Fosse was born the son of a vaudeville performer in Chicago, 1927. Influenced by his father he began performing at an early age and sought formal training at the Frederick Weaver Ballet School. He was the only boy at the school but dealt with his detractors with typical style:"I got a lot of jokes and I got whistled at a lot. But I beat up a couple of the whistlers and the rest sort of tapered off after a while."
His training certainly paid off. By 13 he was touring theatres in Chicago with his friend Charles Grass and they were soon making a salary of over $100 a week - a huge sum in those days.
After performing all over the world with a show that toured army and navy bases, Fosse felt he had perfected his technique and set off for Hollywood where he hoped to follow in the steps of Fred Astaire. Here is a clip from one of Fosse's early films (My Sister Eileen). Watch it to the end because the dancing gets better and better:
Fosse had choreographed his first piece at the age of 15 while working in a night club. When he realized he was not going to be a Hollywood leading man, he turned to choreograpy full time and headed to Broadway. There he worked on shows like The Pajama Game and Damn Yankees. His huge success on Broadway - both shows won Tony awards - brought him back to Hollywood and he continued to work both in live theatre (winning 10 Tony's) and film (winning the Oscar for Best Director) until his death, from a heart attack, in 1987.Fosse was a very private man who lived a difficult private life. He gave few interviews. Here is a rare clip of Fosse being interviewed on camera: