Debbie Reynolds

Debbie Reynolds was born Mary Frances Reynolds in El Paso, Texas, the second child of Maxine N. (Harmon) and Raymond Francis Reynolds, a carpenter for the Southern Pacific Railroad. Her film career began at MGM after she won a beauty contest at the age of 16 impersonating Betty Hutton. Reynolds was not a dancer until she was selected to be Gene Kelly's partner in the film Singin' in the Rain (1952). Not yet 20 years old, she was a quick study. Twelve years later, it seemed like she had been around forever. Most of her early film work was in MGM musicals as perky, wholesome young women. She continued to use her dancing skills with theater work. She was 31 years old when she gave an Academy Award-nominated performance in the film The Unsinkable Molly Brown (1964). She survived losing her first ex-husband, Eddie Fisher, to her best friend, Elizabeth Taylor, following the tragic death of director Mike Todd, Taylor's third ex-husband. Her second ex-husband, shoe magnate Harry Karl, gambled away his fortune as well as hers. With her children as well as Karl's, she had to keep on working and turned to the theater. She had her own casino in Las Vegas with a home for her collection of Hollywood memorabilia until it closed down in 1997. She also took the time to personally write a long letter that is on display in the Judy Garland Museum in Grand Rapids, Minnesota and to provide that museum with replicas of Garland's costumes. The originals are in her newly-opened museum in Hollywood, California. Nearly all of the money that she made was spent toward her goal of creating a Hollywood museum. Her collection numbers more than 3,000 costumes and 46,000 square feet worth of props and equipment. With her first ex-husband, musician / actor Eddie Fisher, she was the mother of filmmaker Todd Fisher and actress Carrie Fisher. Reynolds died of a stroke on December 28, 2016, one day after the death of her daughter, Carrie Fisher. She was survived by both her son and her granddaughter, up-and-coming actress Billie Lourd.