Adele Astaire was born Adele Marie Austerlitz in 1896 to parents Ann and Fritz. There has been some confusion over her exact date of birth: her mother had first fallen pregnant before her marriage to Fitz, and though that pregnancy did not come to term, they amended the date of their marriage to 1896, two years later than it had actually happen, to avoid a scandal. This ‘new’ date then threw doubt over Adele’s birth, and her parents went on to claim she was born in 1897 to prevent the perception of impropriety.
Adele quickly showed promise as a dancer, something at which her younger brother Fred would also excel. Her mother moved with Adele and Fred to New York so that they could receive training at the Alviene Master School of Theatre, with the hope that they might have a successful stage career. After changing their surname to the more American sounding Astaire, the siblings began performing vaudeville first as children, and later as young adults, finally achieving their Broadway debut in 1917. Their fame steadily grew, and they would star in famous musicals such as Lady, Be Good! (1924), Funny Face (1927), The Bandwagon (1931). Adele was outgoing, lively, known for her ability to ad lib, and excellent comic timing.
The success of these shows was international, moving from Broadway to the West End, and introducing the Astaires to audiences in Europe. They were particularly beloved of the Royal Family, meeting the baby Princess Elizabeth; King George and Queen Mary even made a special visit to their performance of Lady Be Good.
She retired from the stage in 1932 to marry Lord Charles Cavendish, second son of the 9th Duke of Devonshire. The couple had first been introduced in 1928, following the closing of Funny Face and quickly established a relationship. Charles continued courting Adele after she had returned to America, though it was actually she who proposed to him, at the speakeasy The 21 Club in New York. She met the Cavendish family for the first time that summer, allegedly cartwheeling down the library as she made her entrance.
The couple were gifted Lismore Castle as wedding present by the Duke. They would make the castle their home, with Adele modernising it to her taste, particularly through the addition of bathrooms. She did not, however, have a happy home life. Their children – a daughter born in 1933 and twin sons born in 1935 – lived only a few hours. Charles suffered from alcoholism, and often had accompanying bouts of ill health requiring his hospitalisation.
After her marriage, she declined several offers to appear in film and on stage, instead continuing to care for Charles. During the war she served in the American Red Cross in London, at the suggestion of Kingman Douglass, chief of US Air Force Intelligence.
Charles died in 1944 of long-term and acute alcoholism; three years later, Adele married Douglass and the pair returned to the US. Although a clause in Charles’ will had stated that Lismore would be inherited by the 11th Duke of Devonshire should she ever remarry, the Cavendish’s gave their blessing for her to continue to summer at the Castle until the end of her life. In 1972, she and her brother were inducted to the American Theatre Hall of Fame.
