Dancer sizzled in '50s musicals

Tag : Silk Stockings

LOS ANGELES — Cyd Charisse, who brought sizzle andsophistication to dance in classic movie musicals such as "Singin'in the Rain" and "Silk Stockings," died Tuesday. She was 86.
Charisse died at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles afterapparently suffering a heart attack Monday, publicist Gene Schwamsaid.
Charisse captured moviegoers' attention in a quick succession offilms, starting with "Singin' in the Rain" in 1952 in which shepartnered with dancer and actor Gene Kelly in a steamy ballet.
She was strong, lithe and "drop-dead gorgeous to look at," saidLarry Billman, a dance/film historian and author of herbreakthrough performance. She partnered with Kelly again in"Brigadoon" in 1954 and "It's Always Fair Weather" the followingyear.
"After years when Hollywood's leading dancers were cute and fluffy,Cyd took dance to a more sensual realm in the 1950s," Billman saidin a September 2007 interview with the Los Angeles Times.
Charisse also danced with Fred Astaire, the premier dancer of hisage, in major production numbers in the '50s. In "The Band Wagon"(1953), they danced to the music of "Dancing in the Dark" on a setthat looked like New York City's Central Park. Four years later,Charisse and Astaire were partners in "Silk Stockings."
Astaire said that Charisse was "beautiful dynamite" on screen.Charisse's other star-maker roles of the 1950s included "Deep in MyHeart" (1954), in which she danced a sexy duet with James Mitchell.
Unlike many top female dancers in the era of movie musicals,Charisse was trained as a ballerina in the Russian tradition.
While she occasionally performed solo, "She was at her best whenshe was partnered," Billman said. "She had technique, ability andshe didn't do anything to take away from her partner."
Her glamorous looks fit well with an emerging trend. "In the '50s,Hollywood was all about sex," Billman said. While actresses MarilynMonroe and Sophia Loren dominated their field, "Cyd ruled dance,"Billman said.
In interviews, Charisse said that her acting roles were like avacation compared with the hard work of dancing, but she was nottempted to change her priorities. "If I had to give up eitheracting or dancing, I'd choose to keep dancing," she said in aDecember 1952 interview.


Last modified: June 18, 2008 4:07am