Cyd Charisse Passed Away at 86: Inside the Life, Final Hours, and Lasting Stardom
By Maya Lin-Takahashi
Born Tula Ellice Finklea in Amarillo, Texas, in 1921, Charisse faced an early physical hurdle that could have ended her career before it began. She contracted mild polio as a young girl. To rebuild her leg strength, her father enrolled her in rigorous ballet lessons. The therapeutic exercise turned into an obsession. By age twelve, she was studying in Los Angeles with Adolph Bolm and Bronislava Nijinska.
Her technical skill caught the eye of Colonel Wassily de Basil, director of the famed Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo. Joining the company as a teenager, she toured Europe under the Russian pseudonyms Natacha Tulaelis and Felia Sidorova to satisfy the era’s demand for continental pedigree. When World War II disrupted the European tour circuit, she returned to the United States. She retained the nickname "Sid", coined by her brother, who struggled to pronounce "sister", which MGM later stylized into the exotic marquee name: Cyd Charisse.
Maya is a hardware enthusiast who tests and reviews smart home devices, smartphones, wearables, and audio gear. She focuses on practical consumer value and build quality.
