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2 articles from 2008

17 June 2008 6:48 PM, PDT | WENN | See recent WENN news »

Beloved actress/dancer Cyd Charisse has died in a Los Angeles hospital.

The 86-year-old reportedly suffered a heart attack on Monday and was taken to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, where she died on Tuesday.

Born Tula Ellice Finklea in Texas in 1921, Charisse studied ballet in Los Angeles and performed as Siderova in the Ballet Russes up until World War II, when she returned to California to embark on a movie career.

She became a staple in movie musicals throughout the 1940s and 1950s, appearing alongside Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly in films like Ziegfeld Follies, The Band Wagon, Silk Stockings and Brigadoon.

She retired from dancing in the late 1950s to become a straight actress.

Charisse took her surname from her first husband Nico Charisse, who she wed in 1939. She was married to singer Tony Martin for 60 years up until her death.

The actress/dancer was presented with America's highest artistic honour, the National Medal of the Arts + Humanities, by President George W. Bush in 2006. »

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17 June 2008 3:34 PM, PDT | IMDb News

Cyd Charisse, the dancer and actress who appeared in such film musicals as Singin' in the Rain, The Band Wagon, and Silk Stockings, died Tuesday in Los Angeles after suffering an apparent heart attack; she was 86. Born Tula Ellice Finklea in Texas, the young dancer was classically trained in Los Angeles and at 14 became part of the Ballet Russe, traveling through the US and Europe and performing under the names "Celia Siderova" and "Maria Istromena." She married the dancer Nico Charisse in Paris in 1939 and had a son, Nicky, in 1942. When the Ballet Russe disbanded at the beginning of World War II, Charisse returned to Hollywood and became the resident ballet star at MGM, just as the studio was beginning its run of sumptuous Technicolor musicals. She signed a seven-year contract with the studio, was given the exotic first name "Cyd," and was seen as a featured dancer in numerous films such as Ziegfeld Follies, where she performed with Fred Astaire. She also divorced and later married singer Tony Martin in 1948, with whom she had a second son. Her breakthrough came in the 1952 classic Singin' in the Rain when she was paired with Gene Kelly in the climactic "Broadway Melody" number near the end of the film. Throughout the 1950s she starred in a number of other classic musicals: with Kelly again in Brigadoon and It's Always Fair Weather and with Astaire in The Band Wagon in Silk Stockings. As the big-screen Hollywood musical began to wane in popularity, Charisse switched to dramatic films, and also appeared in numerous television shows. In 1992 she made her Broadway debut in the stage version of Grand Hotel, and made an appearance in Janet Jackson's 1990 video "Alright." She is survived by her husband and two sons. »

- IMDb Staff

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2 articles from 2008