celebrity.estateAn EGRET.LAW propertyWorld map3D timeline
Home / Hollywood and TV / Fred Astaire's widow charged fees for clips of him, lost a federal appeal over 90 seconds…
Case file s304 · Hollywood and TV · 1987
See 1987 on the timelineSee it in 3D
1987
Fred Astaire: Astaire, Fred - Never Get Rich
Fred Astaire. Studio publicity still. Public domain, Wikimedia Commons.
Died
22 June 1987
Place
Los Angeles, California, USA
Field
dancer and film actor · Film and television on the timeline
Legal tradition
California statutory right of publicity (Civil Code section 990) · Common law · Civil law
Historical event
The spread of home video in the 1980s, which put old film clips into new products
Religion
Fred Astaire: Protestant and Anglican (recorded as 20th-century American Episcopalians on Wikipedia)
Member of
American Theatre Hall of Fame, Republican Party (Wikidata)
Hollywood and TVPostwarNorth AmericaUnited States

Fred Astaire's widow charged fees for clips of him, lost a federal appeal over 90 seconds of film, and licensed him to a vacuum maker over his daughter's objection

Fred Astaire died on 22 June 1987, aged 88. His widow, Robyn, nearly 50 years younger, inherited all rights in his name, voice and likeness under California Civil Code section 990. In 1992 she asked $15,000 a minute for footage in the Kennedy Center's televised tribute to Ginger Rogers; the center would not pay and the Astaire numbers were cut from the broadcast. MGM needed months of talks to clear Astaire clips for That's Entertainment! III in 1994. In 1989 she sued Best Film & Video, whose "Fred Astaire Dance Series" instructional tapes opened with about 90 seconds from Second Chorus and Royal Wedding. The district court ruled for her. On 20 June 1997 the Ninth Circuit reversed, holding that a videotape is exempt from the statute just as a film is. It denied rehearing 2-1 in February 1998, and the US Supreme Court declined the case on 5 October 1998. During the 1997 Super Bowl, commercials she licensed showed Astaire, digitally altered, dancing with Dirt Devil vacuum cleaners. His daughter, Ava Astaire McKenzie, returned her own Dirt Devil and said he had been "sold to the devil." His son, Fred Jr., backed Robyn. In 2026 Robyn Astaire still controls licensing of his likeness†.

What the law took from it

Leaving image rights to one heir gives that heir sole control over how the dead person is sold, whatever the other children think.

Sources
  1. law.resource.orgCourt record
  2. CourtListenerCourt record
  3. Los Angeles TimesPress
  4. baltimoresun.comPress
  5. playbill.comPress

Cite as: celebrity.estate, “Fred Astaire's widow charged fees for clips of him, lost a federal appeal over 90 seconds of film, and licensed him to a vacuum maker over his daughter's objection,” story s304, https://www.celebrity.estate/fred-astaire-1987, updated 30 October 2026.

Related cases

Each one shares a person, a kind of fight, a subject, a period or a place with this case. The line under each headline says which.

Robin Williams 2011a (2): Happy Feet Two Australian premiere with Robin Williams and George Miller at Entertainment Quarter in Sydney, Australia2014 · Paradise Cay, Tiburon, California, USARobin Williams's widow and three children fought in a San Francisco court over his belongings, and the children got more than 85 watchesShared: also Hollywood and TV; 27 years apart; also North AmericaRobin Williams died at his home in Paradise Cay, near Tiburon, California, on 11 August 2014, aged 63. His death was ruled a suicide. He had been diagnosed with Parkinson's disease, and the autopsy found diffuse Lewy body dementia.journals.law.harvard.edu and 12 moreHeath Ledger: Heath Ledger (2)2008 · 421 Broome Street, ManhattanHeath Ledger's will was written before his daughter was born and left her nothingShared: also Hollywood and TV; 21 years apart; also North AmericaHeath Ledger died in his Manhattan apartment at 28 from an accidental overdose of six prescription drugs. His three-page will, signed in 2003, left everything to his parents, Kim and Sally, and his three sisters.archive.triblive.com and 3 moreMarilyn Monroe: A glamorous Marilyn Monroe in a red dress, taken for publicity purposes for 1953 film How to Marry a Millionaire.1962 · Brentwood, Los Angeles, California, USAMarilyn Monroe's executor told tax officials she lived in New York, so a court barred her estate's company from claiming California image rightsShared: also Hollywood and TV; 25 years apart; also North AmericaMarilyn Monroe signed her will in New York on 14 January 1961, naming her lawyer Aaron Frosch executor. She died in the Brentwood house she had bought for $75,000 six months earlier and was found on 5 August 1962.CourtListener and 8 moreElizabeth Taylor: Taylor, Elizabeth posed2011 · Los Angeles, CaliforniaElizabeth Taylor's jewelry sold for $137,235,575 at Christie's in December 2011, the most ever paid for a jewelry collection, with the proceeds going to her foundationShared: also Hollywood and TV; 24 years apart; also North AmericaElizabeth Taylor died on 23 March 2011. Christie's sold her jewelry in New York on 13 and 14 December 2011. The evening sale on 13 December brought $115.9 million.guinnessworldrecords.com and 2 moreMarlon Brando: Marlon Brando publicity for One-Eyed Jacks2004 · Los Angeles, CaliforniaMarlon Brando's $21.6 million will left out one child, and a son's girlfriend scattered part of his ashesShared: also Hollywood and TV; 17 years apart; also North AmericaMarlon Brando died at UCLA Medical Center on July 1, 2004, at 80. His will, signed on August 28, 2002, and filed on July 9, 2004, in Los Angeles County Superior Court, valued his estate at $21.6 million.Los Angeles Times and 1 moreBrittany Murphy: Brittany Murphy2009 · Hollywood Hills, Los Angeles, California, USABrittany Murphy's father sued the coroner for her hair samples, then said a lab found heavy metals; her mother called it a smearShared: also Hollywood and TV; 22 years apart; also North AmericaBrittany Murphy collapsed at the Hollywood Hills house she shared with her husband, Simon Monjack, and her mother, Sharon Murphy, and died at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center on 20 December 2009, aged 32.CBS News and 5 more

Where this case sits

Hollywood and TVPostwarNorth AmericaCommon lawCivil lawUnited States