Although she wanted to be in show business, the Reynolds' family church, the Nazarene, forbade acting. However, Reynolds' father saw her talent and gave his support, seeing it as a means of paying her college costs. Her mother then gave her support knowing that there would be no "evil" going on in her movies. She mother knew her daughter had talent, but didn't understand why it was happening to her own daughter.
Was close friends with Hugh O'Brian. Serenaded O'Brien and his bride Virginia at their wedding on June 25, 2006.
Her father entered her in a beauty pageant once when she was very young. She wore a bathing suit that her mother had mended that morning and a pair of her sister's high heels.
In 1964 she went into the hospital business, purchasing Oceanside Hospital in Oceanside, CA, for $1,000,000 with plans to turn it into a profitable business venture.
She dedicated the Holland-America Line cruise ship the MS Veendam. [January 1996]
Campaigned for the role of Doris Mann in Postcards from the Edge (1990), but Shirley MacLaine was cast instead.
One of the few actresses to have danced with both Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly on screen. Other actresses who have done this include: Judy Garland, Cyd Charisse, Vera-Ellen, Rita Hayworth and Leslie Caron.
Played the French horn in high school and was a member of the Burbank Youth Symphony.
Secondary school studies in Burbank.
Was friends with Jane Powell; they shared the same birthday.
Was a Girl Scout.
In the process of relocating her museum to Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. A new Hollywood Motion Picture Museum is being constructed there by Debbie and her children Carrie Fisher and Todd Fisher. It opened in April 2005. [July 2004]
She reconciled with old nemesis Elizabeth Taylor to work on the made-for-TV movie These Old Broads (2001), written by Debbie's daughter, Carrie Fisher, with Taylor, Shirley MacLaine and Joan Collins. Debbie and Taylor were friends until the late 1950s when Debbie's then-husband, Eddie Fisher, began having an affair with Liz, then left Debbie and married Taylor. When they began working on "These Old Broads" together, Taylor told Debbie, "I owe you a lot". Debbie said, "I just got a lump in my throat when she said that".
She had English, some Scottish, Scots-Irish (Northern Irish), and German, and distant French, ancestry.
Her singing of "I Want To Be Loved By You", in the film Three Little Words (1950), was dubbed by Helen Kane.
Is one of 26 actresses to have received an Academy Award nomination for their performance in a musical; hers being The Unsinkable Molly Brown (1964). The others, in chronological order, are: Bessie Love (The Broadway Melody (1929)), Grace Moore (One Night of Love (1934)), Jean Hagen (Singin' in the Rain (1952)), Marjorie Rambeau (Torch Song (1953)), Dorothy Dandridge (Carmen Jones (1954)), Deborah Kerr (The King and I (1956)), Rita Moreno (West Side Story (1961)), Gladys Cooper (My Fair Lady (1964)), Julie Andrews (Mary Poppins (1964), The Sound of Music (1965), and Victor Victoria (1982)), Peggy Wood (The Sound of Music (1965)), Carol Channing (Thoroughly Modern Millie (1967)), Kay Medford (Funny Girl (1968)), Barbra Streisand (Funny Girl (1968)), Liza Minnelli (Cabaret (1972)), Ronee Blakley (Nashville (1975)), Lily Tomlin (Nashville (1975)), Ann-Margret (Tommy (1975)), Lesley Ann Warren (Victor Victoria (1982)), Amy Irving (Yentl (1983)), Nicole Kidman (Moulin Rouge! (2001)), Queen Latifah (Chicago (2002)), Catherine Zeta-Jones (Chicago (2002)), Renée Zellweger (Chicago (2002)), Jennifer Hudson (Dreamgirls (2006)), Penélope Cruz (Nine (2009)), Anne Hathaway (Les Misérables (2012)), and Meryl Streep (Into the Woods (2014)).
Grandmother of Billie Lourd.
Mother-in-law of Catherine Hickland.
She died only one day after the death of her daughter Carrie Fisher.
Became pregnant by her 2nd husband Harry Karl in 1961 and 1963; on both occasions she suffered stillbirths.
Her personal favorite film of hers was The Unsinkable Molly Brown (1964).
Was Elizabeth Taylor's Matron of Honor at Taylor's wedding to Mike Todd.
Graduated from Burbank High School in Burbank, California in 1950; Vic Tayback graduated from Burbank High School in 1949.
She was awarded the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award in 2014.
Daughter of Raymond (1903-1986), born in the state of Texas, and Maxene (née Harman) Reynolds (1912-1999), born in the state of Oklahoma.
Maternal granddaughter of Owen (1885-1951), born in the state of Kansas, and Maxie (née Dykeman) Harman (1889-1976), born in the state of Missouri.
Ironically, at the time of her own death, she was scheduled to attend Zsa Zsa Gabor's funeral.
When Reynolds was going through her highly publicized divorce from Eddie Fisher, news crews were camped out around the clock on Reynolds' front lawn. To ingratiate herself to reporters (and engender public sympathy for her role as the "wronged wife") Reynolds would regularly grant interviews in front of the house, often with diaper pins on her blouse and her two toddler aged children, Carrie and Todd Fisher, in her arms.
In the movie version of her daughter Carrie Fisher's autobiographical novel Postcards from three Edge, the character thought to be based on Debbie Reynolds was played by Shirley MacLaine.
As a result of the publicity (and sympathy) generated by her humiliating divorce from Eddie Fisher (who abandoned her to marry her best friend Elizabeth Taylor) Reynolds ranked #5 among the Top Ten Box Office Stars list for both 1959 and 1960.
Appeared in one film nominated for Best Picture Academy Award: How the West Was Won (1962).
On the British game show QI, after Host Stephen Fry confirmed with Carrie Fisher that on the set of Singing in the Rain, Gene Kelly rehearsed Debbie until her feet bled. Fisher then revealed "She also said that Gene Kelly french kissed her and she vomited.".
Personal Quotes (10)
Singin' in the Rain (1952) and childbirth were the two hardest things I ever had to do in my life.
I stopped making movies because I don't like taking my clothes off. Maybe it's realism but, in my opinion, it's utter filth.
[asked what her favorite film is] I think one of my favorite films is Dark Victory (1939) with Bette Davis. Why? She was so wonderful in that film. And . . . maybe I just want a good cry once in a while without having to go through a divorce.
Daddy had got us rooms in a motel until he could find us a house. There were not a lot of places available for a young family on our budget. Daddy went around to dozens of places. Nobody wanted kids. Finally, he found one in the hills south of Glendale. As usual, the landlady asked if he had kids. "Yep,' he replied. "A boy and a girl". "Well, whatta you going to do about them?" she wanted to know, implying that she didn't allow children. "I'm gonna take 'em out and drown them in the Los Angeles River, and come back tomorrow". That was my father--ask a silly question and just wait. She must have had the same sense of humor--we moved in the next day.
I do 20 minutes every time the refrigerator door opens and the light comes on.
[on the death of Tony Curtis] Nobody had a better time than Tony. He loved the ladies. He loved art. He loved this business more than anything. He was a great looking guy, handsome. We were all very close friends when we were young, a long, long time ago. But he had a wonderful life. He had a full life. He was a great, marvellous actor.
I only had radio growing up, so I loved going to the movies. I always had a thing for a fairy-tale ending.
[on Carrie Fisher] People used to call her "Debbie Reynolds' daughter," now they call me "Princess Leia's mother!"
[on the announcement that daughter Carrie Fisher is in Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens (2015)] She's very excited about it . . . she's been on a diet ever since, because you know they have to be up to par, so she looks terrific, she's lost 40 pounds.
Upon the death of her daughter Carrie Fisher one day earlier while planning her funeral at her son Todd Fisher's house, Debbie Reynolds said to her son, "I miss her so much, I want to be with Carrie".
Salary (1)
Bundle of Joy (1956) $150,000
See also
Kathy Pinna 
Amanda S. Stevenson 
