Cyd Charisse

Published Tuesday 1 July 2008 at 11:20 by Lynda Trapnell, editor of Musical Stages Magazine

Fred Astaire’s “beautiful dynamite”, the star whose legs were reputedly each insured for a million dollars, died on June 17 in Cedars-Sinai Medical Centre in Los Angeles following a heart attack. She was 86 and is survived by her second husband, Tony Martin, and two sons, Nick Charisse and Tony Martin Junior.

Tula Ellice Finklea was born in Amarillo, Texas, on March 8, 1922. She became “Sid” when her brother could not say “sister”. A delicate child who suffered a bout of poliomyelitis as a little girl, she took dancing lessons to improve her physicality. She trained at Los Angeles’ Franco and Marchon Dance Studio where Nico Charisse was then a tutor.

Sid joined the Ballet Russe, (where she acquired two more names, Celia Siderova and then Maria Instromena) and she was hired by Columbia Pictures for a ballet sequence with David Lichine in Something to Shout About. She was billed as Lily Norwood and it was not until she met Nico again and married him that she gained her final surname. Sid became Cyd, at the suggestion of Arthur Freed at MGM with whom she had a seven-year contract.

Her career took off when she was featured in Singin’ in the Rain, dancing with Gene Kelly in the fabulous Broadway Melody routine. She also appeared with Kelly in Brigadoon, It’s Always Fair Weather and Invitation to the Dance. With the other legend, Astaire, she appeared in Ziegfeld Follies, The Bandwagon (which also starred Jack Buchanan) and Silk Stockings, her last full-length musical.

In London, in her sixties, she played Lady Hadwell in Charlie Girl and made her Broadway debut as the ageing ballerina, Grushinskaya, in Grand Hotel.

In 2001, we were honoured to have both Cyd and Tony in our show at the London Palladium, Fred Astaire - His Daughter’s Tribute.

Tim Flavin, one of our director/choreographers had this to say: “There’s an old, perhaps apocryphal saying attributed to Katherine Hepburn about Fred and Ginger - ‘Fred gave Ginger class and Ginger gave Fred sex’. Ms Hepburn meant this figuratively, of course. Well Cyd Charisse gave both Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly pure sensuality. And she bought her own class to the table. Another mould broken - another true star gone from the firmament. Her dancing brought tears to my eyes - her passing brings tears to my heart.”

Our other director/choreographer, Bill Deamer, said: “It was an honour to work with Cyd and we heard wonderful stories of her days at MGM making the Hollywood musicals that we all know and love today.

“And yes! She did have the best pair of legs I have ever seen. Her star quality, classical technique and style made her unique. Her work with Fred and Gene gave us some of the best and most original dance sequences ever to be recorded on film. The Hall of Fame will show her as one of the greatest dancers in the history of the film and stage musical.”