In discussing the name Cyd, Sheron references
Cyd Charisse. A star who shone at her brightest in the 1950s, Charisse was an actress and dancer who performed alongside the likes of
Fred Astaire and
Gene Kelly. She retired from dancing in the late 1950s but continued as an actress on the silver screen through the late '70s, and appeared on TV quite regularly through the end of the '80s.
In 1991, Charisse made her Broadway debut in the hit musical Grand Hotel as a replacement for
Liliane Montevecchi, remaining with the show until it ended in April '92. Subsequently she appeared in episodes of TV hit
Frasier (1993) and the short-lived revival of
Burke's Law (1994) in 1995, before retiring from acting as well.
Charisse went on to receive the prestigious National Medal of Arts from President
George W. Bush in 2006 and made one final comeback appearance in the 2008 TV movie
Empire State Building Murders (2008), which aired two months after her death on June 17th 2008.