Biography
Debbie Reynolds embodied the quintessential American sweetheart at the height of her fame, personifying the quintessential girl next door while earning enduring recognition for her roles in Hollywood musicals, most notably her participation in the genre's landmark achievement Singin' in the Rain along with numerous additional standout productions. Mary Frances Reynolds entered the world on April 1, 1932, in El Paso, Texas, and broke into motion pictures after claiming victory in the 1948 Miss Burbank pageant, which secured her an initial agreement with Warner Bros. The studio nevertheless limited her to minor parts in just a pair of features, namely The June Bride from 1948 and The Daughter of Rosie O'Grady released in 1950, prompting her departure in favor of MGM, where Three Little Words marked her debut. Her more substantial appearance in Two Weeks with Love during 1950 drew favorable attention, leading to her promotion as the successor to Judy Garland, with an additional assignment in Mr. Imperium slated for 1951.
Gene Kelly initially resisted casting her in the 1952 production Singin' in the Rain, yet Reynolds delivered a performance that held its own opposite Donald O'Connor and Jean Hagen, cementing the picture's status among the finest Hollywood musicals ever made. Subsequent entries proved less memorable, encompassing I Love Melvin, The Affairs of Dobie Gillis, and Give a Girl a Break, all from 1953; a loan-out to RKO yielded the notable hit Susan Slept Here in 1954, after which MGM rewarded her return with a revised seven-year contract. The studio nevertheless persisted in assigning her to underwhelming vehicles such as the health-fad satire Athena and the musical Hit the Deck, until she finally shared the screen with Frank Sinatra in the successful 1955 release The Tender Trap and earned praise the following year for portraying a blushing bride in The Catered Affair.
Reynolds collaborated with her then-husband Eddie Fisher on the musical Bundle of Joy, and the pair's offspring later achieved prominence in entertainment, with daughter Carrie gaining acclaim as an actress, novelist, and screenwriter while son Todd pursued directing. Her 1957 starring turn in Tammy and the Bachelor inaugurated a string of popular teen-oriented pictures that encompassed Tammy Tell Me True in 1961, Tammy and the Doctor in 1963, and Tammy and the Millionaire in 1967; other favorably received works from the era included It Started with a Kiss from 1959, The Pleasure of His Company from 1961, and The Unsinkable Molly Brown from 1964, the last of which brought an Academy Award nomination. Reynolds' 1959 divorce from Eddie Fisher, precipitated by his departure for Elizabeth Taylor, elicited widespread public sympathy that bolstered her popularity further, with reports suggesting earnings in the millions per film by the early 1960s.
Her prominence nevertheless began to fade by the mid-decade. Although she later identified 1966's The Singing Nun as her personal favorite, the project fell short of MGM's commercial expectations; this outcome prompted the studio to assign her parts nearer her actual age, yet neither Divorce American Style in 1967 nor How Sweet It Is the year after succeeded at the box office, leading Reynolds to withdraw from features in order to launch her own short-lived television program, The Debbie Reynolds Show. She deviated from type in 1971's campy horror entry What's the Matter with Helen?, but its lack of success effectively prompted her retreat from cinema, save for providing the voice of the title character in the animated Charlotte's Web while otherwise remaining absent from Hollywood for more than a decade.
She subsequently toured the nightclub circuit and made her Broadway debut in the 1973 revival of Irene, followed in 1977 by a Los Angeles Civic Light Opera staging of Annie Get Your Gun. Throughout the 1980s Reynolds became a regular presence in Las Vegas, eventually establishing her own hotel and casino where she performed regularly and maintained a dedicated museum of Hollywood memorabilia. Her return to the screen began with the 1987 television film Sadie and Son, succeeded by Perry Mason: The Case of the Musical Murder in 1989. A brief appearance as herself occurred in the 1992 hit The Bodyguard, while a minor part in Oliver Stone's 1993 Vietnam drama Heaven and Earth represented her next measured reentry; the pivotal step came in 1996 when she took the title role in Albert Brooks' comedy Mother, a performance widely hailed by critics as the finest of her career.
Wedding Bell Blues and In and Out arrived next, and Reynolds sustained her activity well into the new century, headlining the 2010 West End production Debbie Reynolds: Alive and Fabulous as well as the 2013 HBO Liberace biopic Behind the Candelabra. She died on December 28, 2016, a day after her daughter Carrie Fisher succumbed following a heart attack sustained on a flight from London to Los Angeles; Debbie Reynolds was 84.
Gene Kelly initially resisted casting her in the 1952 production Singin' in the Rain, yet Reynolds delivered a performance that held its own opposite Donald O'Connor and Jean Hagen, cementing the picture's status among the finest Hollywood musicals ever made. Subsequent entries proved less memorable, encompassing I Love Melvin, The Affairs of Dobie Gillis, and Give a Girl a Break, all from 1953; a loan-out to RKO yielded the notable hit Susan Slept Here in 1954, after which MGM rewarded her return with a revised seven-year contract. The studio nevertheless persisted in assigning her to underwhelming vehicles such as the health-fad satire Athena and the musical Hit the Deck, until she finally shared the screen with Frank Sinatra in the successful 1955 release The Tender Trap and earned praise the following year for portraying a blushing bride in The Catered Affair.
Reynolds collaborated with her then-husband Eddie Fisher on the musical Bundle of Joy, and the pair's offspring later achieved prominence in entertainment, with daughter Carrie gaining acclaim as an actress, novelist, and screenwriter while son Todd pursued directing. Her 1957 starring turn in Tammy and the Bachelor inaugurated a string of popular teen-oriented pictures that encompassed Tammy Tell Me True in 1961, Tammy and the Doctor in 1963, and Tammy and the Millionaire in 1967; other favorably received works from the era included It Started with a Kiss from 1959, The Pleasure of His Company from 1961, and The Unsinkable Molly Brown from 1964, the last of which brought an Academy Award nomination. Reynolds' 1959 divorce from Eddie Fisher, precipitated by his departure for Elizabeth Taylor, elicited widespread public sympathy that bolstered her popularity further, with reports suggesting earnings in the millions per film by the early 1960s.
Her prominence nevertheless began to fade by the mid-decade. Although she later identified 1966's The Singing Nun as her personal favorite, the project fell short of MGM's commercial expectations; this outcome prompted the studio to assign her parts nearer her actual age, yet neither Divorce American Style in 1967 nor How Sweet It Is the year after succeeded at the box office, leading Reynolds to withdraw from features in order to launch her own short-lived television program, The Debbie Reynolds Show. She deviated from type in 1971's campy horror entry What's the Matter with Helen?, but its lack of success effectively prompted her retreat from cinema, save for providing the voice of the title character in the animated Charlotte's Web while otherwise remaining absent from Hollywood for more than a decade.
She subsequently toured the nightclub circuit and made her Broadway debut in the 1973 revival of Irene, followed in 1977 by a Los Angeles Civic Light Opera staging of Annie Get Your Gun. Throughout the 1980s Reynolds became a regular presence in Las Vegas, eventually establishing her own hotel and casino where she performed regularly and maintained a dedicated museum of Hollywood memorabilia. Her return to the screen began with the 1987 television film Sadie and Son, succeeded by Perry Mason: The Case of the Musical Murder in 1989. A brief appearance as herself occurred in the 1992 hit The Bodyguard, while a minor part in Oliver Stone's 1993 Vietnam drama Heaven and Earth represented her next measured reentry; the pivotal step came in 1996 when she took the title role in Albert Brooks' comedy Mother, a performance widely hailed by critics as the finest of her career.
Wedding Bell Blues and In and Out arrived next, and Reynolds sustained her activity well into the new century, headlining the 2010 West End production Debbie Reynolds: Alive and Fabulous as well as the 2013 HBO Liberace biopic Behind the Candelabra. She died on December 28, 2016, a day after her daughter Carrie Fisher succumbed following a heart attack sustained on a flight from London to Los Angeles; Debbie Reynolds was 84.
Albums
Am I That Easy To Forget?
1996
The Best Of Debbie Reynolds
1991
Best Of Debbie Reynolds
1991
Conversations
1970
It's a Small World
1965
Fine And Dandy
1960
Debbie
1959
Vintage Movies No. 25 - EP: Two Weeks With Love
1950
Singles
