In pictures: Cyd Charisse

Cyd Charisse, who has died at the age of 86, found fame in the musicals of the 1940s and 1950s.

She began her career dancing with the Ballet Russe as a teenager, but moved into Hollywood films in 1943 after performing a ballet sequence in the musical Something to Shout About.

Charisse danced with Fred Astaire in several films, including Band Wagon in 1953.

Astaire later described Charisse in an interview as "beautiful dynamite". He said: "When we were dancing, we didn't know what time it was."

One of Charisse's most famous appearances was in Singin' In The Rain with Gene Kelly.

Charisse also got to play Kelly's leading lady in Vincente Minnelli's fantasy musical Brigadoon.

Her other film roles included Sombrero (pictured), Mark of the Renegade, Meet Me in Las Vegas, and Silk Stockings.

At the height of her fame film company MGM said her long legs were insured for a million dollars. But Charisse later revealed that had been an invention of the company's publicity machine.

Charisse married singer Tony Martin in 1948, and they had one son, Tony Martin Jnr.

After the decline of the Hollywood musical in the late 1950s, Charisse retired from dancing but continued to appear in film and TV programmes until the 1990s.

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