Debbie Reynolds - # 150

Debbie Reynolds, Wholesome Ingénue in 1950s Films, Dies at 84

She was number 150 on the list.

Debbie Reynolds, the wholesome ingénue in 1950s films like “Singin’ in the Rain” and “Tammy and the Bachelor,” died Wednesday, a day after the death of her daughter, the actress Carrie Fisher. She was 84.

Her death was confirmed by her son, Todd Fisher, according to her agent, Tom Markley of the Metropolitan Talent Agency. Ms. Reynolds was taken to a Los Angeles hospital on Wednesday afternoon. Mr. Fisher told the television station ABC 7 Los Angeles that she had suffered a stroke.

According to TMZ, she had been discussing funeral plans for Ms. Fisher, who died on Tuesday after having a heart attack during a flight to Los Angeles last Friday.

“She’s now with Carrie, and we’re all heartbroken,” Mr. Fisher said from Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, where Ms. Reynolds was taken by ambulance, The Associated Press said. He said the stress of his sister’s death “was too much” for his mother.

On Tuesday, Ms. Reynolds had expressed gratitude to her daughter’s fans on Facebook.

“Thank you to everyone who has embraced the gifts and talents of my beloved and amazing daughter,” she wrote. “I am grateful for your thoughts and prayers that are now guiding her to her next stop.”

Ms. Reynolds’s career peak may have been her best-actress Academy Award nomination for playing the title role in “The Unsinkable Molly Brown” (1964), a rags-to-riches western musical based on a true story.

Her best-remembered film is probably “Singin’ in the Rain” (1952), the classic MGM musical about 1920s moviemaking, in which she held her own with Gene Kelly and Donald O’Connor, although she was only 19 when the movie was shot and had never danced professionally before. Her fans may cherish her sentimental good-girl portrayals, like the title role in “Tammy and the Bachelor” (1957), in which she played a Louisiana moonshiner’s wide-eyed granddaughter who spouted folksy wisdom.

Her greatest fame, however, may have come not from any movie role but from the Hollywood scandal involving her husband and a glamorous young widow.

In 1955, Ms. Reynolds married Eddie Fisher, the boyish music idol whose hits included “Oh! My Pa-Pa” and “I’m Walking Behind You,” and the young couple were embraced by fan magazines as America’s sweethearts. Their best friends were the producer Mike Todd and his new wife, the femme-fatale film star Elizabeth Taylor.

When Mr. Todd died in a private-plane crash in 1958, Ms. Reynolds and Mr. Fisher rushed to comfort Ms. Taylor. Mr. Fisher’s comforting, however, turned into a very public extramarital affair. He and Ms. Reynolds were divorced early the next year, and he and Ms. Taylor were married weeks later. That marriage lasted five years. Ms. Taylor left Mr. Fisher for Richard Burton, whom she had met in Rome on the set of “Cleopatra” (1963).

Almost 40 years later, in an interview with The Chicago Sun-Times, Ms. Reynolds said of Ms. Taylor, “Probably she did me a great favor.” In her 1988 autobiography, “Debbie: My Life,” she described a marriage that was unhappy from the beginning.

“He didn’t think I was funny,” Ms. Reynolds wrote of Mr. Fisher. “I wasn’t good in bed. I didn’t make good gefilte fish or good chopped liver. So what did he have? A cute little girl next door with a little turned-up nose. That was, in fact, all he actually ever said he wanted from me. The children, he said, better have your nose.”

Mary Frances Reynolds was born on April 1, 1932, in El Paso. Her father, Ray, worked for the railroad and struggled financially during the Depression. Her mother, Maxene, took in laundry to help make ends meet. As Nazarene Baptists, they considered movies sinful.

With the promise of a better job, Ray moved to California when Mary Frances was 7, and the family soon followed. Her career dream was to go to college and become a gym teacher, she often said, but when she was named Miss Burbank 1948, everything changed. Two of the judges were movie-studio scouts, and she was soon under contract to Warner Bros., which changed her name.

Filmography

Alice (TV show) Felicia Blake (Actress)

Year       Title       Role       Notes    References

1948      June Bride           Boo's Girlfriend at Wedding         Uncredited        

1950      The Daughter of Rosie O'Grady Maureen O'Grady                           

Three Little Words           Helen Kane                        

Two Weeks with Love     Melba Robinson                               

1951      Mr. Imperium    Gwen                    

1952      Singin' in the Rain            Kathy Selden                     

Skirts Ahoy!        Herself Uncredited        

1953      I Love Melvin     Judy Schneider / Judy LeRoy                       

The Affairs of Dobie Gillis              Pansy Hammer                 

Give a Girl a Break           Suzy Doolittle                    

1954      Susan Slept Here              Susan Beauregard Landis                             

Athena Minerva Mulvain                             

1955      Hit the Deck       Carol Pace                          

The Tender Trap               Julie Gillis                           

1956      Meet Me in Las Vegas    Herself Uncredited        

The Catered Affair           Jane Hurley                        

Bundle of Joy     Polly Parish                        

1957      Tammy and the Bachelor              Tammy                

1958      This Happy Feeling           Janet Blake                        

1959      The Mating Game            Mariette Larkin                

Say One for Me Holly LeMaise, aka Conroy                           

It Started with a Kiss       Maggie Putnam                               

The Gazebo        Nell Nash                            

1960      The Rat Race      Peggy Brown                     

Pepe      Cameo                 

1961      The Pleasure of His Company      Jessica Anne Poole                          

The Second Time Around              Lucretia 'Lu' Rogers                        

1962      How the West Was Won               Lilith Prescott                    

1963      My Six Loves       Janice Courtney                               

Mary, Mary         Mary McKellaway                           

1964      The Unsinkable Molly Brown       Molly Brown                      

Goodbye Charlie               Charlie Sorel/Virginia Mason                      

1966      The Singing Nun                Sister Ann                           

1967      Divorce American Style Barbara Harmon                              

1968      How Sweet It Is!                Jenny Henderson                            

1969      Debbie Reynolds and the Sound of Children         Herself TV movie            

1971      What's the Matter with Helen? Adelle                  

1973      Charlotte's Web                Charlotte A. Cavatica (voice)                       

1974      Busby Berkeley                 Documentary    

That's Entertainment!                    Compilation film              

1987      Sadie and Son    Sadie     TV movie            

1989      Perry Mason: The Case of the Musical Murder     Amanda Cody    TV movie            

1992      Battling for Baby               Helen    TV movie            

The Bodyguard Herself Cameo

1993      Jack L. Warner: The Last Mogul                  Documentary    

Heaven & Earth                 Eugenia                               

1994      That's Entertainment! III                               Compilation film              

1996      Mother                 Beatrice Henderson                       

Wedding Bell Blues          Herself                 

1997      In & Out               Berniece Brackett                            

1998      Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas   Herself (voice)                  

Kiki's Delivery Service     Madame (voice, Disney English dub)                       

Zack and Reba   Beulah Blanton                 

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer: The Movie      Mrs. Claus / Mitzi – Rudolph's Mother / Mrs. Prancer – School Teacher (voice)                 

Halloweentown                Splendora Agatha "Aggie" Cromwell        TV movie            

The Christmas Wish         Ruth      TV movie            

1999      A Gift of Love: The Daniel Huffman Story               Shirlee Allison    TV movie            

Keepers of the Frame                     Documentary    

2000      Rugrats in Paris: The Movie          Lulu Pickles (voice)                         

Virtual Mom       Gwen    TV movie            

Rugrats: Acorn Nuts & Diapey Butts         Lulu Johnson (voice)                      

2001      These Old Broads             Piper Grayson    TV movie            

Halloweentown II: Kalabar's Revenge      Splendora Agatha "Aggie" Cromwell        TV movie            

2002      Cinerama Adventure      Herself (interviewee)     Documentary    

Generation Gap                                TV movie            

2004      Connie and Carla              Herself                  [103][104][105]

Halloweentown High      Splendora Agatha "Aggie" Cromwell        TV movie            

2006      Return to Halloweentown            Splendora Agatha "Aggie" Cromwell        TV movie

Cameo appearance        

Lolo's Cafe           Mrs. Atkins (voice)           TV movie            

2007      Mr. Warmth: The Don Rickles Project      Herself (Interviewee)     Documentary    

2008      Light of Olympia               Queen (voice)                   

The Jill & Tony Curtis Story           Herself Documentary    

The Brothers Warner                      Documentary    

Fay Wray: A Life                                Documentary    

2012      One for the Money          Grandma Mazur                                [103][104][105]

In the Picture     Aunt Lilith           Short    

2013      Behind the Candelabra Frances Liberace               TV movie            

2016      Bright Lights: Starring Carrie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds                Herself Documentary    

Short subjects

    A Visit with Debbie Reynolds (1959)

    The Story of a Dress (1964)

    In the Picture

Partial television credits

Year       Title       Role       Episodes              References

1981      Aloha Paradise Sydney Chase    8 episodes         

1991      The Golden Girls               Truby    "There Goes the Bride: Part 2"   

1994      Wings    Dee Dee Chapel                "If It's Not One Thing, It's Your Mother"

1997      Roseanne            Audrey Conner "Arsenic and Old Mom"                

1999–2006          Will & Grace       Bobbi Adler         12 episodes       

2000–2002          Rugrats                 Lulu Pickles         10 episodes       

2003      Tracey Ullman in the Trailer Tales              Herself TV comedy special          

2003–2007          Kim Possible       Nana Possible    4 episodes         

2010      The Penguins of Madagascar       Granny Squirrel (voice) "The Lost Treasure of the Golden Squirrel"           

RuPaul's Drag Race          Self (guest judge)                            

2015      The 7D Queen Whimsical (voice)              "Big Rock Candy Flim-Flam / Doing the 7D Dance"             

Radio broadcasts

Year       Program               Episode/source

9/8/1952             Lux Radio Theatre            Two Weeks With Love