Ode to a dancing star
|
Cyd Charisse mesmerised the audience with her dancing skills.
|
Cyd Charisse
Legs don’t matter in cricket. Who cared whether West Indian fast bowler Curtley Ambrose had the longest legs in the game? But they did matter in Hollywood show business, particularly in the musicals from the 1940s to the 1960s. And, that was where the famous dancing star, Cyd Charisse scored!
The star, who died at a Los Angeles Hospital on June 17 at the age of 86, often matched her dancing skills with those men with the twinkling feet, Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly.
I still recall their elegant duet from Bandwagon, ‘Dancing in the Dark’, which had everything — melody, rhythm, perfect co-ordination and tingling romance. No wonder, Astaire was moved to observe: “Cyd wasn’t a tap dancer, she’s just beautiful, trained, very strong in whatever we did. When we were dancing, we didn’t know what time it was.” The admiration was mutual. “Astaire,” said Charisse, “moved like glass, it was so easy to dance with him.”The 5’6” dancer had an equally close association with actor-director-choreographer Gene Kelly, and was spotted by MGM in the Kelly-starrer, Singin’ in the Rain, where she was just a member of the ‘Broadway Melody’ finale.
Born Tulla Ellis Finklea, she was encouraged by her father in her early foray in ballet and began regular dancing lessons at age eight. The family moved to Hollywood, and when she was 18, she married her dancing coach Nico Charisse. A successful member of the famed Balle Russe, Charisse impressed MGM talent scouts and signed a seven-year contract.
The beginning was not auspicious — just bit roles in films such as Something to Shout About, Thousands Cheer and Mission to Moscow. Her screen name went on changing before she settled on Cyd Charisse. Her younger brother, unable to pronounce ‘sis’ often called her ‘Sid’, and producer Arthur Freed changed it to the more elegant ‘Cyd’. Movies like Brigadoon and It’s Always Fair Weather made her one of Hollywood’s hottest dancing stars, and she complimented her co-star Kelly thus: “Kelly was more of a physical dancer. He moved you around and was strong enough to do lifts.”
Cyd Charisse is survived by her husband, a son each from her first and second marriages, and two grandchildren.
V. GANGADHAR
Printer friendly
page
Send this article to Friends by
E-Mail
Friday Review
Bangalore
Chennai and Tamil Nadu
Delhi
Hyderabad
Thiruvananthapuram
