Pop Smart - Cyd Charisse died yesterday at age 86...

But her long legs live on in dance.Charisse, called “beautiful dynamite” by occasional dancing partner Fred Astaire, was best known as the slinky love interest in the “Broadway Melody Ballet” sequence in Singin’ in the Rain, but she cut many more rugs than that. Here she is dancing in silk stockings in Silk Stockings.-+kml_flashembed movie=%22http://www.youtube.com/v/_rvbS5LJND8%22 width=%22425%22 height=%22350%22 wmode=%22transparent%22 /+-

If I could, I’d post the whole movie as a tribute, if only to see her in the upbeat Commie number “The Red Blues,” or to hear her say, “Where is the little comrades’ room?” when she has to powder her nose. She was a beautiful and incredible dancer, and she has no contemporary equal. She will be missed. UPDATE:Turner Classic Movies will honor Charisse with a screening of three of her films on Friday, June 27: 1952’s Singin’ in the Rain (8 p.m.); 1953’s The Band Wagon (10 p.m.), directed by Vincente Minnelli and co-starring Fred Astaire; and 1957’s Silk Stockings, the popular musical remake of Ninotchka that also features Astaire. “Cyd Charisse was one of the few who managed to have it all: a great career, a place in movie history, respect from her peers and a husband who adored her,” TCM host Robert Osborne said in a press release. “My last time seeing her just a few months ago in New York said it all, with photographers snapping pictures of the movie star while she smiled brightly on the arm of her husband of 60 years, Tony Martin.”