Debbie Reynolds
Mary Frances "Debbie" Reynolds (April 1, 1932 – December 28, 2016) was an American actress, singer, businesswoman, film historian, and humanitarian. She was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Most Promising Newcomer for her portrayal of Helen Kane in the 1950 film Three Little Words, and her breakout role was her first leading role, as Kathy Selden in Singin' in the Rain (1952). Other successes include The Affairs of Dobie Gillis (1953), Susan Slept Here (1954), Bundle of Joy (1956 Golden Globe nomination), The Catered Affair (1956 National Board of Review Best Supporting Actress Winner), and Tammy and the Bachelor (1957), in which her performance of the song "Tammy" reached number one on the Billboard music charts.[1] In 1959, she released her first pop music album, titled Debbie. She starred in How the West Was Won (1963), and The Unsinkable Molly Brown (1964), a biographical film about the famously boisterous Molly Brown. Her performance as Brown earned her a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress. Her other films include The Singing Nun (1966), Divorce American Style (1967), What's the Matter with Helen? (1971), Charlotte's Web (1973), Mother (1996) (Golden Globe nomination), and In & Out (1997). Reynolds was also a cabaret performer. In 1979 she founded the Debbie Reynolds Dance Studio in North Hollywood, which still operates today. In 1969 she starred on television in the eponymous The Debbie Reynolds Show, for which she received a Golden Globe nomination. In 1973 Reynolds starred in a Broadway revival of the musical Irene and was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Lead Actress in a Musical. She was also nominated for a Daytime Emmy Award for her performance in A Gift of Love (1999) and an Emmy Award for playing Grace's mother Bobbi on Will & Grace. At the turn of the millennium, Reynolds reached a new younger generation with her role as Aggie Cromwell in Disney's Halloweentown series. In 1988 she released her autobiography titled, Debbie: My Life. In 2013, she released a second autobiography, Unsinkable: A Memoir. Reynolds also had several business ventures, including ownership of a dance studio and a Las Vegas hotel and casino, and she was an avid collector of film memorabilia, beginning with items purchased at the landmark 1970 MGM auction. She served as president of The Thalians, an organization dedicated to mental health causes. Reynolds continued to perform successfully on stage, television, and film into her eighties. In January 2015, Reynolds received the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award. In 2016 she received the Academy Awards Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award. In the same year, a documentary about her life was released titled Bright Lights: Starring Carrie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds; the film premiered on HBO on January 7, 2017. On December 28, 2016, Reynolds was hospitalized at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center following a medical emergency, which her son Todd Fisher later described as a "severe stroke". She died that afternoon, one day after the death of her daughter Carrie Fisher.
Known For
Credits
- 2024 · Elizabeth Taylor: The Lost Tapes as Self (archive footage)
- 2024 · Elizabeth Taylor: The Lost Tapes as Self (archive photos/voice)
- 2021 · Broadway: Beyond the Golden Age as Self
- 2021 · Sœur Sourire: Who Killed the Voice of God? as Self (archive footage)
- 2017 · Bright Lights: Starring Carrie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds as Self
- 2016 · The Slippers as
- 2015 · Tab Hunter Confidential as Self
- 2014 · The 7D as Grandmommers Whimsical (voice)
- 2014 · Committed as Self
- 2014 · And the Oscar Goes To... as Self (archive footage)
- 2013 · Behind the Candelabra as Frances
- 2012 · In the Picture as Aunt Lilith
- 2012 · Tony Curtis: Driven to Stardom as Self
- 2012 · One for the Money as Grandma Mazur
- 2009 · Hollywood Singing & Dancing: A Musical History - 1970's as Self
- 2009 · The Boys: The Sherman Brothers' Story as Self
- 2009 · RuPaul's Drag Race as Self - Judge
- 2009 · Hollywood Singing and Dancing: A Musical History - The 1930s: Dancing Away the Great Depression as Self
- 2008 · The Penguins of Madagascar as Granny Squirrel (voice)
- 2008 · The Brothers Warner as Self
- 2008 · Hollywood Singing and Dancing: A Musical History as Self
- 2007 · Mr. Warmth: The Don Rickles Project as Self
- 2006 · Return to Halloweentown as Agatha Cromwell
- 2006 · The One Show as Self - Guest
- 2005 · The Reichen Show as Self - Guest
- 2005 · Get Aboard! 'The Band Wagon' as Self (archive footage)
- 2004 · Halloweentown High as Aggie Cromwell
- 2004 · Connie and Carla as Herself
- 2003 · The Ellen DeGeneres Show as Self
- 2003 · Tracey Ullman in the Trailer Tales as Herself
- 2002 · Rugrats: Babies in Toyland as Lulu Pickles (voice)
- 2002 · Gene Kelly: Anatomy of a Dancer as Self
- 2002 · What a Glorious Feeling: The Making of 'Singin' in the Rain' as Self
- 2002 · Cinerama Adventure as Self
- 2002 · Kim Possible as Nana Possible (voice)
- 2002 · First Monday as
- 2001 · Halloweentown II: Kalabar's Revenge as Agatha Cromwell
- 2001 · Cleopatra: The Film That Changed Hollywood as Self (archive footage)
- 2001 · These Old Broads as Piper Grayson
- 2000 · Rugrats in Paris: The Movie as Lulu Pickles (voice)
- 2000 · Virtual Mom as Gwen
- 1999 · A Gift of Love: The Daniel Huffman Story as Shirlee Allison
- 1999 · Keepers of the Frame as Herself
- 1999 · Family Guy as Mrs. Wilson (voice)
- 1998 · The Christmas Wish as Ruth
- 1998 · Halloweentown as Aggie Cromwell
- 1998 · Zack and Reba as Beulah Blanton
- 1998 · Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer: The Movie as Mrs. Claus / Mitzi / Mrs. Prancer / School Teacher (voice)
- 1998 · Will & Grace as Bobbi Adler
- 1998 · Hollywood Squares as Self - Panelist
- 1998 · Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas as Debbie Reynolds (voice)
- 1997 · In & Out as Berniece Brackett
- 1997 · Twentieth Century Fox: The First 50 Years as Self
- 1996 · Mother as Beatrice Henderson
- 1996 · Wedding Bell Blues as Debbie Reynolds
- 1994 · Touched by an Angel as Betty Poplovich
- 1994 · That's Entertainment! III as Self - Co-Host / Narrator
- 1993 · Heaven & Earth as Eugenia
- 1993 · Intimate Portrait as Self
- 1993 · Jack L. Warner: The Last Mogul as Herself
- 1992 · The Bodyguard as Debbie Reynolds
- 1992 · Vicki! as Self
- 1992 · Battling for Baby as Helen
- 1991 · Rugrats as Lulu Pickles (voice)
- 1990 · Wings as Deedee Chappel
- 1989 · Perry Mason: The Case of the Musical Murder as Amanda Cody
- 1988 · Roseanne as
- 1988 · Sidewalks Entertainment as
- 1988 · Couples Do It Debbie's Way as
- 1987 · Sadie and Son as Sadie
- 1985 · The Golden Girls as Truby
- 1985 · The Best of Broadway as Herself
- 1985 · That's Dancing! as
- 1983 · Jennifer Slept Here as Alice Farrell
- 1983 · Do It Debbie's Way as Self
- 1983 · Hollywood Out-takes and Rare Footage as Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
- 1982 · Madame's Place as Self
- 1982 · Hotel as
- 1982 · Oops, Those Hollywood Bloopers! as Self (archive footage)
- 1981 · Entertainment Tonight as Self
- 1981 · Aloha Paradise as Sydney Chase
- 1981 · Alice's Adventures in Wonderland as Alice (voice)
- 1980 · Barbara Mandrell and the Mandrell Sisters as Self
- 1978 · Leapin' Lizards, It's Liberace! as Herself
- 1977 · The Love Boat as Sheila Evans
- 1977 · The Love Boat as Doris Talbert
- 1977 · The People's Command Performance: '77 as Self
- 1976 · Alice as
- 1976 · That's Entertainment, Part II as (archive footage)
- 1976 · The Sonny & Cher Show as
- 1974 · Dinah! as Self
- 1974 · That's Entertainment! as Self - Host / Narrator
- 1973 · Charlotte's Web as Charlotte (voice)
- 1972 · Hollywood: The Dream Factory as Self (archive footage)
- 1971 · What's the Matter with Helen? as Adelle Bruckner
- 1971 · Great Performances as Self
- 1971 · The Pearl Bailey Show as Self
- 1969 · Debbie Reynolds and the Sound of Children as Self
- 1969 · Bracken's World as
- 1969 · The Debbie Reynolds Show as Debbie Thompson
- 1969 · The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour as Self
- 1968 · How Sweet It Is! as Jenny
- 1968 · The Dick Cavett Show as Self - Guest
- 1967 · The Carol Burnett Show as Self - Guest / Various Characters
- 1967 · Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In as Self
- 1967 · Divorce American Style as Barbara Harmon
- 1966 · The Singing Nun as Sister Ann
- 1964 · Goodbye Charlie as Charlie Sorel / Virginia Mason
- 1964 · The Unsinkable Molly Brown as Molly Brown
- 1964 · The Story of a Dress as Self
- 1963 · Mary, Mary as Mary McKellaway
- 1963 · My Six Loves as Janice Courtney
- 1962 · The Andy Williams Christmas Show as
- 1962 · How the West Was Won as Lilith Prescott
- 1962 · The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson as Self
- 1962 · The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson as Self - Guest Host
- 1962 · The Merv Griffin Show as Self
- 1961 · The Second Time Around as Lu Rogers
- 1961 · The Mike Douglas Show as Self
- 1961 · The DuPont Show of the Week as Self
- 1961 · The Pleasure of His Company as Jessica Poole
- 1960 · Pepe as Debbie Reynolds
- 1960 · The Rat Race as Peggy Brown
- 1960 · The Gazebo as Nell Nash
- 1960 · Hedda Hopper's Hollywood as Self
- 1959 · Startime as
- 1959 · It Started with a Kiss as Maggie Putnam
- 1959 · Say One for Me as Holly LeMaise
- 1959 · The Mating Game as Mariette Larkin
- 1958 · Kraft Music Hall as
- 1958 · This Happy Feeling as Janet Blake
- 1957 · American Bandstand as Self
- 1957 · Tammy and the Bachelor as Tammy Tyree
- 1956 · Bundle of Joy as Polly Parish
- 1956 · The Steve Allen Show as Self - Recipient
- 1956 · The Catered Affair as Jane Hurley
- 1956 · Tony Awards as Self - Nominee
- 1956 · Tony Awards as Self - Memoriam (archive footage)
- 1956 · Meet Me in Las Vegas as Debbie Reynolds (uncredited)
- 1955 · The Tender Trap as Julie Gillis
- 1955 · Ford Star Jubilee as
- 1955 · Hit the Deck as Carol Pace
- 1954 · Athena as Minerva Mulvain
- 1954 · The George Gobel Show as Self
- 1954 · A Star Is Born World Premiere as Self
- 1954 · Susan Slept Here as Susan Beaurgard Landis
- 1953 · Give a Girl a Break as Suzy Doolittle
- 1953 · The Affairs of Dobie Gillis as Pansy Hammer
- 1953 · I Love Melvin as Judy Schneider / Judy LeRoy
- 1953 · The Oscars as Self
- 1952 · This Is Your Life as Self
- 1952 · Skirts Ahoy! as Debbie Reynolds (uncredited)
- 1952 · Singin' in the Rain as Kathy Selden
- 1951 · Challenge the Wilderness as Narrator (uncredited)
- 1951 · Mr. Imperium as Gwen
- 1950 · Two Weeks with Love as Melba Robinson
- 1950 · The Colgate Comedy Hour as Self
- 1950 · Three Little Words as Helen Kane
- 1950 · The Daughter of Rosie O'Grady as Maureen O'Grady
- 1950 · The Bob Hope Show as Self
- 1950 · What's My Line? as Self - Mystery Guest
- 1948 · June Bride as Boo's Girlfriend at Wedding
- 1948 · The Ed Sullivan Show as Self
- 1948 · The Ed Sullivan Show as Self - Dancer (archive footage)
- 1948 · The Ed Sullivan Show as Self - Singer
- 1948 · The Ed Sullivan Show as Self - Cameo
- 1948 · The Ed Sullivan Show as Self (uncredited)
- 1944 · Golden Globe Awards as Self - Presenter