Archives Spotlight: Cyd Charisse and Tony Martin
February 13, 2026
By: Elisabeth Hedges, Processing Archivist
Few partnerships embody the harmony of love and artistry quite like Tony Martin and Cyd Charisse. Married for 60 years, this husband-and-wife entertainment powerhouse dazzled audiences around the world on stage and screen.
Charisse was a luminous dancer, forever remembered for her performance with Gene Kelly in the “Broadway Melody” sequence of Singin’ in the Rain. Throughout her celebrated career, she partnered with Fred Astaire, Kelly, and many others, captivating audiences as a Hollywood dancer in the 1940s and ’50s and continuing to appear on stage and screen into the 1990s. Martin was a gifted singer and actor who, at one point in the 1950s, became the highest-paid singer in Las Vegas history. Beyond their individual successes, the two frequently joined forces, hosting variety shows and performing together as a dynamic singing-and-dancing duo.
The Songbook Library & Archives is honored to preserve the Cyd Charisse and Tony Martin Collection, which includes thousands of photographs documenting their remarkable lives and careers. Their personal photographs capture everything from baby pictures and childhood memories to vacations, graduations, Tony’s time in the Army, and treasured family moments with their sons, Nicky and Tony Jr. The professional images are even more extensive, featuring promotional portraits, film stills, and performance photography from across their decades in entertainment.
The collection also includes drafts of speeches and books, limited correspondence, and one especially striking set of artifacts: the enormous scrapbooks they carefully maintained throughout their careers. There are approximately five of these oversized volumes, each far too large for any standard coffee table, filled with news clippings, photographs, and programs that chronicle their extraordinary journey in show business. One of these remarkable scrapbooks is currently on display in the Traditions Senior Communities Songbook Gallery as part of our Timeless Treasures artifact display.
We invite you to experience this enduring love story, one that reminds us how music, dance, and partnership can create a legacy that lasts a lifetime.
