Let’s take an in-depth look at the stunning transformation of Debbie Reynolds.
Her mother, Maxine, was a homemaker and her father, Raymond, worked for the railroad.
“Those were hard times, but I loved living there.
I would walk on the tracks, hopping, skipping.
I enjoyed the neighborhood, I enjoyed El Paso,” she said.
She felt lucky, but life in that time period was a struggle.
Debbie, whowas called Frannie as a child, didn’t return to El Paso for a long time.
Unfortunately, she never made it back again before her death.
A beauty pageant win leads to a film deal
The Burbank days were a little better.
At 16, Reynolds entered The Miss Burbank beauty pageant in hopes of winning a blouse.
Reynolds said that her mother wanted success like her’s, and was tough on her.
I said, ‘I don’t dance.’
He said, ‘You will.'"
Reynolds practiced arduously for five months, until her feet bled.
She learned to dance, the film was made, and the rest is history.
In 1955, shemarried famous crooner Eddie Fisherand they had two children together.
Carrie was born in 1956 and Todd was born in 1958.
Fisher and Reynolds wereAmerica’s sweethearts, and were best friends with Elizabeth Taylor and Mike Todd.
In fact, they werebridesmaid and best manat the Todds’ wedding.
Reynolds found herself starring in a role that she never wanted the spurned wife of Eddie Fisher.
The entire country sided with Reynolds as she was left to raise two children on her own.
Reynolds went on to be anOscar-nominated actressforThe Unsinkable Molly Brown(1964).
She also madeGoodbye Charliethe same year,The Singing Nunin 1966 andDivorce American Stylein 1967.
She also voiced Charlotte in the animated filmCharlotte’s Web.
She won a Tony forIrene, and starred inDebbie, a live musical revue at the Minskoff Theatre.
Unfortunately, all this time, Karl was gambling her money away.
She filed for divorce in 1973 and was deeply in debt.
But that didn’t stop her.
She kept on working and made more money.
She then married Richard Hamlett, a real estate developer, in 1985.
He was,asBioreported, also a “source of significant financial turmoil” and they divorced in 1996.
That same year, she came back to film in a starring role as the mother in Albert Brooks’Mother.
Debbie Reynolds knew how to “sur-thrive”
There’s no doubt that Debbie loved the stage.
There was just no stopping the bright-eyed, charming star who seemed to thrive against all odds.
In fact, Carriecredited her motherwith teaching her how to “sur-thrive.”
While the two had a rocky relationship for some years, they ended up very close.
This was after the mental illness diagnosis that would follow Carrie her entire lifetime.
Reynolds helped form the organization,and was elected president in 1957.
In 1979, she opened the Debbie Reynolds Studio in North Hollywood (viaLos Angeles Daily News).
Her studio offered dressing rooms, six studio spaces with pianos, a lounge area and free parking.
Free parking in North Hollywood?
Says the thrice-married Reynolds, ‘I’m keeping him.
It’s one man that did not get away.'"
One relationship that America never thought would be repaired was Reynolds’ friendship with Elizabeth Taylor.
They made amends and even starred together in a TV movie calledThese Old Broads.
Theteleplay was written by Carrie Fisherand the film also starred Shirley MacLaine and Joan Collins.
Ironically, MacLaine played the mother character in Fisher’s semi-autobiographicalPostcards From The Edge.
Mother and daughter alsocollaborated in a movie forHBO FilmscalledBright Lights: Starting Carrie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds.
