Broadway and West End productions of 'Hello, Dolly!'. She died in Rancho Mirage, California, on 25 April 1995, aged 83, remembered as one of the defining stars of the Hollywood musical.