Early films Charisse appeared uncredited in some films like
Escort Girl (1941) and was in a short for Warner Bros,
The Gay Parisian (1942). The outbreak of World War II led to the closing of the ballet company, and when Charisse returned to Los Angeles,
David Lichine offered her a dancing role in
Gregory Ratoff's
Something to Shout About (1943) at Columbia. This brought her to the attention of choreographer
Robert Alton—who had also discovered
Gene Kelly—and soon she joined the
Freed Unit at
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, where she became the resident MGM ballet dancer. She followed it with
Three Wise Fools (1946), and she danced with
Gower Champion to "
Smoke Gets in Your Eyes" in
Till the Clouds Roll By (1946). She also had a supporting role in the
Esther Williams musical
Fiesta (1947).
Rising fame '' (1952) , Cyd Charisse,
Jack Buchanan,
Fred Astaire, and
Nanette Fabray Charisse was second billed in
The Unfinished Dance (1947) with Margaret O'Brien, but the film was a box office flop. She had a good supporting part in
On an Island with You (1948) with Esther Williams again and danced in
The Kissing Bandit (1948). She had a supporting part in
Words and Music (1948). Charisse was given another opportunity in a "B" movie,
Tension (1950), where she was third billed, but it was a box office disappointment. She was billed fifth in the prestigious
East Side, West Side (1949) and was borrowed by Universal to play the female lead in
The Mark of the Renegade (1951). Back at MGM Charisse was the leading lady in
The Wild North (1951) with
Stewart Granger, which was a huge hit. Because
Debbie Reynolds was not a trained dancer, Kelly chose Charisse to partner with him in the celebrated "Broadway Melody" ballet sequence from ''
Singin' in the Rain'' (1952), which was acknowledged soon after its release as one of the greatest musicals of all time.
Stardom in
The Band Wagon (1953) Charisse had a significant role in
Sombrero (1953) as well as the lead female role in
The Band Wagon (1953), in which she danced with Astaire in the acclaimed "Dancing in the Dark" and "Girl Hunt Ballet" routines.
Vincente Minnelli directed. Critic
Pauline Kael said that "when the bespangled Charisse wraps her phenomenal legs around Astaire, she can be forgiven everything, even her three minutes of 'classical' ballet and the fact that she reads her lines as if she learned them phonetically." The film was another classic but lost money for MGM. In between she made an appearance in
Deep in My Heart (1954). '' (1957) Charisse co-starred with
Dan Dailey in
Meet Me in Las Vegas (1956), which earned $3.7 million at the box office, with production costs of $2.4 million. She rejoined Astaire in the film version of
Silk Stockings (1957), a musical remake of 1939's
Ninotchka, with Charisse taking over
Greta Garbo's role. Astaire paid tribute to Charisse in his autobiography, calling her "beautiful dynamite" and writing: "That Cyd! When you've danced with her, you stay danced with." The film was well received but lost money for MGM. In her autobiography Charisse reflected on her experience with Astaire and Kelly: :As one of the handful of girls who worked with both of those dance geniuses, I think I can give an honest comparison. In my opinion, Kelly is the more inventive choreographer of the two. Astaire, with
Hermes Pan's help, creates fabulous numbers—for himself and his partner. But Kelly can create an entire number for somebody else ... I think, however, that Astaire's coordination is better than Kelly's ... his sense of rhythm is uncanny. Kelly, on the other hand, is the stronger of the two. When he lifts you, he lifts you! ... To sum it up, I'd say they were the two greatest dancing personalities who were ever on screen. But it's like comparing apples and oranges. They're both delicious. Charisse had a slightly unusual dramatic role in
Party Girl (1958), in which she played a showgirl who becomes involved with gangsters and a crooked lawyer, although it did include two dance routines. It was far more profitable for MGM than her musicals. She went to Universal to co-star with
Rock Hudson in
Twilight for the Gods (1958). MGM wanted Charisse for the role of Eve Kendall in 1959's
North by Northwest, but
Alfred Hitchcock wanted
Eva Marie Saint.
1960s performing on the TV program
The Hollywood Palace in 1964 After the decline of the Hollywood musical in the late 1950s, Charisse retired from dancing but continued to appear in film and TV productions from the 1960s through the 1990s. She went to Europe to make
Five Golden Hours (1961) and Minnelli's
Two Weeks in Another Town. She had a supporting role in the unfinished film ''
Something's Got to Give (1962) with Marilyn Monroe and Dean Martin. She did Assassination in Rome'' (1965) in Italy. A striptease number by Charisse set to the movie's theme song opened the 1966
Dean Martin spy spoof,
The Silencers, and she played a fashion magazine editor in the 1967 caper film
Maroc 7. She frequently performed dance numbers on TV variety series such as
The Ed Sullivan Show and
The Dean Martin Show, with seven appearances on
The Hollywood Palace, a show she also hosted three times. She did
Fol-de-Rol in 1968, which was filmed and broadcast in 1972.
1970s and 1980s In the 1970s and 1980s Charisse guest-starred on shows such as
Medical Center,
Hawaii Five-O,
The Love Boat,
Fantasy Island,
The Fall Guy,
Glitter,
Murder, She Wrote, and
Crazy Like a Fox. She had a cameo in
Won Ton Ton, the Dog Who Saved Hollywood (1976) and played Atsil, an Atlantean high priestess, in the 1978 fantasy film
Warlords of Atlantis. Charisse was in the TV movies
Portrait of an Escort (1980) and
Swimsuit (1989). She also made cameo appearances in the music videos for
Blue Mercedes's "I Want to Be Your Property" (1987) and
Janet Jackson's "
Alright" (1990).
Later career Charisse appeared on Broadway from late 1991 as a replacement for
Liliane Montevecchi in
Grand Hotel. Her last film appearance was in 1994 in ''
That's Entertainment! III as one of the on-screen presenters in a tribute to the great MGM musical films. She appeared in episodes of Burke's Law and Frasier in 1995 before retiring from acting. Her final appearance was in the TV movie Empire State Building Murders'', which aired two months after her death in 2008. ==Later years==