Movies
Musical star Cyd Charisse has died of a heart attack, aged 87.
The actress-dancer passed away in hospital in LA after falling ill on Monday, her publicist said.
Charisse was best known for dancing with Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire in Hollywood musicals of the 1940s and '50s. At the peak of her career, her long legs were insured for $1 million.
She was born Tula Ellice Finklea in 1921 and began her career dancing with the Ballet Russe in her teens. She landed a small part in Hollywood film Something To Shout About in 1943 and was later signed to MGM.
The studio gave her a seven-year contract and changed her name to Cyd Charisse, a combination of childhood nickname Sid and the surname of her first husband Nico Charisse.
She rose to fame dancing with Kelly in the celebrated Broadway Melody ballet finale in 1952 musical Singin’ In The Rain, and later reunited with him in Brigadoon and It's Always Fair Weather. She also partnered Astaire, who famously referred to her as "beautiful dynamite", in both The Band Wagon and Silk Stockings.
Astaire said in 1983: "She wasn't a tap dancer, she's just beautiful, trained, very strong in whatever we did. When we were dancing, we didn't know what time it was."
Charisse had recently celebrated her 60th wedding anniversary with second husband Tony Martin.
The actress-dancer passed away in hospital in LA after falling ill on Monday, her publicist said.
Charisse was best known for dancing with Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire in Hollywood musicals of the 1940s and '50s. At the peak of her career, her long legs were insured for $1 million.
She was born Tula Ellice Finklea in 1921 and began her career dancing with the Ballet Russe in her teens. She landed a small part in Hollywood film Something To Shout About in 1943 and was later signed to MGM.
The studio gave her a seven-year contract and changed her name to Cyd Charisse, a combination of childhood nickname Sid and the surname of her first husband Nico Charisse.
She rose to fame dancing with Kelly in the celebrated Broadway Melody ballet finale in 1952 musical Singin’ In The Rain, and later reunited with him in Brigadoon and It's Always Fair Weather. She also partnered Astaire, who famously referred to her as "beautiful dynamite", in both The Band Wagon and Silk Stockings.
Astaire said in 1983: "She wasn't a tap dancer, she's just beautiful, trained, very strong in whatever we did. When we were dancing, we didn't know what time it was."
Charisse had recently celebrated her 60th wedding anniversary with second husband Tony Martin.
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