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*''[[Mother (1996 film)|Mother]]'' (1996)
*''[[Mother (1996 film)|Mother]]'' (1996)
*''[[Wedding Bell Blues (film)|Wedding Bell Blues]]'' (1996)
*''[[Wedding Bell Blues (film)|Wedding Bell Blues]]'' (1996)
*''[[In & Out]]'' ([[1997 in film|1997]])
*''[[In & Out]]'' (1997)
*''[[Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (film)|Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas]]'' (1998)
*''[[Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (film)|Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas]]'' (1998)
*''[[Zack and Reba]]'' (1998)
*''[[Zack and Reba]]'' (1998)
*''[[Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer: The Movie]]'' (1998) (voice)
*''[[Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer: The Movie]]'' (1998) (voice)
*''Keepers of the Frame'' ([[1999 in film|1999]]) (documentary)
*''Keepers of the Frame'' (1999) (documentary)
*''[[Rugrats in Paris: The Movie]]'' ([[2000 in film|2000]]) (voice)
*''[[Rugrats in Paris: The Movie]]'' (2000) (voice)
*''[[Cinerama Adventure]]'' (2002) (documentary)
*''[[Cinerama Adventure]]'' (2002) (documentary)
*''[[Connie and Carla]]'' (2004)
*''[[Connie and Carla]]'' (2004)

Revision as of 03:56, 2 June 2009

For other people named Debbie Reynolds, see Deborah Reynolds (disambiguation).
Debbie Reynolds
in I Love Melvin (1953).
Born
Mary Frances Reynolds
Occupation(s)Actress, Dancer, Singer
Years active1948–present
Spouse(s)Eddie Fisher (1955-1959, divorced)
Harry Karl (1960-1973, divorced)
Richard Hamlett (1984-1996, divorced)
Websitehttp://www.debbiereynolds.com debbiereynolds.com

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

Early life

Reynolds was born Mary Frances Reynolds in El Paso, Texas, the second child of Maxine N. (née Harmon; 1913-1999) and Raymond Francis Reynolds (1903-1986), who was a carpenter for the Southern Pacific Railroad.[1][2] Reynolds was a Girl Scout and a troop leader (a scholarship in her name is offered to high-school age Girl Scouts). Her family moved to Burbank, California, in 1939. At age sixteen, while a student at Burbank's John Burroughs High School, Reynolds won the Miss Burbank Beauty Contest, a motion-picture contract with Warner Brothers, and acquired her new first name.

Career

(from left) Barbara Ruick, Bob Fosse, Reynolds and Bobby Van in The Affairs of Dobie Gillis (1953).

Debbie Reynolds regularly appeared in movie musicals during the 1950s and had several hit records during the period. Her song "Aba Daba Honeymoon" (featured in the film Two Weeks with Love (1950) as a duet with Carleton Carpenter) was a top-three hit in 1951. Her most-memorable film role was in Singin' in the Rain (1952) as newcomer Kathy Selden. In Bundle of Joy (1956) she appeared with her then-husband, Eddie Fisher.

Her recording of the song "Tammy" (from her film Tammy and the Bachelor (1957)) earned her a gold record and was the best-selling single) by a female vocalist in 1957. It was number one for five weeks on the Billboard pop charts. In the movie (the first of the "Tammy" film series) she performed with Leslie Nielsen.

Reynolds also scored two other top-25 Billboard hits with "A Very Special Love" (1958) and "Am I That Easy to Forget" (1960) — a pop-music version of a country-music hit made famous by both songwriters Carl Belew (in 1959), Skeeter Davis (in 1960), and several years later by singer Engelbert Humperdinck. During these years she also headlined in major Las Vegas, Nevada, showrooms.

Marquee listing Reynolds's world première at the Riviera Hotel, Las Vegas, Nevada, December 1962.

Although Her starring role in The Unsinkable Molly Brown (1964) led to an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress, she lost to Julie Andrews in Mary Poppins. She portrayed real-life Jeanine Deckers in The Singing Nun (1966).

In what Reynolds has called the "stupidest mistake of my entire career", [3] she made headlines in 1970 after instigating a fight with the NBC television network over cigarette advertising on her eponymous television series; NBC cancelled the show.[3]

She continues to make appearances in film and television, one of the few actors from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's "golden age of film" (along with Mickey Rooney, Lauren Bacall, Margaret O'Brien, Jane Powell, Rita Moreno, Leslie Caron, Dean Stockwell, Angela Lansbury, Russ Tamblyn and June Lockhart) who remain active in filmmaking. From 1999 to its 2006 series finale, she played the recurring role of Grace's ditzy mother Bobbi Adler on the NBC situation comedy television series Will & Grace (1998-2006). She also plays a recurring role in the Disney Channel Original Movie "Halloweentown" film series as Aggie Cromwell. Reynolds made a guest appearance as a presenter at the 69th Academy Awards in 1997.

Reynolds has released several music albums of both her vintage performances and her later recordings.

Awards and nominations

Reynolds won the National Board of Review Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role in The Catered Affair (1956).

She has received various nominations for awards including: an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress for The Unsinkable Molly Brown (1964), a Golden Globe Award nomination for Best Actress – Television Series Musical or Comedy for The Debbie Reynolds Show (1970), a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy for Mother (1996). In 1997, she received the Lifetime Achievement Award in Comedy.[clarification needed]

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

In November 2006, Reynolds received the "Lifetime Achievement Award" from Chapman University (Orange, California). On May 17, 2007, she was awarded an honorary degree of Doctor of Humane Letters from the University of Nevada, Reno, (Reno, Nevada} where she had contributed for many years to the film-studies program. In her acceptance speech, she referred to the University as "Nevahda...Arizona".[citation needed]

Personal life

Reynolds has had three marriages. She and Eddie Fisher were married in 1955. They are the parents of Carrie Fisher and Todd Fisher. A public scandal ensued when Fisher and Elizabeth Taylor fell in love, and Reynolds and Fisher were divorced in 1959. Her second marriage, to millionaire businessman Harry Karl, lasted from 1960 to 1973. At its end, she found herself in financial difficulty because of Karl's gambling and bad investments. (Under the community-property laws of California, both spouses in a marriage are legally responsible for debts incurred by either.) Reynolds was married to real-estate developer Richard Hamlett from 1984 to 1996. They purchased Greek Isles Hotel & Casino, a small hotel and casino in Las Vegas, but it was not a success. In 1997, Reynolds was forced to declare bankruptcy.[4]

Reynolds has been active in the Thalians Club, a charitable organization. She is a member of the Church of the Nazarene.[5]

She has amassed a large collection of movie memorabilia and displayed them, first in a museum at her Las Vegas hotel and casino during the 1990s and later in a museum close to the Kodak Theater in Los Angeles, California. On several occasions she has auctioned off items from the collection. The collection will re-open in the Gatlinburg, Tennessee, area in the future.[clarification needed]

She currently[clarification needed] resides in Los Angeles next door to her daughter Carrie, and her granddaughter, Billie.[clarification needed]

Filmography

Features: Template:Multicol

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Short subjects: Template:Multicol

  • A Visit with Debbie Reynolds (1959)

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  • The Story of a Dress (1964)

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Television Work

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Further Reading

  • Reynolds, Debbie (with Columbia, David Patrick) (1988). Debbie: My Life. William Morrow and Company. ISBN 978-0688066338.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)

References

  1. ^ Debbie Reynolds Biography (1932-)
  2. ^ Genealogy.com - Ancestry of Carrie Fisher
  3. ^ a b Reynolds, Debbie (with Columbia, David Patrick) (1988). Debbie: My Life. William Morrow and Company, p. 309. ISBN 978-0688066338
  4. ^ How Celebrities Go Bankrupt at legalzoom.com
  5. ^ Members of the Church of the Nazarene from adherents.com

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Debbie Reynolds.


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