Cyd Charisse (bornTula Ellice Finklea; March 8, 1922 – June 17, 2008)[1][2] was an American dancer and actress.
After recovering frompolio as a child and studying ballet, Charisse entered films in the 1940s. Her roles usually featured her abilities as a dancer, and she was often paired withFred Astaire orGene Kelly. Her films includedSingin' in the Rain (1952),The Band Wagon (1953),Brigadoon (1954), andSilk Stockings (1957). She stopped dancing in films in the late 1950s, but continued acting in film and television, and in 1991 made herBroadway debut.[3] In her later years, she discussed the history of the Hollywood musical in documentaries, and was featured inThat's Entertainment! III in 1994. She was awarded theNational Medal of the Arts and Humanities in 2006.
Cyd Charisse was born Tula Ellice Finklea inAmarillo, Texas, the daughter of Lela (née Norwood) and Ernest Enos Finklea Sr., who was a jeweler.[4] Her nickname "Sid" was taken from her older brother Ernest E. Finklea Jr., who tried to say "Sis".[5] It was later given the spelling of "Cyd" byArthur Freed.[6]
During a European tour, she met up again with Nico Charisse, a young dancer she had studied with for a time in Los Angeles. They married in Paris in 1939 and had a son, Nicky.[5]
Charisse appeared uncredited in some films likeEscort Girl (1941) and was in a short for Warner Bros,The Gay Parisian (1942).
The outbreak of World War II led to the breakup of the ballet company, and when Charisse returned to Los Angeles,David Lichine offered her a dancing role inGregory Ratoff'sSomething to Shout About (1943) at Columbia. This brought her to the attention of choreographerRobert Alton—who had also discoveredGene Kelly—and soon she joined theFreed Unit atMetro-Goldwyn-Mayer, where she became the resident MGM ballet dancer.[7]
Charisse made some uncredited appearances inMission to Moscow (1943) (as a ballet dancer) andThousands Cheer (1943). She was borrowed by Warners forIn Our Time (1944), playing a ballerina.
Charisse was given another opportunity in a "B" movie,Tension (1950), where she was third billed, but it was a box office disappointment. She was billed fifth in the prestigiousEast Side, West Side (1949) and was borrowed by Universal to play the female lead inThe Mark of the Renegade (1951).
Back at MGM Charisse was the leading lady inThe Wild North (1951) withStewart Granger, which was a huge hit. BecauseDebbie Reynolds was not a trained dancer, Kelly chose Charisse to partner with him in the celebrated "Broadway Melody" ballet finale fromSingin' in the Rain (1952), which was acknowledged soon after release as one of the greatest musicals of all time.
Charisse had a significant role inSombrero (1953) as well as the lead female role inThe Band Wagon (1953), where she danced with Astaire in the acclaimed "Dancing in the Dark" and "Girl Hunt Ballet" routines.Vincente Minnelli directed. CriticPauline Kael said that "when the bespangled Charisse wraps her phenomenal legs around Astaire, she can be forgiven everything, even her three minutes of 'classical' ballet and the fact that she reads her lines as if she learned them phonetically."[12] The film was another classic but lost money for MGM.[11]
Charisse had a cameo inEasy to Love (1953) then co-starred with Kelly in the Scottish-themed musical filmBrigadoon (1954), directed by Minnelli. It was a box office disappointment. She again took the lead female role (alongside Kelly) in his MGM musicalIt's Always Fair Weather (1955), which lost money.[13] In between she made an appearance inDeep in My Heart (1954).
Publicity photo of Charisse for the filmSilk Stockings (1957)
Charisse co-starred withDan Dailey inMeet Me in Las Vegas (1956), which earned 3.7 million dollars at the box office, with production costs of 2.4 million dollars. She rejoined Astaire in the film version ofSilk Stockings (1957), a musical remake of 1939'sNinotchka, with Charisse taking overGreta Garbo's role. Astaire paid tribute to Charisse in his autobiography, calling her "beautiful dynamite" and writing: "That Cyd! When you've danced with her you stay danced with."[14][15] The film was well received but lost money for MGM.[16]
In her autobiography, Charisse reflected on her experience with Astaire and Kelly:
As one of the handful of girls who worked with both of those dance geniuses, I think I can give an honest comparison. In my opinion, Kelly is the more inventive choreographer of the two. Astaire, withHermes 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'd say they were the two greatest dancing personalities who were ever on screen. But it's like comparing apples and oranges. They're both delicious.[17]
Charisse had a slightly unusual serious acting role inParty Girl (1958), where she played a showgirl who became involved with gangsters and a crooked lawyer, although it did include two dance routines. It was far more profitable for MGM than her musicals.[11]
After the decline of the Hollywood musical in the late 1950s, Charisse retired from dancing but continued to appear in film and TV productions from the 1960s through the 1990s. She went to Europe to makeFive Golden Hours (1961) and Minnelli'sTwo Weeks in Another Town.
A striptease number by Charisse set to the movie's theme song opened the 1966Dean Martin spy spoof,The Silencers, and she played a fashion magazine editor in the 1967 caper filmMaroc 7.
Charisse appeared on Broadway from late 1991 as a replacement forLiliane Montevecchi inGrand Hotel.[3] Her last film appearance was in 1994 inThat's Entertainment! III as one of the onscreen narrators of a tribute to the great MGM musical films. She also appeared in episodes ofBurke's Law andFrasier in 1995 before retiring from acting. Subsequently, she made a final appearance in the TV movieEmpire State Building Murders, which aired two months after her death in 2008.
In 1976, Charisse and her husband Tony Martin wrote their joint memoirs with Dick Kleiner entitledThe Two of Us (1976). In 1990, following similar moves by MGM colleaguesDebbie Reynolds andAngela Lansbury, Charisse produced the exercise videoEasy Energy Shape Up, targeted for active senior citizens. She made her Broadway debut in 1989 in the musical version ofGrand Hotel as the agingballerina, Elizaveta Grushinskaya.[5] In her eighties, Charisse made occasional public appearances and appeared frequently in documentaries spotlighting thegolden age of Hollywood.
She was featured in the 2001Guinness Book of World Records under "Most Valuable Legs", because a $5 million insurance policy was reportedly issued on her legs in 1952.
Charisse's first husband, whose surname she kept, was Greek-born Nico Charisse;[18] they were married in 1939 and had a son, Nico "Nicky" Charisse, before divorcing in 1947. In 1948, Charisse married singerTony Martin, and remained married to him until her death in 2008. They had a son, Tony Martin Jr.[19]
^Charisse's singing voice was usually dubbed in her musical film appearances, most often byIndia Adams.
^Astaire, Fred (1959).Steps in Time. London: Heinemann. p. 319.
^In a documentary on the making ofThe Band Wagon (included in that film's 2006 DVD release), Charisse cites Astaire's tribute as: "When you dance with Cyd Charisse, you've been danced with".Profile, Findarticles.com; accessed November 4, 2014.
^H. Mark Glancy, 'MGM Film Grosses, 1924–28: The Eddie Mannix Ledger',Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, Vol 12 No. 2 1992 pp. 127–144 [140]
^Charisse, Cyd; Tony Martin; Dick Kleiner (1976).The Two of Us. New York: Mason/Charter.ISBN0-88405-363-6.
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