A biography for Cyd Charissehasn’t been written yet.
“When I'm working on a picture, I get up at 6 o'clock in the morning, report to the sound stage for rehearsals at 8, then appear before the camera from 9 to 6. I dread going to lunch, because during that hour my muscles get cold and I have to warm them up again. Standing still is the most miserable thing a dancer has to do.”
“I was in so many Esther Williams pictures with Ricardo Montalban and I always was his girl no matter what the story.”
“Oh, I'm insane about shrimp curry!”
“It would be impossible to make a comparison between Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly. Their personalities are entirely different.”
“I was in a ballet company, and I auditioned for Bob Alton, a top choreographer at MGM. He sent me to see Arthur Freed, who offered me a seven-year contract.”
“It really isn't important how you get your exercise, but it does matter that you keep it up. If you let go, you'll find it very hard to get started again.”
“I was born in Amarillo. And my brother, who was a year older than I, had trouble saying the word 'Sister,' it came out 'Sid.' So I was called Sid.”
“Whenever an actress marries a nonprofessional with the promise she can carry on her career, either the marriage ends or the career does. Only actors understand the demands of professional lives and make allowance for them.”
“Most dancers have a young body. This is part discipline and part desire, because just sitting around makes one feel sluggish.”
“If I'm not working, I like to attend a dancing class. At least that keeps you in condition. Then, if you get a call for a dancing part, you don't have to go through two weeks of misery getting back in shape.”
“You never realize that good things are going to be over some day.”
“The happy marriages never get any publicity. It's just the bad ones that you read about.”
“Beverly Hills is just a small community.”
“Whenever they do leg pictures, I'm it!”
“Well, I swim quite a bit, and ride horseback. That's supposed to be bad for dancers, but I don't care - I like it. And then I collect dolls. I have them from lots of foreign countries.”
“I'm a dancer and when I walk off stage there isn't a dry spot on me. This means my hair has to be put up again between shows. I have to make up and dress all over again.”
“I know there are pros and cons about the studio system.”
“I joined the Ballets Russes when I was 14, and my name was changed twice. I was known as Marie Istomina, then as Felia Siderova. When I went to Hollywood and made my first movie, 'Mission to Moscow,' in 1943, I became Lily Norwood.”
“I eat a big breakfast and then go off to an hour and a half of strong ballet class.”
“I believe in exercise for everybody: it makes you feel so much better, it keeps your muscles toned and your body supple.”