Fred Astaire movie to be shown in West Cork, 40 years after being filmed in the region

Fred Astaire and Charlotte Rampling were among the stars of a film made in West Cork 40 years ago. It gets its first ever showing in the region today, writes Marjorie Brennan.

FRED ASTAIRE will always be cemented in the public imagination as one of history’s most recognisable dancers, a fleet-footed vision, elegantly attired in top hat and tails with cane in hand. People are less likely to remember him in his role as an Irish doctor, who wears a soft tweed cap and roams the countryside in a purple taxi.

Astaire was 77 years old when he arrived in the Cork village of Eyeries to make Un Taxi Mauve (The Purple Taxi). He was no stranger to Ireland, having been a frequent visitor to Lismore Castle in Co. Waterford, where his sister Adele took up residence following her marriage to Charles Cavendish; they also had a house in Schull, Co. Cork.