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Hollywood Dancer Charisse Dead At 86

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Los Angeles Times

Published: June 18, 2008

LOS ANGELES - Cyd Charisse, 86, who brought sizzle and sophistication to dance in classic movie musicals such as "Singin' in the Rain" and "Silk Stockings," died Tuesday in Los Angeles after suffering an apparent heart attack on Monday.

Charisse captured moviegoers' attention in a quick succession of films, starting with "Singin' in the Rain" in 1952 in which she partnered with dancer and actor Gene Kelly in a steamy ballet.

She was strong, lithe and "drop-dead gorgeous to look at," said Larry Billman, a dance/film historian and author of her breakthrough performance. She partnered with Kelly again in "Brigadoon" in 1954 and "It's Always Fair Weather" the following year.

"After years when Hollywood's leading dancers were cute and fluffy, Cyd took dance to a more sensual realm in the 1950s," Billman said last year.

Charisse also danced with Fred Astaire, the premier dancer of his age, in major production numbers in the '50s. In "The Band Wagon" (1953), they danced to the music of "Dancing in the Dark" on a set resembling New York City's Central Park.

Four years later, Charisse and Astaire were partners in "Silk Stockings." Astaire said that Charisse was "beautiful dynamite" on screen. Charisse's other star-maker roles of the 1950s included "Deep in My Heart" (1954), in which she danced a sexy duet with James Mitchell.

Unlike many top female dancers in the era of movie musicals, Charisse was trained as a ballerina in the Russian tradition.

She also worked in theater, performing in "Charlie's Girls" in London in the 1980s and making her Broadway debut as an aging Russian ballerina in "Grand Hotel" in 1992.

Charisse was born Tula Ellice Finklea on March 8, 1922, in Amarillo, Texas. Her older brother nicknamed her Sid, a variation on Sis. In Hollywood, she changed the spelling to Cyd.

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