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Debbie Reynolds

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Debbie Reynolds (born April 1, 1932) is an American actress and singer.

Contents

Singer and actor

Debbie Reynolds was born as Mary Frances Reynolds in El Paso, Texas, the second child of Raymond Francis Reynolds (1903-1986) and Maxine N. Harman (1913-1999).

Her family moved to Burbank, California, in 1939. At 16, Reynolds won the Miss Burbank Beauty Contest, a motion picture contract with Warner Brothers, and acquired her new first name.

Reynolds appeared in small roles in two Warner Brothers movies and signed with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Cast in Three Little Words, starring Fred Astaire and Red Skelton, Reynolds second MGM film appearance in Two Weeks With Love, received strong notices. She then appeared in Mr. Imperium opposite Lana Turner.

Over Gene Kelly's initial opposition and her lack of ability to tap dance, Reynolds played the female lead in Singin' in the Rain. Reynolds' hard work paid off in a well-received performance with Kelly and Donald O'Connor.

Reynolds went on to star in numerous movies, such as Bundle of Joy (1956), with her then-husband, Eddie Fisher and record hit songs (most notably "Tammy" from her 1957 film Tammy and the Bachelor) and headline major Las Vegas showrooms. Her starring role in The Unsinkable Molly Brown (1964) led to an Oscar nomination, but she lost to Julie Andrews in Mary Poppins.

As of 2005 she was still making appearances in film and television, one of the few actors from MGM's "golden age of film" (including Anita Page, Mickey Rooney, Lauren Bacall, Cyd Charisse, Margaret O'Brien, Jane Powell, Rita Moreno, Leslie Caron, Dean Stockwell, Van Johnson, Angela Lansbury, Russ Tamblyn and June Lockhart) who was still active in filmmaking. From 1999 to the present, she has played the recurring role of Grace's dizzy mother Bobbi Adler on the NBC sitcom Will & Grace.

Reynolds has been active in the Thalians Club and has also displayed her collection of movie memorabilia, first in a Las Vegas resort during the 1990s and later in a museum close to the Kodak Theater in Los Angeles, California. She has auctioned off some of these items several times.

Personal life

Reynolds has been married three times: She has two children, Carrie Fisher (born 1956, of Star Wars fame) and Todd Fisher (born 1958).

In an enormous scandal, Reynolds' first husband, singer Eddie Fisher, left her to marry the recently-widowed Elizabeth Taylor. Although Reynolds and Taylor were close friends and former child actresses at MGM, Reynolds publicly played the role of scorned wife to the hilt and Taylor played the femme fatale. While both intensely ambitious actresses received enormous publicity as a result, Taylor soon dropped Fisher when she met and married Richard Burton.

Reynolds' marriage to shoe magnate Harry Karl also proved disastrous. Instead of providing stabilty and financial security for Reynolds and her children, Karl was a pathological gambler, throwing away her money on his long losing streak.

Awards

Reynolds was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress following her performance in The Unsinkable Molly Brown (1964), a Golden Globe for The Debbie Reynolds Show on television (1970), a Golden Globe for the motion picture Mother (1996), and a Blockbuster Entertainment Award for In & Out (1997). In 1997 she received the Lifetime Achievement Award in Comedy.

In what Reynolds herself called the worst blunder of her career, she made big headlines in 1970 instigating a fight with NBC over cigarette advertising on her TV show. NBC canceled her show despite good ratings.

Reynolds' foot and hand prints are preserved at the Grauman's Chinese Theater in Hollywood. She also has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6654 Hollywood Boulevard.

Songs

Trivia

For many years Reynolds and Liberace shared the services of personal manager, Seymour Heller.

Reynolds was a Girl Scout and a troop leader. A scholarship in her name is offered to high-school age Girl Scouts.

  1. redirect
Height: 5'2"

Filmography

TV appearances

External links

 

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