Cyd Charisse

Cyd Charisse was born Tula Ellice Finklea on March 8, 1921 in Amarillo, Texas. Born to be a dancer, she spent her early childhood taking ballet lessons and joined the Ballet Russe at age 13.

In 1939, she married Nico Charisse, her former dance teacher.

Prior to her feature film debut in Something to Shout About (1943) (filmed in 1942), she appeared in at least six Soundies--short musical films played in the popular television-like jukeboxes of that era. Her actual film debut may have most likely been in the low-budget exploitation film Escort Girl (1941) (copyrighted 4 November 1941), in which an uncredited dancer looking amazingly like Cyd does a number--very much in Cyd's unique style--in a café sequence.

Had two sons: Nicholas Charisse (born May 7, 1942) and Tony Martin Jr. (August 28, 1950-April 10, 2011).

In 1943, she appeared in her first film, Something to Shout About (1943), billed as Lily Norwood.

The same year, she played a Russian dancer in Mission to Moscow (1943), directed by Michael Curtiz.

In 1945, she was hired to dance with Fred Astaire in Ziegfeld Follies (1945), and that uncredited appearance got her a seven-year contract with MGM.

Appeared with Ricardo Montalban in six films: Fiesta (1947), On an Island with You (1948), The Kissing Bandit (1948), The Mark of The Renegade (1951), Sombrero (1953) and Won Ton Ton: The Dog Who Saved Hollywood (1976).

Lost out on two of MGM's biggest movie musical roles. She fell and injured her knee during a dance leap on a film, which forced her out of the role of Nadina Hale in Easter Parade (1948). Ann Miller replaced her. She also had to relinquish the lead female role in An American in Paris (1951) due to pregnancy. Leslie Caron took over the role and became a star.

She appeared in a number of musicals over the next few years, but it was Singin' in the Rain (1952) with Gene Kelly that made her a star.

That was quickly followed by her great performance in The Band Wagon (1953).

Although one of the greatest female dancers in the history of the movie musical, her singing in films was almost always dubbed, most notably by Carol Richards in Brigadoon (1954) and a young Vikki Carr in The Silencers (1966).

Was offered the lead role of Jo Stockton in Funny Face (1957) but declined. The role was eventually played by Audrey Hepburn.

When casting the film Damn Yankees (1958), the studio was initially interested in pursuing Cyd as Lola and Cary Grant as Applegate. In the end, Gwen Verdon won the right to recreate her stage role with Ray Walston the devilish Applegate. Cyd was supposedly unavailable but later played the role on the legit stage.

Fred Astaire, in his 1959 memoir "Steps in Time", referred to Cyd as "beautiful dynamite".

As the 1960s dawned, musicals faded from the screen, as did her career. She made appearances on television and performed in a nightclub revue with her second husband, singer Tony Martin.

Was "the other woman" in Marilyn Monroe's last and unfinished film Something's Got to Give (1962).

In Call Her Mom (1972), she was originally to have done the role played by Gloria DeHaven, but was replaced by Ann Miller before DeHaven finally took over the role.

Her daughter-in-law, Sheila Charisse, was killed in the May 25, 1979, crash of American Airlines flight 191 shortly after takeoff from Chicago's O'Hare International Airport.

Is one of several, if not only, world renowned prima ballerinas to be featured in a popular hip-hop music video. She had a cameo in "Alright" (1990) by Janet Jackson.

She was inducted into the Texas Film Hall of Fame in Austin in March 2002.

She was awarded the American National Medal of the Arts in 2006 by the National Endowment of the Arts in Washington, DC, for her services to dance.