From sickly to stunning: The polio survivor who became a Hollywood icon

Cyd Charisse could do it all—sing, act, and dance like music made flesh. Those impossibly long legs became legend, but she began as Tula Ellice Finklea, a sickly Texas girl recovering from polio. Ballet, meant to build her up, gave her a life. A brother’s mispronounced “Sis” became “Cyd,” and Hollywood did the rest.