Fond Farewells
Cyd Charisse, 1921-2008
EverettIn the grand Hollywood musicals, Cyd Charisse was the one dance queen who radiated sex, wrapping her long, strong python legs around her male costars, reducing them to boy-toys. In Singin' in the Rain's "Broadway Melody Ballet” she is both slithering vamp and luscious bride to Gene Kelly; in the "Girl Hunt” number in The Band Wagon, she's Fred Astaire's chameleonic femme fatale, matching his moves in jazz, ballet and Broadway idioms. A Texas girl, born Tula Finklea, she danced with the Ballet Russe under Russian pseudonyms before MGM re-Americanized her. Charisse's movie reign was brief, just the fabulous '50s, after which she toured night clubs with her husband, crooner Tony Martin. They celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary a month before her death.
—Richard Corliss
Fond Farewells: Full List
- William F. Buckley, 1925-2008
- George Carlin, 1937-2008
- Cyd Charisse, 1921-2008
- Arthur C. Clarke, 1917-2008
- Michael Crichton, 1942-2008
- Mahmoud Darwish, 1942-2008
- Michael DeBakey, 1908-2008
Adrian Kantrowitz, 1918-2008 - Anne d'Harnoncourt, 1943-2008
- Bo Diddley, 1928-2008
- Mark Felt, 1913-2008
- Bobby Fischer, 1943-2008
- Gary Gygax, 1938-2008
- Jörg Haider, 1950-2008
- Grace Hartigan, 1922-2008
- Isaac Hayes, 1942-2008
- Jesse Helms, 1921-2008
- Charlton Heston, 1923-2008
- Edmund Hillary, 1919-2008
- Eartha Kitt, 1927-2008
- Heath Ledger, 1979-2008
- Sherman Lee, 1918-2008
- Mildred Loving, 1939-2008
- Bernie Mac, 1957-2008
- Miriam Makeba, 1932-2008
- Jim McKay, 1921-2008
- Anthony Minghella, 1954-2008
- Imad Mughniyah, 1962-2008
- Paul Newman, 1925-2008
- Odetta, 1930-2008
- Bettie Page, 1923-2008
- Randy Pausch, 1960-2008
- Harold Pinter, 1930-2008
- Suzanne Pleshette, 1937-2008
- Sydney Pollack, 1934-2008
- Dith Pran, 1942-2008
- Robert Rauschenberg, 1925-2008
- Tim Russert, 1950-2008
- Yves Saint Laurent, 1936-2008
- Tony Snow, 1955-2008
- Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, 1918-2008
- Suharto, 1921-2008
- Studs Terkel, 1912-2008
- Jørn Utzon, 1918-2008
- David Foster Wallace, 1962-2008
- Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, 1918-2008
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