The Girl with the $1m Pins ; Crippled by Polio, She Danced Rings Around Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire. The High-Kicking Life of Cyd Charisse Crippled by Polio, She Danced Rings Around Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire. The High- Kicking Life of Cyd Charisse

Daily Mail › June 19, 2008

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Summary

WHEN Gene Kelly asked what she'd like engraved on her gravestone, Cyd Charisse replied: 'People sometimes had a problem placing her face, but they never forgot her pins.' And then she asked what Kelly wanted on his. 'Here lies Gene Kelly. He danced with Cyd Charisse,' he replied.

Her legs were sensational, of course, as long, mesmeric and dangerous as the M1, and insured by the film studio MGM for a million dollars. But there was far more to Cyd -- who has died aged 86 -- than the million-dollar legs that carried a girl called Tula Ellice Finklea from Amarillo, Texas, to Hollywood stardom.

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The Girl with the $1m Pins ; Crippled by Polio, She Danced Rings Around Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire. The High-Kicking Life of Cyd Charisse Crippled by Polio, She Danced Rings Around Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire. The High- Kicking Life of Cyd Charisse

Aged six, to recover her strength after a bout of polio -- 'I was this tiny, frail little girl, I needed to build up muscle' -- she took up ballet lessons. It quickly became clear she was a gifted dancer and when she was 12 and on holiday in Los Angeles, her parents en...

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