Comments on: Cyd Charisse, dancer.

By: Gorgon

Gorgon — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 15:52:19 +0000

I was very saddened to hear about the death of Cyd Charisse last week. Thanks for the tribute. I happened to find a DVD of one of her last movies “The Silencers” yesterday and bought it just to view the 2 dance numbers she performed. I was disappointed to see that Sony pictures who released the DVD had edited her erotic dance in the opening credits by removing the climactic ending. So much for a supposedly restored film. Do you know any at Sony to whom I can send a complaint of false representation? Thanks

By: Joe aka Mongo

Joe aka Mongo — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 15:37:35 +0000

Moira, just a wonderful tribute to a great dancer. First rate as usual.

By: C.D.

C.D. — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 23:59:22 +0000

Beautiful and talented and loved my millions, and lusted for by millions more, timeless and ahead of her time. Not bad for the girl from Texas. She will always be young and vibrant, and when you think of dancing in the movies, you will picture her.
She defines the term ” Beauty and grace in motion”

By: moirafinnie

moirafinnie — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 23:57:51 +0000

Your generous responses make me realize that I'm not alone in my appreciation for this lady's remarkable work. As Suzi Doll points out, Cyd Charisse's influence extends to today on dancers. In part because of her exceptional determination and skill, unlike many other dancers performing at her high level, she worked far longer than others, including making her Broadway debut in the Tommy Tune musical version of Grand Hotel in 1992 in the part of Grushinskaya, the exhausted, older ballerina played on film by Garbo. You can see a photo of Ms.Charisse in this role at age 70 at the end of the above blog. A kid's gotta break in somewhere, sometime, right?

By: Suzi Doll

Suzi Doll — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 22:50:23 +0000

A wonderful and thorough tribute to one of my favorite screen stars. Her films are among the ones I watch over and over. I also remember in the 1980 or early 1990s when she danced in a Janet Jackson video. She had the grace and energy of the dancers who were half her age.

Nicely done.

By: Al Lowe

Al Lowe — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 21:50:57 +0000

Ginger Rogers probably never could have danced with Gene Kelly. Even if it worked on a technical level they most likely had no chemistry.

There are some people who think Gene Kelly couldn’t dance with Fred Astaire – even though they did in Zigfield Follies. One such person was Gene Kelly, who said in a later interview, “I was terribly uncomfortable because we don’t dance alike…I hated the third section (of their dance). I thought I looked like a klotz!”

But Cyd danced with both Kelly and Astaire on seperate occasions in some of their best films.

Like Howard Keel she was marvelous and underrated. We will never see a wonderful time like that “Thats Entertainment” period again.

By: Medusa

Medusa — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 23:33:13 +0000

Moira, what a lovely tribute to this beautiful, intelligent and transcendent screen personality. In terms of pure grace, there’s no dancer who comes close.

Your post is an honor to her talent.

– m