Cyd Charisse, who was famous for her legs as much as her dancing, starred in musicals of the 1940s and 1950s, and she sang and danced with the legendary Gene Kelly in Singin' in the Rain, and Fred Astaire in Silk Stockings.
Born Tula Ellice Finklea in 1921 in Texas, Charisse started her career as a dancer with the Ballet Russe as a teenager.
Whilst in tour in Europe she fell in love with Nico Charisse, a young French dancer, and the couple were married in Paris in 1939.
Charisse’s debut appearance on the big screen came in1943 when she performed a ballet sequence in the musical Something to Shout About.
MGM studios spotted her talent and gave her a seven-year contract as well as changing the spelling of her childhood nickname, Sid, to "Cyd".
Debbie Reynolds, who was also in Singin' in the Rain said in tribute: "Her beauty was breathtaking."
