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Cyd Charisse: Dancing
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In 1952, more than six years after signing with MGM, Cyd made her breakthrough in "Singing In The Rain". Originally Gene Kelly had planned a comedy dance duet for himself with Donald O'Connor. However the movie was behind schedule and O'Connor had a television commitment, so a new dance idea became necessary. The result was one of the legendary moments in cinema.
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Even when Cyd tries to be snotty, she ends up sounding world-wise, book-smart, and funny. When her mother informs her about the family's plan to visit museums and have ice cream one Sunday, Cyd tosses off, "Oh, could we really?" while, in her words, "doing my best impression of a Von Trapp child." When her nursing-home friend Sugar Pie, whom she meets while doing community service for a shoplifting incident, says Cyd is spoiled, Cyd reflects, "I like to think of myself as misunderstood." And when her mother is out of the house, Cyd helps the housekeeper make lasagna and cookies for the family of her mother's driver, Fernando, whose grandson is in remission from leukemia.
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After "The Band Wagon" Cyd was incontrovertibly a star, but in some ways she did not conduct herself like one. She avoided personal publicity and gave few interviews. Glamorous photographs of her continued to be issued, but less frequently than previously. She never displayed any temperament at work; in fact she was admired because of her uncomplaining self-discipline, and to this day no-one who has worked with Cyd has a bad word to say about her. Both fan magazines and gossip magazines seemed to sense that Cyd was less of a prima donna than is normal with movie queens, and showed little interest in her.
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Charisse is headed to the White House where, on Thursday, (Nov. 9) she joins fellow National Medal of Arts recipients in the Oval Office. President George W. Bush will make the presentation. He has chosen the ten medal winners from nominations
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