A Farwell to Cyd Charisse

Yesterday the greatest female dancer of the cinema was lost by the world. Yesterday Cyd Charisse passed away after suffering from heart attack. She was 87.

I am not the one who is easy to be dazzled. And there are little people who impress me. My first meeting with Cyd Charisse came along when I saw her dancing in "Singin' in the Rain" (1952). Cyd appears as a dancing vamp, which seduces Gene Kelly with her dancing. The movie was to feature Debbie Reynolds in these sequences but the aspiring 20-year-old failed to satisfy Kelly, who was one of the directors (together with Stanley Donen). So, Gene relied on a trained dancer with those famous beautiful perfect legs.

What amazed me is that Cyd says nothing in the whole movie, but it is hard, or, to say more, impossible, to forget her. Especially when she dances in an apple-green dress with high-heeled shoes in a black wig. Cyd had to learn how to smoke to play this seducing dancer.

In an interview with MGM Cyd admitted that she never felt she was a good actress. So, she never even tried to develop herself into someone who aspired to become a real actress. However, Cyd received one Golden Globe nom for best actress in a musical or comedy for "Silk Stockings" (1957).

Cyd danced with the best movie dancers ever to grace the screen: Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire. She concentrated on her movie adventure while on the contract in MGM. In the end of 50s the musicals started to fail to gain the public in theaters, so Cyd smoothly walked out from the stardom, though she occasionally kept appearing.

I truly realise that Cyd was in a mature age and it is natural that she passed away. I'm honestly glad she did not have to suffer from a cancer or any other bad ailment. She just suffered a heart attack, and the doctors always claim that when it takes one's life, the person does not suffer.

Cyd, I truly believe that you are already dancing somewhere there in the skies, being the chief of the chariot of angels...

I used some pictures from one of the best pages dedicated to Cyd Charisse, Legs - A Tribute to Cyd Charisse.