Leading scholar and author Victoria Kastner explores how the formative time Fred Astaire spent on the London stage helped shape the dancer, actor, and icon the world came to adore. His impeccable fashion sense, effortless charm, and refined elegance—so central to his legendary dance films of the 1930s through 1950s—were deeply influenced by the customs and style he observed while mingling with British high society, and even the royal family. From 1922 to 1932, Omaha-born Astaire captivated London audiences with his sister Adele — including three wildly popular West End musicals that sparked a sensation so intense that critics dubbed it "Astairia."

‍

Victoria Kastner is the author of Hearst Castle: The Biography of a Country House, with a foreword by George Plimpton, published by Harry N. Abrams in 2000; Hearst's San Simeon: The Gardens and the Land, May 2009; and Hearst Ranch: Family, Land and Legacy. She co-authored The Beverly Hills Hotel: The First 100 Years with Robert Anderson. In 2022, Victoria published Julia Morgan: An Intimate Biography of the Trailblazing Architect. Ms. Kastner has lectured at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York; the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; the Los Angeles County Museum of Art; the American Museum in Britain in Bath; and the Palace of the Legion of Honor in San Francisco. Kastner has lectured on Fred Astaire, her recent research subject, at Virginia Robinson Gardens and The Royal Oak Foundation.

‍

‍

‍

‍