Cyd Charisse stopped dancing in films in the late 1950s, but continued acting in film and television, and in 1991 made her Broadway debut.
42 Facts About Cyd Charisse
2.
Cyd Charisse was awarded the National Medal of the Arts and Humanities in 2006.
3.
Cyd Charisse was born Tula Ellice Finklea in Amarillo, Texas, the daughter of Lela and Ernest Enos Finklea Sr.
4.
Cyd Charisse was a sickly girl who started dancing lessons at six to build up her strength after a bout of polio.
5.
Cyd Charisse appeared uncredited in some films like Escort Girl and was in a short for Warner Bros, The Gay Parisian.
6.
The outbreak of World War II led to the breakup of the ballet company, and when Cyd Charisse returned to Los Angeles, David Lichine offered her a dancing role in Gregory Ratoff's Something to Shout About at Columbia.
7.
Cyd Charisse made some uncredited appearances in Mission to Moscow and Thousands Cheer.
8.
Cyd Charisse was borrowed by Warners for In Our Time, playing a ballerina.
9.
Cyd Charisse was a ballerina in Ziegfeld Follies, dancing with Fred Astaire.
10.
Feedback was positive and Cyd Charisse was given her first speaking part supporting Judy Garland in the 1946 film The Harvey Girls.
11.
Cyd Charisse followed it with Three Wise Fools and she danced with Gower Champion to "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes" in Till the Clouds Roll By.
12.
Cyd Charisse had a supporting role in the Esther Williams musical Fiesta.
13.
Cyd Charisse was second billed in The Unfinished Dance with Margaret O'Brien but the film was a box office flop.
14.
Cyd Charisse had a good supporting part in On an Island with You with Williams and danced in The Kissing Bandit.
15.
Cyd Charisse had a supporting part in Words and Music.
16.
Cyd Charisse was given another opportunity in a "B" movie, Tension, where she was third billed, but it was a box office disappointment.
17.
Cyd Charisse was billed fifth in the prestigious East Side, West Side and was borrowed by Universal to play the female lead in The Mark of the Renegade.
18.
Back at MGM Cyd Charisse was the leading lady in The Wild North with Stewart Granger, which was a huge hit.
19.
Cyd Charisse had a significant role in Sombrero as well as the lead female role in The Band Wagon, where she danced with Astaire in the acclaimed "Dancing in the Dark" and "Girl Hunt Ballet" routines.
20.
Cyd Charisse had a cameo in Easy to Love then co-starred with Kelly in the Scottish-themed musical film Brigadoon, directed by Minnelli.
21.
Cyd Charisse again took the lead female role in his MGM musical It's Always Fair Weather, which lost money.
22.
Cyd Charisse co-starred with Dan Dailey in Meet Me in Las Vegas, which earned 3.7 million dollars at the box office, with production costs of 2.4 million dollars.
23.
Cyd Charisse rejoined Astaire in the film version of Silk Stockings, a musical remake of 1939's Ninotchka, with Charisse taking over Greta Garbo's role.
24.
Cyd Charisse had a slightly unusual serious acting role in Party Girl, where she played a showgirl who became involved with gangsters and a crooked lawyer, although it did include two dance routines.
25.
Cyd Charisse went to Universal to co-star with Rock Hudson in Twilight for the Gods.
26.
Cyd Charisse went to Europe to make Five Golden Hours and Minnelli's Two Weeks in Another Town.
27.
Cyd Charisse had a supporting role in Something's Got to Give, the last, unfinished film of Marilyn Monroe.
28.
Cyd Charisse frequently performed dance numbers on TV variety series such as The Ed Sullivan Show and The Dean Martin Show, with seven appearances on The Hollywood Palace, a show she hosted three times.
29.
Cyd Charisse did Fol-de-Rol in 1968, which was filmed and broadcast in 1972.
30.
Cyd Charisse had a cameo in Won Ton Ton, the Dog Who Saved Hollywood and played Atsil, an Atlantean high priestess, in the 1978 fantasy film Warlords of Atlantis.
31.
Cyd Charisse was in the TV movies Portrait of an Escort and Swimsuit.
32.
Cyd Charisse made cameo appearances in Blue Mercedes's "I Want to Be Your Property" and Janet Jackson's "Alright" music videos.
33.
Cyd Charisse appeared on Broadway from late 1991 as a replacement for Liliane Montevecchi in Grand Hotel.
34.
Cyd Charisse appeared in episodes of Burke's Law and Frasier in 1995 before retiring from acting.
35.
In 1990, following similar moves by MGM colleagues Debbie Reynolds and Angela Lansbury, Cyd Charisse produced the exercise video Easy Energy Shape Up, targeted for active senior citizens.
36.
Cyd Charisse made her Broadway debut in 1989 in the musical version of Grand Hotel as the aging ballerina, Elizaveta Grushinskaya.
37.
Cyd Charisse was featured in the 2001 Guinness Book of World Records under "Most Valuable Legs", because a $5 million insurance policy was reportedly issued on her legs in 1952.
38.
In 1948, Cyd Charisse married singer Tony Martin, and remained married to him until her death in 2008.
39.
Cyd Charisse's daughter-in-law is actress and model Liv Lindeland, who was married to Tony Martin Jr.
40.
Cyd Charisse was the aunt of the actress Nana Visitor.
41.
Cyd Charisse was admitted to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, California on June 16,2008, after suffering an apparent heart attack.
42.
Cyd Charisse was a practicing Methodist, but due to her husband's religion she was buried at Hillside Memorial Park Cemetery, a Jewish cemetery in Culver City, California, following a Methodist ceremony.