Obit: Dancer/Actress Cyd Charisse

Subject: Obit: Dancer/Actress Cyd Charisse
From: Genie
Date: 17 Jun 08 - 10:10 PM

http://news.aol.com/entertainment/movies/movie-news-story/ar/_a/singin-in-the-rain-dancer-charisse-dies/20080617173509990001">Cyd Charisse dies of heart attack at age 86

Subject: RE: Obit: Dancer/Actress Syd Charisse
From: Genie
Date: 17 Jun 08 - 10:13 PM

I didn't mean to put this above the line, even though Cyd was a singer and dancer.

Anyway, I didn't realize she was as old as she was.   When she did Singin' In The Rain she must have been 8 or 9 years older than co-star Debbie Reynolds, but she didn't show it.

A real Hollywood legend.   Makes me feel old as we keep losing the voices and faces I grew up with.

Subject: RE: Obit: Dancer/Actress Syd Charisse
From: Genie
Date: 17 Jun 08 - 10:14 PM

Correction:
The obit article says although she studied voice for MGM studios the training "didn't take," and her singing in films was dubbed.

Subject: RE: Obit: Dancer/Actress Syd Charisse
From: Janie
Date: 17 Jun 08 - 10:29 PM

I loved this quote from Fred Astaire..." When we were dancing, we didn't know what time it was." in the CNN obituary.

I was also surprised and somewhat amazed to learn Cyd Charisse had polio as a young child.

Subject: RE: Obit: Dancer/Actress Syd Charisse
From: Don Firth
Date: 17 Jun 08 - 10:34 PM

And one very lovely long-leggedy beastie she was, too. I remember her well from her movies and television appearances. A sad loss here on earth, but there will be dancing in the stars!

Don Firth

Subject: RE: Obit: Dancer/Actress Cyd Charisse
From: Genie
Date: 17 Jun 08 - 10:54 PM

Joe Offer (or clones),
When you move this thread down below, would you also please correct the spelling of Cyd's name in the thread title.

I thought I had corrected it, but apparently I just did that in the first post and forgot to do it in the title too.

Then you can delete this post too.

Thanks,
Genie

Subject: RE: Obit: Dancer/Actress Cyd Charisse
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 18 Jun 08 - 01:15 AM

Cyd Charisse

Such an elegant dancer. When she was in a film, even if it was an unrelated specialty dance, that made it special.

SRS

Subject: RE: Obit: Dancer/Actress Cyd Charisse
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 18 Jun 08 - 01:35 AM

From a remembrance by NPR's Bob Mondello:

But as Astaire said in his autobiography: "That Cyd — when you've danced with her, you stay danced with."

SRS

Subject: RE: Obit: Dancer/Actress Cyd Charisse
From: catspaw49
Date: 18 Jun 08 - 01:38 AM

I can't say enough about this gorgeous, lithe, lovely, talented and classy lady. Fine actress and just the perfect dancer.......perfect.

Ginger Rogers was never the best partner for Astaire and only one other besides Cyd Charisse could take my eyes away from Astaire and that for dufferent reasons was Judy Garland. As a pure dancer I think Charisse was just the best......period. Nobody matched her. Nobody.

I am always happy that we have films for all to watch of some of these stars. Anyone who wants to be a dancer needs to watch Charisse opposite the likes of Astaire and Gene Kelly.

Damn....

Spaw

Subject: RE: Obit: Dancer/Actress Cyd Charisse
From: fat B****rd
Date: 18 Jun 08 - 03:45 AM

Beautiful lady. The sequence with Gene Kelly in Singing In The Rain is wonderful.RIP Miss C.

Subject: RE: Obit: Dancer/Actress Cyd Charisse
From: Gulliver
Date: 18 Jun 08 - 07:38 AM

One of my favourites. I believe she took up ballet as a child to help recover from polio.

Subject: RE: Obit: Dancer/Actress Cyd Charisse
From: Fiolar
Date: 18 Jun 08 - 08:33 AM

It certainly is a bad year for the entertainment world so far. Have heard recently that Paul Newman has cancer.
Farewell Cyd.

Subject: RE: Obit: Dancer/Actress Cyd Charisse
From: pdq
Date: 18 Jun 08 - 08:57 AM

Cyd Charrise: b.Tula Ellice Finklea on Mar 8, 1921 in Amarillo, TX

Tony Martin (husband): b. Alvin Morris, Dec 25, 1912 (one source says 1913) in Oakland, CA (alive at 95)

Subject: RE: Obit: Dancer/Actress Cyd Charisse
From: John on the Sunset Coast
Date: 18 Jun 08 - 09:37 AM

You may all remember Charisse as the elegant ballet trained dancer...and she was that...and she was good. But my favorite dances are the undulating, sensual dance she does before or over the credits to a Dean Martin, Matt Helm, flick, and the two folkloric Mexican Dances she performed with Ricardo Montalban in the 1947 film, Fiesta. I believe one dance is to La Bamba, and the other is the Mexican Hat Dance. The energy and fun of those dances is apparent.

Thank heaven, and that's where I expect she is now, for TCM, so we can see those over and over.

Subject: RE: Obit: Dancer/Actress Cyd Charisse
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 18 Jun 08 - 11:50 AM

Off the top of my head the top echelon of dancers, IMHO, would include Cyd Charisse, Ann Miller, Eleanor Powell, Vera Ellen, Leslie Caron, Shirley McClaine. If any of them are dancing, I drop what I'm doing and watch. There are lots of good dancers, but when you watch, they were really good at being lifted, in keeping time, in moving with the music. Even of the dancers I listed here, Charisse is still the top, an artiste. Vera Ellen did some of those sspecialty dances also, but in fewer films. I loved films with Ginger Rogers, Betty Grable, and Mitzi Gaynor, but I don't think they had the training or range the others did. Doris Day was a very good dancer, and started in ballet, but tended to focus more on the singing. Charisse transcended the music and was the "go to" dancer for most of those specialty routines in the movies. (This list is not exhaustive, but I can't think of anyone who was equal to Charisse)

SRS

Subject: RE: Obit: Dancer/Actress Cyd Charisse
From: John on the Sunset Coast
Date: 18 Jun 08 - 12:10 PM

Good, good choices, SRS. Ann Miller and Eleanor Powell were primarily Tappers, a terrific (but different) skill from the dancing of Charisse, Caron et.al. May I add to your list Zizi Jeanmarie (sp) who appeared in a few American films.

Anyway, everybody should see Fiesta, at least until both dancing sequences are shown.

Subject: RE: Obit: Dancer/Actress Cyd Charisse
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 18 Jun 08 - 12:25 PM

I couldn't think of her name--Jeanmarie--I remember one with Bing Crosby and Donald O'Connor that she was in.

I'll have to see what Netflix has; I dropped my DishNetwork a few months ago.

SRS

Subject: RE: Obit: Dancer/Actress Cyd Charisse
From: Genie
Date: 18 Jun 08 - 01:55 PM

Actually, Zizi was (is?) "Zizi Jeanmaire," not "Jeanmarie."

Here she is with Rudolf Nureyev.

And here's a great moviedance sequence with Cyd Charisse and Ricardo Montalban.

Subject: RE: Obit: Dancer/Actress Cyd Charisse
From: John on the Sunset Coast
Date: 18 Jun 08 - 02:57 PM

Thanks Genie. And thanks Genie. Now if you could find the clips from Fiesta, I'd love ya! (provided of course you're a girl Genie, otherwise I'll just like you a lot.)

Subject: RE: Obit: Dancer/Actress Cyd Charisse
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 18 Jun 08 - 04:05 PM

She was cast in the film Anything Goes simply as "Jeanmaire." The same in Hans Christian Andersen. A real spitfire!

I wonder how long it will take Turner Classic Movies to dig out and run a series of Charisse films? It's almost tempting to turn the satellite dish back on just to watch them!

SRS

Subject: RE: Obit: Dancer/Actress Cyd Charisse
From: Bonnie Shaljean
Date: 18 Jun 08 - 04:15 PM

Oh I am so sorry to hear this... even though it comes to us all in the end. I used to love her, wanted to BE her when I was a little girl. I even had a Cyd Charisse paper doll. (Do kids ever play with paper dolls anymore?)

Rest in peace, beautiful lady. And then dance up a storm in Heaven - plenty of great partners to choose from.

Subject: RE: Obit: Dancer/Actress Cyd Charisse
From: Peter T.
Date: 18 Jun 08 - 04:41 PM

A friend of mine once remarked as we were watching "The Band Wagon": "I was a breast man till I saw Cyd Charisse." She really did have legs that went on all day.

I always thought she was not a bad actress here and there -- in "Brigadoon", even though she didn't sing; and a few bits here and there in "The Band Wagon". She might have been ok in "Silk Stockings" if it hadn't been such an awful, awful film.

yours,

Peter T.

Subject: RE: Obit: Dancer/Actress Cyd Charisse
From: PoppaGator
Date: 18 Jun 08 - 05:42 PM

Technical note: Under the current system, selection of the prefix "Obit" wnen creating a new thread automatically puts the thread in the upper portion (non-BS) section of the page.

New threads start their lives in the BS Basement only when the prefix "BS (non-music)" has been selected by the OP. All the other prefixes place the discussion in the main "upper" section.

Some of the obituaries we like to share are for folk-music-world personalities, or at least for musical figures of one genre or another, but many more of them are for other well-known people from the worlds of politics, film, whatever.

So, it's always up to some "clone" or "elf" to make a judgement call as soon as possible, and then move an obit-thread down to BS if the person is considered "non-music."

I thought about suggesting an option to choose between two "Obit" prefixes, for music and non-music obits, but on second thought the current setup, however imperfect, is probably best left as-is.

Subject: RE: Obit: Dancer/Actress Cyd Charisse
From: Genie
Date: 18 Jun 08 - 07:02 PM

Peter T, you are, of course, not unusual in noticing that Cyd "really did have legs that went on all day."
What's remarkable about that is that she was only 5'6" tall.   Those long, slender, shapely legs just gave one the impression that she was much taller.

G

Subject: RE: Obit: Dancer/Actress Cyd Charisse
From: John on the Sunset Coast
Date: 18 Jun 08 - 10:05 PM

I found the La Bamba I spoke of at YouTube, along with many other Charisse/Montalban pairings. Sorry, but I can't clicky it, but here's the address---
       http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a5HutpHlNA0&feature=related

Subject: RE: Obit: Dancer/Actress Cyd Charisse
From: Genie
Date: 19 Jun 08 - 01:23 AM

John, if you put this:   < a href=
in front of your URL, with quotation marks around it, and then close that with another ">, then type the word or words you want to use to identify your link, then type you will make a blue clicky.

Or you could just check where it says "Make a link ("blue clicky") when you've hit "Post." It will take you through the few simple steps. :)

It will look like this: (a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a5HutpHlNA0&feature=related")Charisse/Montalban - La Bamba(/a)
except that you will use brackets like this < > instead of paragraph marks.

Charisse/Montalban - La Bamba