Ginger Rogers (1911-1995) Inducted - Thursday, August 20, 2009 Sculptor: William J. Williams Where is Ginger Rogers in the Hall of Famous Missourians? Born Virginia Katherine McMath in Independence, Mo., Ginger Rogers was an American film and stage actress, dancer and singer. She was just 14 years old when she won the Texas State Charleston Championship, which led to a nation-wide tour. The success of that tour eventually brought Rogers to New York, where she stared in her first Broadway musical in 1929. During her 50-year film career, she made a total of 73 films. Many of her most celebrated roles include the 10 Hollywood musical films she made as Fred Astaire's romantic interest and dancing partner. But Rogers also had a career of her own, and in 1941, she won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her starring role in Kitty Foyle. In addition to her career in Hollywood, Rogers owned a 1,000-acre ranch in southern Oregon where she built a modern dairy complex and bred Guernsey milk stock. Even today there still are strains of purebred Guernsey cattle with Roger's name on their breeding records. Rogers also was an accomplished artist and excelled at both sculpting and painting and she enjoyed tennis, golf, swimming and skeet shooting.