TV Obits: Charisse, Calhoun, Schwartz, Brandt
A roundup of TV people from in front of the camera and behind the scenes who have passed away.
- Cyd Charisse: Though she is known best for her work with Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly in many classic movies, including Singin’ in the Rain, The Band Wagon, Ziegfield Follies, and Words and Music, she also appeared on many TV shows, including Hawaii Five-O, The Love Boat, The Fall Guy, Medical Center, Burke’s Law, Checkmate, and Arthur Godfrey and Friends, as well as a voice role on an episode of Frasier. She died of a heart attack at age 86.
- Robert Calhoun: He was a producer and director who worked on many soap operas, including As The World Turns, Guiding Light, Another World, and Texas. He died of lung cancer at age 77.
- Tony Schwartz: He was an advertising icon who is probably best remembered for creating the famous “Daisy” TV commercial for Lyndon Johnson during the 1964 Presidential campaign. He also worked on other advertising campaigns, including Coke, Chrysler, and anti-smoking ads for the American Cancer Society. He died of heart valve stenosis at age 84.
- Yanna Kroyt Brandt: She was a producer on several shows, including The American Experience, Great Performances, FYI: For Your Information, and many other films and specials. She died in an auto accident at age 74.
Cyd Charisse Dies; Danced With Astaire, Kelly
There were dancers. And then there was Cyd Charisse. She was, as Fred Astaire put it, “beautiful dynamite.”
The leggy on-screen partner of Hollywood legends Astaire and Gene Kelly died early today at her Los Angeles home of a heart attack. Her rep said Charisse was 86.
To movie musical fans, Charisse will be remembered for joining Kelly in the famous “Broadway Melody” dream sequence from Singin’ in the Rain, and for taking on hard-boiled detectives with Astaire in “The Girl Hunt” number from The Band Wagon.
Rat Pack aficionados will remember Charisse, 45 and frisky, for heating up the screen as a showgirl in Dean Martin’s first Matt Helm movie, The Silencers.
And movie buffs will remember Charisse as a costar in Marilyn Monroe’s last, uncompleted movie, Something’s Got to Give, which fell apart following Monroe’s death in 1962.
Born Tula Ellice Finklea in Amarillo, Texas, Charisse earned a Golden Globe nomination for Silk Stockings, the 1957 musical that reunited her with Astaire.
Survivors include singer-actor Tony Martin, her husband of 60 years.
Cybill Shepherd contemplates Dancing with the Stars
There’s no doubt a run on Dancing with the Stars is a boost to careers. Just consider Marie Osmond; was anybody knocking on her door for work before she fainted in between the waltzes and sambas? Well, according to Cybill Shepherd, the producers of Dancing with the Stars want her to take part in the competition. Whether they want her or she’s saying they want her to get some press, Cybill goes on to say that she could consider being a contestant on the uber-popular reality show, but only if she can find the time to devote to rehearsing.
Cybill has been busy acting of late. She’s going to appear on PSYCH in July when the show comes back with new episodes, playing Shawn’s mother. There’s also a feature called Barry Munday. Seemingly, she could make room in her work schedule for Dancing, and she claims she’s really good at it and has fielded offers from them, “I love ballroom dancing. I’ve been offered Dancing with the Stars and I’d love to do it. I’m sure I could do it. It’s just a really hard training period and I just haven’t had time to devote to that.”
I’d love to believe Cybill when she says that she’s sure she could do it. But she also believed she could sing and dance when she made At Long Last Love. Remember that movie, her big-budget movie musical with Burt Reynolds? They were not Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire by any stretch of the imagination. And that was 1975, when Cybill was a spry and supple 25 years old. You think she moves better now at 58? Hmm…I don’t think so.