From sickly to stunning: The polio survivor who
Cyd Charisse: A Life in Motion
Cyd Charisse, born Tula Ellice Finklea in Texas, overcame childhood polio through ballet.
Her brother’s nickname, “Cyd,” stuck—and soon, so did Hollywood. “Ballet, meant to build her up, gave her a life.”
Charisse trained in Los Angeles and abroad, her elegance shaped by classical dance.
Film discovered her through movement, not words.
MGM elevated her from silent roles to iconic scenes like Singin’ in the Rain‘s “Broadway Melody” (1952), where “she spoke volumes without a line.”
She danced with both Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire—“silk-covered steel” with Kelly, pure poetry with Astaire.
Their Band Wagon duet, “Dancing in the Dark,” remains unforgettable.
Charisse’s gift wasn’t speed, but control: “she sold time—stretching, suspending, then snapping it like silk.”
Offscreen, she was private and devoted to her husband, Tony Martin.
After tragedy and triumph, she received the National Medal of Arts in 2006.
She died in 2008.
Her legacy still dances.
