Cyd Charisse

 Happy Birthday, Cyd Charisse...March 8, 1922-June 17, 2008...Born Tula Ellice Finklea in Amarillo, Texas, Charisse was a sickly child who took up ballet at the age of 6 to build up her strength after overcoming a bout of polio. By the age of 12 she was studying in Los Angeles with Adolph Bolm and Bronislava Nijinska (younger sister of Vaslav Nijinsky). At the age of 14 she was dancing with the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo. During a European tour she met up with Nico Charisse, a dancer she had worked with in Los Angeles, and married in 1939 at the age of 17. Their son Nicky was born in 1942.

Charisse was nicknamed Sid by her younger brother who had difficulty pronouncing "sister" which was later changed to the more exotic Cyd by MGM. When WW2 broke out and the Ballet Russe broke up, Charisse moved back to Los Angeles where she soon became part of the stable of dancers at MGM mentored by Arthur Freed. Other notable dancers in the unit were Gene Kelly, Jane Powell, Vera-Ellen and Ann Miller. Her first speaking role was with Judy Garland in "The Harvey Girls" in 1946. But it was her pairings with Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly that would rocket her to fame.

Her first onscreen appearance with Fred Astaire was in a brief dance sequence in the film "Ziegfeld Follies". Astaire was reportedly concerned that at 5'6", Charisse was too tall to be his partner. The dance sequences in their next film, "Bandwagon", would put his fears to rest. Gene Kelly called the "Dancing in the Dark" sequence the best dance number in any movie musical. Her vampy character in the "Girl Hunt Ballet" routine from the same film would lead her to her next role with Gene Kelly in "Singing in the Rain" in 1952.

Debbie Reynolds had no dance experience onscreen until Gene Kelly laboriously taught her the routines in "Singing in the Rain" and Arthur Freed wanted a dream sequence ballet like the one in "American in Paris". Freed chose Charisse to partner Kelly. The result would become an iconic dance sequence. Stanley Donen, the choreographer for the film, explained the choice, "We needed someone who could stop a man just by sticking up her leg. Cyd was stunning. We stuck a hat on the end of her foot and handed her a cigarette holder, and I had to cue her to exhale the cigarette smoke for when Gene first runs into her, because she couldn't handle the smoke".

Charisse would go on to co-star with Kelly in "Brigadoon"  in 1954 and "It's Always Fair Weather" in 1956. She would reunite with Fred Astaire in the 1956 film "Silk Stockings". When asked about the differences between her two famous partners, she had this to say, "As one of a handful of girls who worked with both of these dance geniuses, I think I can give an honest comparison. In my opinion, Kelly is the most inventive choreographer of the two. Astaire, with Hermes Pan's help, creates fabulous numbers for himself and his partner. But Kelly can create an entire number for somebody else. I think, however, that Astaire's coordination is better than Kelly's. His sense of rhythm is uncanny. Kelly, on the other hand, is the stronger of the two. When he lifts you, he lifts you! To sum it up, I would say they are the two greatest dancing personalities who were ever on the screen. But, it's like comparing apples and oranges. They're both delicious."  Her second husband, singer Tony Martin, put it differently. He told Charisse he always knew who she as working with because if she came home black and blue it would be Kelly but if she was working with Astaire she wouldn't have a scratch.

With the decline of the movie musicals, Charisse retired from dancing but still appeared in film and television productions from the 1960's through the 1990's. In 1992 at the age of 70 she made her Broadway debut as an aging ballerina in the musical version of "Grand Hotel". She was featured in the 2001 Guinness Book of World Records under "Most Valuable Legs" because of a 5 million dollar insurance policy that was taken out for her legs in 1952 and appeared frequently in documentaries about the golden age of Hollywood. She died of a heart attack at the age of 86.