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<html> <head> <title>Cyd Charisse</title> <meta name="googlebot" content="noodp"> <meta name="robots" content="noodp"> <link rel="apple-touch-icon-precomposed" href="/silly-nndb-icon.png" /><style type="text/css">  </style></head> <body bgcolor=#ffffff> <center> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr><td valign=top><table width=550 cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0><tr><td bgcolor=white><table width="100%" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" background="/nndb.gif"> <tr> <td rowspan="2" align="left" valign="top"><a href="http://www.nndb.com/"><img src="/title.gif" width="260" height="50" border=0 alt="NNDB"></a></td> <td><table width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="6"> <tr align="center"> <td width="25%" nowrap>This is a beta version of NNDB</td> </tr> </table></td> </tr> <tr> <td align="right" valign="middle"> <form action="http://search.nndb.com/search/nndb.cgi" method="get"> <input type="hidden" name="nndb" value="1"></input> Search: <select name="omenu"> <option value="unspecified" selected>All Names</option> <option value="living">Living people</option> <option value="dead">Dead people</option> <option value="bands">Band Names</option> <option value="books">Book Titles</option> <option value="movies">Movie Titles</option> <option value="fulltext">Full Text</option> </select> for <input name="query" value="" size=24 maxlength=96> <input type=submit value="Search"> </form></td> </tr> </table>        </td></tr><tr><td bgcolor=red height=2></td></tr><map name=fool><area coords="102,0,240,14" href="/people/940/000022874/bibliography/" alt="bibliography"></map><tr bgcolor=F0F0F0><td bgcolor=F0F0F0 style="padding: 0px 15px 15px 15px;"><img src="/red-profile-2.gif" align="right" height=15 width=240 border=0 usemap=#fool> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 width=100%><tr><td bgcolor=F0F0F0>Cyd Charisse<img src="cyd-fixed.jpg" height=276 width=214 align=right hspace=10 vspace=10 alt="Cyd Charisse">AKA Tula Ellice FinkleaBorn: <a href="/lists/585/000106267/" class=proflink>8-Mar</a>-<a href="/lists/921/000105606/" class=proflink>1922</a> <a href="#FN1">[1]</a> Birthplace: <a href="/geo/396/000069189/" class=proflink>Amarillo, TX</a> Died: <a href="/lists/055/000106734/" class=proflink>17-Jun</a>-<a href="/lists/297/000166796/" class=proflink>2008</a> Location of death: <a href="/geo/582/000069375/" class=proflink>Los Angeles, CA</a> <a href="#FN2">[2]</a> Cause of death: Heart Failure Remains: Buried, <a href="/cemetery/677/000208053/" class="proflink">Hillside Memorial Park, Culver City, CA</a> Gender: Female Race or Ethnicity: White Sexual orientation: Straight Occupation: <a href="/lists/235/000069028/" class=proflink>Dancer</a>, ActorNationality: United States Executive summary: Vamp dancer in Singin' in the RainCyd Charisse was a terrific dancer whose career as a movie song-and-dance woman was cut short by bad luck. She was denied numerous leading roles opportunities because she worked for MGM while <a href="/people/523/000029436/">Ann Miller</a> was the studio's top starlet, and as Charisse finally achieved the stardom and recognition her dancing deserved, movie musicals faded from popularity, and she became just another Hollywood actress. Born Tula Finklea, her younger brother was unable as a toddler to pronounce "sister," and called her "Syd" instead. She liked to dance, and her father loved the ballet, so he enrolled her in dance lessons, and by the age of 14 she was dancing professionally. At 16 she came to Los Angeles, where she continued studying dance and fell in love with her instructor, Nico Charisse. They were married in Paris and danced professionally on stage as Nico & Charisse. The marriage did not last but her new last name did. She made her film debut in 1943 in Something to Shout About with <a href="/people/736/000024664/">Don Ameche</a> and <a href="/people/466/000102160/">Jack Oakie</a>, and had featured roles in minor musicals including The Unfinished Dance with <a href="/people/406/000079169/">Margaret O'Brien</a>, Till the Clouds Roll By with <a href="/people/827/000079590/">Robert Walker</a>, and The Harvey Girls with <a href="/people/123/000023054/">Judy Garland</a>. In Singin' in the Rain it was Charisse who tempted <a href="/people/665/000031572/">Gene Kelly</a> and the audience by wordlessly dancing the vamp in the "Broadway Melody Ballet" segment. After ten years dancing on screen, Charisse was finally given a leading role in <a href="/people/825/000032729/">Vincente Minnelli</a>'s The Band Wagon, now widely considered one of the best musicals ever made, dancing alongside <a href="/people/372/000026294/">Fred Astaire</a>. She starred with <a href="/people/665/000031572/">Gene Kelly</a> in Brigadoon and It's Always Fair Weather, and re-teamed with Astaire for Silk Stockings. Charisse was finally a star, but as musicals faded she became more an actress than a dancer. In her first non-musical role, she played the dull but faithful girl looking for <a href="/people/340/000091067/">Richard Basehart</a> in Tension in 1950, and she had her best dramatic role as the titular Party Girl in 1958, luring gang-connected lawyer <a href="">(ambiguous link, Robert Taylor)</a> toward a noirishly doomed demise. She often worked on television and on stage through the 1990s, and she appeared in advertisements for Coppertone tanning lotion, General tires, Lustre-Creme shampoo, and Lux toilet soap. Her last film was a 1989 Italian drama, Visioni private (Private Screening). In 1948, after a fling with playboy <a href="/people/653/000026575/">Howard Hughes</a>, she married then-superstar singer <a href="/people/641/000042515/">Tony Martin</a>, and in the 1960s and '70s she and Martin had a popular nightclub act. They co-authored their joint autobiography, The Two of Us, in 1976, and co-starred in a schmaltzy TV movie, Sentimental Journey, in 1984. Charisse and Martin were married more than sixty years.<hr width=25% size=1 align=left><a name="FN1">[1] According to her agent, 1922. Other sources vary, also stating 1921 and 1923. See Robert Berkvist, "Cyd Charisse, 86, Silken Dancer of Movies, Dies", The New York Times, 18 June 2008. <a name="FN2">[2] Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA. Father: Ernest Finklea (jeweler, d. 1937) Mother: Lela Finklea (homemaker) Husband: Nico Charisse (choreographer, b. 1907, m. 1939, div. 1947, one son) Son: Nico Charisse Jr, (b. 7-May-1942) Boyfriend: <a href="/people/653/000026575/">Howard Hughes</a> (millionaire, dated in 1947) Husband: <a href="/people/641/000042515/">Tony Martin</a> (singer, m. 9-May-1948, one son) Son: Tony Martin, Jr. (b. 28-Aug-1950)     High School: Hollywood Professional School, Los Angeles, CA     <a href="/company/327/000044195/">Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer</a>     Endorsement of Thorne's Scotch 1968     FILMOGRAPHY AS ACTOR     <a href="/films/956/000088692/">That's Entertainment! III (16-Jun-1994)</a> · Herself     <a href="/films/980/000083731/">Warlords of Atlantis (May-1978)</a>     <a href="/films/610/000042484/">Won Ton Ton, the Dog Who Saved Hollywood (26-May-1976)</a>     <a href="/films/143/000257369/">Maroc 7 (22-Mar-1967)</a>     <a href="/films/221/000041098/">The Silencers (18-Feb-1966)</a> · Sarita     <a href="/films/553/000083304/">Two Weeks in Another Town (17-Aug-1962)</a> · Carlotta     <a href="/films/433/000035328/">Something's Got to Give (1962)</a>     <a href="/films/270/000254505/">Five Golden Hours (Feb-1961)</a>     <a href="/films/561/000112225/">Black Tights (1960)</a>     <a href="/films/911/000067710/">Party Girl (28-Oct-1958)</a> · Vicki Gaye     <a href="/films/571/000251815/">Twilight for the Gods (6-Aug-1958)</a>     <a href="/films/383/000079146/">Silk Stockings (18-Jul-1957)</a> · Ninotchka     <a href="/films/572/000103263/">Meet Me in Las Vegas (9-Mar-1956)</a> · Maria Corvier     <a href="/films/763/000066565/">It's Always Fair Weather (1-Sep-1955)</a> · Jackie Leighton     <a href="/films/616/000042490/">Deep in My Heart (9-Dec-1954)</a> · Dancer     <a href="/films/140/000036032/">Brigadoon (8-Sep-1954)</a> · Fiona Campbell     <a href="/films/747/000037636/">The Band Wagon (7-Aug-1953)</a> · Gabrielle Gerard     <a href="/films/121/000203509/">Sombrero (22-Apr-1953)</a>     <a href="/films/545/000033446/">The Wild North (10-May-1952)</a> · Indian Girl     <a href="/films/941/000032845/">Singin' in the Rain (27-Mar-1952)</a> · Dancer     <a href="/films/132/000257358/">Mark of the Renegade (2-Aug-1951)</a>     <a href="/films/394/000083145/">Tension (11-Jan-1950)</a> · Mary Chandler     <a href="/films/777/000033678/">East Side, West Side (22-Dec-1949)</a> · Rosa Senta     <a href="/films/619/000035514/">Words and Music (9-Dec-1948)</a> · Margo Grant     <a href="/films/270/000118913/">The Kissing Bandit (18-Nov-1948)</a> · Dancer     <a href="/films/732/000035627/">On an Island with You (3-May-1948)</a> · Yvonne Torro     <a href="/films/693/000038579/">The Unfinished Dance (19-Sep-1947)</a> · Mlle. Ariane Bouchet     <a href="/films/612/000167111/">Fiesta (12-Jun-1947)</a> · Conchita     <a href="/films/965/000034863/">Till the Clouds Roll By (5-Dec-1946)</a> · Dancer     <a href="/films/942/000108618/">Three Wise Fools (26-Sep-1946)</a>     <a href="/films/651/000032555/">Ziegfeld Follies (8-Apr-1946)</a> · Ballet Dancer     <a href="/films/628/000040508/">The Harvey Girls (18-Jan-1946)</a> · Deborah <table> <tr> <td align=right valign=middle style="padding-right: 5px;">New! <a href="http://mapper.nndb.com/" class="fotmlink" style="font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 10px; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; color: #dd0000;">NNDB MAPPER</a></td> <td valign=middle align=right style="border-left: 1px solid #bbb; padding-left: 5px;">Create a map starting with</td> <td valign=middle align=right><a href="http://mapper.nndb.com/start/?id=22874"><img src="/woman.gif" border=0 style="padding: 2px;"></a></td> <td align=left valign=middle> <a href="http://mapper.nndb.com/start/?id=22874">Cyd Charisse</a></td> </tr> </table> Requires Flash 7+ and Javascript. 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