Biography
Cyd Charisse was an American dancer and actress. Born Tula Ellice Finklea on 8 March 1922 in Amarillo, Texas, she studied ballet after recovering from polio in childhood and toured with the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo as a teenager under the names Felia Siderova and Maria Istomina.
She entered films in the 1940s, initially credited as Lily Norwood, and became known for her dance sequences in MGM musicals. Charisse danced with Gene Kelly in Singin' in the Rain (1952) and Brigadoon (1954), and with Fred Astaire in The Band Wagon (1953) and Silk Stockings (1957). She later appeared in television series including Murder, She Wrote and made her Broadway debut in Grand Hotel in 1992. She received the National Medal of Arts in 2006.
Charisse was married to dancer and teacher Nico Charisse from 1939 until their divorce in 1947, and to singer Tony Martin from 1948 until her death on 17 June 2008 in Los Angeles.
