Actress Debbie Reynolds

Dyke, ya know.

Loved her in Albert Brooks’s Mother.

Actress Debbie Reynolds as opposed to Brain Surgeon Debbie Reynolds?

She got good reviews for her acting in one of her last big screen movies, What's The Matter With Helen?

Liz Taylor never loved Eddie

R3 She was seriously planning to be a gym teacher even after she had made a few movies then finally decided that show business was her true career.

Or she just told that to people to sound down to earth.

R3, her initials *were* DR.

Died in late 2016 at age 84.

R9, this is DL. Do you think that’s news to us?

I have a friend who was a neighbor and went to high school with Carrie. He says he used to hang out at her house and that Debbie was a wonderful, funny person. Also a big dyke, according to him.

I think Debbie Reynolds would write that because somewhere along the line either she heard it from someone, an inebriated ET said it to someone, Carrie made it up, or maybe even Debbie herself said it. That generation of manufactured movie star--undeniably talented but it's doubtful they would have had success without a massive studio behind them--produced autobiographies of dubious veracity. If it was a good story, they'd put it in.

R10 It's a refresher, darling.

An early photo of her on the cover of Collier's magazine. Looks like a classic tomboy/lesbian.

Everything I know about Debbie Reynolds I learned from Postcards from the Edge.

She talks about experiencing sexual abuse c. 5:50 when she was a child by more than one neighbor on separate occasions.

Made 2 movies with her close friend Agnes Moorehead: The Singing Nun and What's The Matter With Helen?

What an illuminating anecdote, Rita.

Bright Lights (2016) is a good documentary about Debbie and Carrie. I think Debbie killed herself after Carrie died. According to Todd Fisher, Debbie said "I'm going to be with Carrie." She then laid down on his sofa and died a short time later.

Postcards and the documentary Bright Star showed her to have a lot more edge and personality than her manufactured image did.

I loved her turn as Bobbi Adler in W&G and thought it showed some range that cute little Tammy/Kathy Sheldon could chew up the scenery as a Jewish broad in a role that on paper you’d think Lainie Kazan not Debbie Reynolds.

R19 I remember there were pictures of her driving home after Carrie died. I was astounded that the lady who was on her last legs in Bright Star was behind a wheel and that she was alert enough to drive and the the next day in bad enough shape to die. If I hadn’t seen Bright Star I would have been convinced she took some pills to end it all but in BS she’s in such bad shape especially in the SAG award scenes that you can believe she would give up and have a stroke from the stress of it all.

She's had a few sherries here but that only contributes to a relatively unfiltered Debbie.

Her delivery on the anti-pot at a party bit (c. 39:00) is very Judy Garland.

I met her in 1994 at an Oscars party. She was wearing a red sequined dress and looked like a million bucks. Very friendly and fun.

great dancer

[quote]She talks about experiencing sexual abuse c. 5:50 when she was a child by more than one neighbor on separate occasions.

I was molested way before Garland's kid.

I loved her. She really made so much of what she had and always seemed so upbeat. She seemed like her life motto was just to laugh at everything to take away its power. I always admire people like that.

R21 In her book she explained that during the SAG Award Show she was suffering from a very painful stomach problem that hadn't been diagnosed correctly.

[quote]Actress Debbie Reynolds as opposed to Brain Surgeon Debbie Reynolds?

[quote]I'm reading the last book that Debbie Reynolds wrote before she died

As opposed to the ones she wrote after she died?

Towards the end of the video at r22, DL fave Lorna Luft is namechecked by a fan in the audience who spent an evening with Debbie, Lorna, and Debbie's dancers. The evening included a screening of "The Women," with a running commentary from the recently divorced Debbie. Could that scenario be any gayer?

[Quote] As opposed to the ones she wrote after she died?

Hold my creme brulee.

R29 She wrote 3 books, smartass.

I loved her as Grace's mom on Will and Grace

She says at r22 that the only leading man she didn't enjoy was Walter Matthau, who used to do what he wanted, script be damned. Though the anecdote she tells says more about her than him. Debbie said that she forgot that they had some physical business where he tosses her over his shoulder. She didn't wear any underwear and I guess her skirt twirrrrlllled UP! I expect she was drinking as far back as then.

With a hunk of burning love years ago.

R34 She said in her last book that she didn't like comic Milton Berle. He was foul mouthed, annoying in more ways than one, and bragged about his endowment. And had sexual hijinks at parties which she didn't think was cool.

R28 I don’t believe that. If you watch the doc her health is very poor in the months before the SAG awards. She falls and needs a scooter to get around. Carrie is worried about her and so is Carrie’s childhood babysitter who comes to visit and says it’s “Debbie lite”. Then Carrie has a total emotional breakdown at the SAG rehearsal as she deals with the reality of her mom’s failing health. I’ve only flicked through Todd’s book but I’m pretty sure he addressing her health at that time in her life.

I think Debbie, ever the studio girl, was putting on a happy face and did not want to let her audience in on the truth. Or rather, her ghostwriter made sure that her image would not be tarnished.

I've not sure I believe that "sleeping in her car" story.

I have first experience of an older person acting loopy. The cause? A urinary infection.

"She says at [R22] that the only leading man she didn't enjoy was Walter Matthau, who used to do what he wanted, script be damned."

Didn't she say in another interview that Gene Kelly was a jerk on the set of Singin' in the Rain?

I never much cared for her when she was younger--it's not so much her fault, though, since I think MGM forced her into a certain idea of what they thought 50s audiences found "adorable" in young women, and so I thought both she and Mitzi Gaynor were asked to be much too fake-perky and girly.

I liked her quite a bit when she was older, though. She gave a fantastic performance in Albert Brooks's "Mother" as the passive-aggressive title character, and I loved her on "Will & Grace."

She said that he was hard on her but she also says that she was a complete novice to dance.

My grandmother had several strokes that left her with balance and mobility issues and memory loss. She had good days and bad days and we could never plan anything because we didn’t know how she would be until she was up and about for an hour or two. The memory loss would frustrate her terribly and the more frustrated she got the worse her memory got. Watching Bright Star ripped my heart out because Debbie reminded me so much of my grandmother in her final years and I could identify so much with Carrie’s difficulty accepting her mother’s mortality and the guilt she felt leaving her to go to work. Debbie was poorly throughout the documentary so I really don’t think it was an upset tummy but if it was I’d like my $2.99 back for the pain and suffering I experienced watching and weeping. That sequence about the Screen Actors Awards was one of the rawest things I’ve seen in a celebrity documentary and I thought the ladies were very brave to leave it on the final edit.

Carrie was a better daughter than mother I think. There was always a little something off about her and her daughter, I think Bryan Lourd mostly raised that girl by himself. Debbie wasn’t the mother of the year when her kids were younger either but I think she was a product of her time in a way. Carrie and Todd were very close to her as adults which was nice to see.

I thought the bravest thing was to leave the footage of Carrie with Eddie. All that "say I'm your girl" stuff. That bordered on grotesque/ Baby Jane type stuff.

R45 That was very uncomfortable to watch but I got the impression that Carrie was very proud of it because it’s what she wanted to hear all her life. And I left bad for her that she needed to hear that from him.

Carrie wrote Delusions of Grandma while pregnant with Billie. She acknowledged that she probably wouldn't fit anyone's idea of a 'good mother' but that she brought something else to the table, a madcap, fun view of life. It's a good, fun read.

Was there any truth to the rumors that she once ran through Beverly Hills trying to get strangers to take the baby from her during a manic episode? The only time I could believe that she was stone cold sober was the early 90s. She probably was a cool big sister/fun aunt type of mom which is enough if dad is a nurturing solid guy and I think Bryan Lourd is/was. I remember Carrie saying in a U.K. interview from the 90s that she loved London but would never move there because Bryan was a wonderful father and she would never take his daughter away or deprive her of his presence.

Debbie Reynolds and her family. Only one grandchild (standing next to Mom Carrie Fisher).

When was Walter Matthau ever Debbie Reynolds's "leading man?" The only movie they did together was "Goodbye Charlie," and Tony Curtis was the leading man in that one. Matthau was even billed after Pat Boone.

[quote][R29] She wrote 3 books, smartass.

Yeah, but none of them after she died. So the last part of that statement was superfluous. "I'm reading the last book that Debbie Reynolds wrote." Wouldn't that have been sufficient?

I once dad an AOL date with someone who was Eddie Fisher's assistant who told me Eddie was really well hung. So there was that in his favor. Plus he was cute and had a great singing voice. But along with those assets were lots of problems.

"had" not dad, though was a youngish dad, actually.

R14 Bitch, stole my look!

Eddie wasn't well hung. They made fun of that in These Old Broads

She gives a lovely early performance in Catered Affair. She also said she never had a recording career because she didn't have a... "sound".

Making a small dick joke doesn't mean that he actually had a small dick.

I believe that Debbie died of Takotsubo Cardiomyopathy, which is as also known as 'broken heart syndrome'. It generally occurs in post-menopausal women who have recently suffered an emotional upset or loss.

[quote]Bitch, stole my look!

Big Debbie had that look several decades before you did, bitch!

She was always a trouper and her repressive Nazarene upbringing probably reinforced that, so yeah should be practically on her deathbed one day and driving on the next. My guess is that she was always pretty cutoff from her sexuality and all its manifestations. that probably was part of her picking lousy husbands. My guess is that if she was a lesbian, she would have repressed it or compartmentalized it in such a way that she could never acknowledge it. I'm guessing that although she had a enough sex to have two kids, she never really had a satisfying sexual life of any kind and it probably didn't amount to much. She was a lot more fun once her film career was over. She didn't have to bring much to her later roles, but she clearly had a good time. It's a shame her museum never really took off--that would have been a wonderful legacy.

What was known about her third husband? If she was simply a lesbian, why didn't she marry a nice gay man?

I think it says a lot that, in Postcards From the Edge, the most Carrie could really fault her mother for was her drinking and a tiny bit of self-absorption. She still came across as rather likable. I think it took tremendous empathy and maturity for Carrie to depict her mother that way - as someone flawed, but never cruel or abusive. She really got to the heart of her mother.

You gave me sleeping pills!

What "no recording" career? Her recording of "Tammy" was one of the top songs, if not the top song, of its year.

Debbie was correct. She didn't have a unique vocal style. Nor did she tap into a particular sound in terms of production/repertoire.

Debbie's voice was always on the weaker side, which is, I think, why she always sort of envied Carrie and wished she would use her own voice more, because Carrie had a real brassy belting kind of voice. It is a shame she didn't use it more. I bet she'd have been great in a few musicals.

"She was always a trouper"

That was her blessing and her curse, as an actress. Yes, her always-chipper always-trouping persona worked in the fluff films of the 1950s and in her later stage performances, but it also kept her acting from having any real depth. The best actors have to dig into some aspect of their real selves, Reynolds never let her real self show, just the cheerful front.

Carrie sang on "Laverne & Shirley". She was pretty dull. She also sang on the Stars Wars special. She was pretty dull there, too. Her voice did sound pretty in the documentary on her and Debbie, though.

Her performance in "Mother" isn't just cheerful front.

Yeah, Carrie seemed to have a very nice alto voice. I think she inherited a really good singing voice from her father, her sound was much deeper and richer than her mother's, and it would have been lovely and powerful if she'd ever studied voice!

But she said in one of her autobiographical books (I think it was "the Princess Diarist", her book about Star Wars), that refusing to become a singer was her act of teenage rebellion. Debbie was pushing her to go out and sing in nightclubs the way she was doing at the time, and Carrie refused, and apparently never got serious singing lessons.

Well, Carrie's speaking voice was a big asset to her acting career, IMHO it was one of the things that made her work as Princess Leia. I mean she was just this little short teenaged girl, but her unusually deep, rich, speaking voice helped to give her an air of authority, along with her no-fucks-to-give attitude.

Irene....

I recall Carrie also mentioning that Paul Simon wasn't helpful to any singing ambitions she may have had.

Carrie was in the ensemble of "Irene" as well. Debbie took some questions from the audience at the end of the how and someone asked her to bring out Carrie. After maybe looking around a bit or stalling, Debbie said that Carrie was in the bathroom. I guess she didn't want to make her be resented by the other kids of the chorus, since she really didn't stand out in the show, which was a smart move by Debbie.

Both Carrie and Maya Rudolph can sing....but I imagine for both having mothers who were famous for their singing would maybe chase them away from pursuing that as a career.

As it was, Carrie wasn't a mega-prolific actress, either.

Debbie was a performer---not a bad actress, but not one of great range or depth. Not a bad singer, but not a memorable one. As a dancer, she was trainable but again not memorable.

Carrie had a featured spot in Debbie's nightclub act. I doubt Debbie was thinking of pissed off chorus members.

Carrie was a pretty inhibited actress herself.

How many times did Debbie get swindled then blamed her husband or manager? After a certain point, it's your own fault. Then she has the great idea to buy and store old Hollywood costumes & try to make money from that venture.

When DR said Eddie Fisher had a small penis, it just made her look bad, IMO. That's someone you married and had children with. I realize he left her for ET. Must be DR liked small dicks at some point in her life if she got married to it.

I' told this story here before. Was a kid and my Mom was a big musical fan. Debbie was bringing her nite club act for a week to the Westbury Music Fair on Long Island in the 70's. We went, my parents, me, and my two brothers. My younger brother was in a cast on crutches. The show was entertaining even for us kids. Carrie came out and sung "I Got Love" from the Broadway show "Purlie". Rip Taylor opened for her.

As the show was breaking an announcement came on saying Miss Reynolds would be out at the stage door if anyone would like to meet her. Of course everyone did and the line was around the building. When we got up to her she was sitting there with a box of 5 X 7 photos. She signed a photo for each of us kids with our names, the program and when she saw my brother asked what happened and then signed his cast too. That was five autographs just for my family and she took pictures with people too. This after doing her show. I still have the program and photo. Have met hundreds of celebs since but no one impressed me more than her. A true "Movie Star".

With her Mom, Rip Taylor and her in the show I got to meet Carrie twenty years later and told if I wasn't gay going in, I sure was coming out. That made her laugh.

[Quote] Then she has the great idea to buy and store old Hollywood costumes & try to make money from that venture.

Well, she made a mint when she sold the stuff, so...

She was a high earner throughout her life.

[Quote] With her Mom, Rip Taylor and her in the show I got to meet Carrie twenty years later and told if I wasn't gay going in, I sure was coming out. That made her laugh.

Was this pre or post Bryan Lourd?

"What's The Matter With Helen?" is actually good little movie with a horrible title and even worse ad campaign. Movie titles had to be registered to the Motion Picture Association and the original title "The Best of Friends," was protested by Otto Preminger who had already registered the similar title "Such Good Friends" the same year.

[quote]Was this pre or post Bryan Lourd?

In the 70's, Carrie was a teenager.

Debbie still had a sort of old Hollywood image, so she resisted doing anything overly violent, sexy, or dirty which probably limited her a bit in the 70's and beyond as an actress. If she'd wanted to get a really juicy role, she'd have to leave that image behind her. She didn't want to change that image - maybe scared that her fans wouldn't follow her if she did, say, a Brian De Palma movie or something. A few old Hollywood stars were like that. They didn't want to do these newfangled "dirty" movies.

[Quote] In the 70's, Carrie was a teenager.

I mean, when you met Carrie as an adult.

Debbie Reynolds had a very unusual experience. During her marriage to her second husband, Harry Karl, he told her that he had an infection and couldn't become intimate with her anymore. She craved some sort of affection from him and ultimately became very suspicious. She arranged a meeting with the famous psychic Jeanne Dixon who in turn told her that she didn't see any 'infection' but rather that her husband was dallying with other women and to be very careful with him because he appeared to be bad news. Cut to the chase - her husband spent $7 million of her own money on gambling, bad investments, and hookers. Finally Reynolds filed for divorce and was almost bankrupt, having to go out on the road performing just to earn some money and pay off debts. Harry Karl seemed to be even worse than Eddie Fisher as husband material. The marriage lasted for 13 years and she staggered away from it.

And yet Debbie also said that she didn't especially like sex.

Like a nun, she was...

[quote]I mean, when you met Carrie as an adult.

Ooops sorry met Carrie at the "Who's That Girl" Premiere in NY in summer of 1987.

No one?

"With her Mom, Rip Taylor and her in the show I got to meet Carrie twenty years later and told if I wasn't gay going in, I sure was coming out. That made her laugh. "

For years, Carrie said that her real-life superpower was turning straight men gay!

Maybe it was hereditary.

I do not want to think of Paul Simon sucking dick.

One of several things that make me sad about Debbie is that she never was able to fulfill her dream of a Hollywood Museum with the hundreds of film props and costumes she collected over the years. These items had special meaning to her and it's sad they ended up being auctioned off piece by piece. She even had Marilyn's Seven Year Itch dress as well as items from Cleopatra and Ben-Hur. And lots of one of a kind items from some of the greats of Hollywood's past.

Debbie Reynolds stole the Carol Channing documentary when she teared up while praising Channing for opening herself to love in her eighties/nineties. (Channing had reunited with her childhood sweetheart.)

I’ve been coming here for over ten years now. One of the very first threads I landed on here was a “Mr Hollywood” post. We always debated on if he was legit or not, but he had stories to tell and always brought receipts by being a quick draw on celebrity addresses and phone numbers. His stories were just fun to read, especially because they were more focused on Old Hollywood. This thread brings those memories back, very great read.....

I loved Debbie. She may not ever have known who she really was, but she was intimately committed to the Debbie Reynolds she had created and that seemed to suit her well enough.

R96 Ditto! A great gal! And a show business legend.

She never sucked MY dick!

Did Patsy Kelly make a play for Debbie?

Her best movies were done late in life: "Mother" with Albert Brooks and "In and Out" with Kevin Kline. She played mothers in both.

Except for Singin' in the Rain, all her movies in her MGM era are hard to sit through, including Tammy and the Bachelor, her greatest hit. She's too 1950s sugary. Her later big movies include The Singing Nun, which is garbage, and The Unsinkable Molly Brown, which is a bore.

Of her post-MGM movie career, only Divorce American Style with Dick Van Dyke is good. What's the Matter with Helen?, a 1969 potboiler with Shelley Winters, was a flop but has since reached cult status because of its gore and Winters' bizarre performance. But it ended Debbie's movie career for 25 years.

During that time she developed nightclub acts in Vegas and Reno and around the country. She was an accomplished stage performer and had a clever rapport with a live audience, as the video at r22 proves.

[quote]I do not want to think of Paul Simon sucking dick.

He was a cute pocket person in the early 1960s.

[quote]One of several things that make me sad about Debbie is that she never was able to fulfill her dream of a Hollywood Museum with the hundreds of film props and costumes she collected over the years. These items had special meaning to her and it's sad they ended up being auctioned off piece by piece. She even had Marilyn's Seven Year Itch dress as well as items from Cleopatra and Ben-Hur. And lots of one of a kind items from some of the greats of Hollywood's past.

I agree no one helped, she did it all herself with her own money and whoever stated above, she did not do it make a profit. She wanted them preserved and she did it until she couldn't any more. Everything was meticulously archived. No one, no Spielberg, or Geffen, who made millions and millions from Hollywood offered to help. She had the original Panavision camera Lucas shot "Star Wars" with. Now the Academy has multimillionaire dollar museum. It would have been nothing but a plus to walk thru and see the original costumes of the movies they honored. I mean after five minutes, how interesting will it be to see that Gold statute over and over.

"But it ended Debbie's movie career for 25 years."

It didn't end her career. Her career was on the downswing before then.

Reynolds did have her props and costumes on display at the Debbie Reynolds hotel in Vegas. Her son is an apple that didn't fall far from the tree in that he was a terrible businessman as was Debbie.

The amount of money Debbie Reynolds left behind suggests that she wasn't terrible with business.

How much did she leave behind? I know they sold all of the items at auction which fetched a great deal of money but what else. Now if you're suggesting that investing in the memorabilia was a great idea, I agree but it wasn't for profit.

But Debbie had to maintain those items. In the video upthread, she talks about building a warehouse. And she didn't just throw the stuff into the warehouse in a big pile... there were ongoing costs. The woman consistently made a lot of money throughout her career.

She filed for bankruptcy in 1997.

That was the Vegas Hotel, not her personally.

How many times has Trump filed for bankruptcy? He ain't ever been poor. Debbie was in demand.

She filed for personal bankruptcy but her museum entity also filed in 2009

I think the auction was a couple years before she died. That probably was her estate.

As a frequent gay visitor to LA, I would have happily paid to see the Debbie Reynolds Hollywood Museum!

I did happily pay to see the Hollywood Costume Exhibit, and I will happily pay more to see the AMPAS museum, if the damn thing opens in my lifetime.

Though sold at auction, Monroe's white dress had been severely altered for another actress in another film.

The sale may have never been completed.

Debbie writes in her book that she drove Shelley to the studio every morning and one day she was driving and sees a woman in a nightgown in the middle of the street trying to flag down a ride. It was Winters, who thought she was late and missed her ride.

R115 What's The Matter With Helen was a fascinating, interesting movie. Just when Debbie's character thought she was rid of Shelly character she killed a man and they had to dump in a trench in the street in the pouring rain at night.

Agnes Moorehead did a great job as a rather electrifying preacher in What's The Matter With Helen. Helped make the movie.

I wish Debbie had done more movies like Helen. She's really great in it and looks gorgeous in those period hairdos and costumes.

She had a darling figure. Watch her reaction with Vitto Scotti as a cook at .50 in "How Sweet It Is". Laugh out loud funny.

I always liked Debbie. I even liked her 60s TV show, short-lived. One of her co-stars was Tom Bosley. And WHAT'S THE MATTER WITH HELEN? was truly a good film.

One thing she said about Gene Kelly: the first time he kissed her in a scene, he gave her his tongue and it shocked the Hell out of her. She asked him what the hell was he doing? She had never experienced or known about that before. He was a little bit pissed off because she created a little fuss about it.

Eddie Fisher did not have a small dick. I also think Paul Simon was bisexual. No proof, don't ask me, but those feelings one gets....you know them....after all, this is DL LA LA LAND.

[Quote] I even liked her 60s TV show, short-lived

That show never gets talked about in Debbie threads. I guess it was neither good nor "so bad it's good."

[quote] What "no recording" career?

No one could rock a protest song quite like Debbie!

"Tammy" 1957 from "Tammy and the Bachelor" earned her a gold record, and was the best-selling single by a female vocalist in 1957. It was number one for five weeks on the Billboard pop charts.

Debbie also tried to be the female Pat Boone.

[quote]That show never gets talked about in Debbie threads. I guess it was neither good nor "so bad it's good."

Her husband was played by hottie Don Chastain. I remember him giving me that funny feeling when I saw him on the show.

Let's not forget this Debbie masterpiece (with gay co-star Carleton Carpenter, who's still with us at age 93!)

Until the 70s she always struck me as perky Doris Day lite. She tried to do something different a few times later in her career, but she was never very interesting.

Tom Bosley on working with Debbie Reynolds on "The Debbie Reynolds Show"

R127 The 2 perky stars together, Doris Day and Debbie Reynolds.

Have to give her credit. She said no tobacco sponsor in writing, and I guess they thought she wouldn't notice. During the premiere no less.

Debbie had a very wicked sense of humor and passed it along to Carrie. Too bad she was shoehorned into the goody two shoes image.

She's not particularly goody-two-shoes looking in that bikini in "How Sweet It Is". I still think Eddie Fisher was a dope for leaving Debbie for Elizabeth, especially since Debbie was plenty sexy herself.

But the public thought of her that way. One an episode of Dinah!, she had several "older" actresses on. One was Eva Gabor. She showed a picture of Zsa Zsa with Genghis Khan, her dog. Eva said "there's Genghis Khan" and Debbie shot back "with her dog".

Of course, Debbie used to do a wicked imitation of Zsa Zsa as well.

I had absolutely no idea that she had such nice tits!

She was a dyke to end all dykes.

After doing her late-night shows in Vegas, she'd often request a call girl be sent to her suite. She preferred black.

She seemed so asexual or rather sexually repressed, it’s really hard to imagine her being a great lover to anyone - male or female. But I also think we never really got to know stars like Debbie. Occasionally the facade might fall in a documentary or a talk show but that’s it. Carrie said she drank heavily on one point which is also very un-Debbie like. To me, keeping up an image would be exhausting and send me off the deep end but some of the old stars much preferred that way of life.

She really sounds her best on "If I Had A Hammer". She's a limited singer, but when she's in the right range, she could carry a lot of power.

^^ Her beaded gown rather distracts from the song's message.

It just gives the message some pizzazz, r139.

Reynolds' wrap

I don't think she seemed at all asexual. Can people be bawdy and asexual?

Debbie Reynolds and husband #2 Harry Karl. He was very wealthy when she married him - but when she filed for divorce he had pissed away a lot of money, including hers, and she was nearly bankrupt. Wealthy isn't always better.

I love Debbie Reynolds, but I just watched "The Unsinkable Molly Brown" on TCM last night. God, what an awful movie that was, and except for about the last 15 minutes, she was awful in it. Can't believe she got an Oscar nomination for that.

[quote]but when she filed for divorce he had pissed away a lot of money, including hers, and she was nearly bankrupt. Wealthy isn't always better.

That's why she went tour with Carrie, she worked her ass off and paid all the debts he incurred as her husband.

Carrie looks almost like Melissa Rivers in R145 pic.

R144 A catfight erupted between Shirley MacLaine and Debbie Reynolds over The Unsinkable Molly Brown. The producers wanted Shirley to star in it but she was unavailable at the time and tried to put it off to a future date. But Debbie really wanted to do the movie and the producers said that yes, they would hire her for the role but at a lower salary than promised to Shirley. Debbie said "yes" and the deal was signed. Shirley was furious, phoned up Debbie and accused her of undercutting her just to get the role while Debbie stated she was simply happy to do the role and that the producers decided on the salary, not her. They both discussed it in their books, each giving their viewpoint and there was some bad blood there for awhile. But Debbie got her Oscar nomination and she was elated.

Debbie was a funny bitch and some hardcore showbiz kind of personality. The worst of MGM and Vegas. But Shirley MacLaine is a fine actress, great musical performer and thoughtful human being. Engaged in the bigger world. Debbie was an old broad all about showbiz and sequins and the joy and bitterness it brought her life. It WAS her life. Carrie wasn't much different. They had some witty observations, but no other interest.

There's no comparison. MacLaine is a far more interesting and talented woman, character and actress. She's so hated on Data Lounge. It's weird. I guess she didn't suck gay dick for ticket sales. No ruby red slippers. Yuck. What a waste of time is collecting ruby red slippers?

Shut up and eat your crème brûlée, R148.

I went in search of the Debbie Reynolds Museum in Las Vegas a few years back, not knowing it was closed. Oddly, it was still listed in the white pages of the hotel phone book but when we got to the address, a smaller old-school casino, it was no longer there. The casino people were surprised to hear it was still listed in the phone book. That place sure had seen better days. The name had changed since Reynolds owned it but the clientele looked like they'd been going there since the 1950s. Elderly, doddering folk in glamour hairdos and bling. I doubt the place is still there.

I was so disappointed, I really wanted to see her collection.

I've read several of both Debbie and Carrie's book. I loved them as was so sad when they died.

[quote]Making a small dick joke doesn't mean that he actually had a small dick.

I just read an Elizabeth Taylor biography and you're right according to those in the know who claimed Liz never slept with a small-dicked man. Several sources claimed he was hung.

Shirley would've made a better Molly Brown than Reynolds did. None of Debbie's godawful mugging.

When Debbie took over the Paddle Wheel Casino in Vegas I went to see her show there. It was doomed because she didn't own the casino which was outsourced. Big mistake. She put on a show of the old MGM costumes in a small auditorium where curtains along the wall would open up and there'd be Judy's dress from Oz in the spotlight. She'd do a monologue about each costume and was charming and likable. So I felt bad for her because it was kind of cheesy. She met everyone afterwards, as usual. She seemed to understand the seriousness of her Carrie's bipolar problem. I saw her uncharacteristically tear up on a talk show while talking about her. She worried that Carrie would die before her. The two of them dying so close seemed predestined.

I read that Debbie not only wanted to be a gym teacher, her longtime girlfriend actually was a gym teacher.

Eddie wrote she was a lesbian, which was par for the course for Eddie even if it was true. And Harry Karl! Ugh. Can you imagine having that crawling on top of you?

Debbie had a pretty interesting life. She was high school talented - but she was discovered at the last gasp of mediocrity. She owes everything else to Elizabeth Taylor and Star Wars. When an old hoofer like Debbie sings I'm Here, it's with a terrible wink and some desire to say, come on now it's not that bad. Aren't I cute? When an equally hacky Ann Miller sang it - you felt she knew the pathos and bitterness and tender triumph of the song. You can't build a career on bitterness. But Carrie and Debbie did. Pretty much.

Shaky old voice and too many sequins. Never much of a singer or a big star. But dependable and well trained. Got around. More attitude than verve, but still there. This is reportedly Sondheim's favorite version of his song.

"I just read an Elizabeth Taylor biography and you're right according to those in the know who claimed Liz never slept with a small-dicked man."

I'm guessing that was a tabloid-style biography and not a legit one

Big dicks have always brought me luck.

Debbie was a loving mother. Shirley was a cruel and negligent mother.

Shirley has a functioning grown child who leads a healthy, productive life. Debbie raised a coke whore, heroin addict, lying disordered nutcase suicide watch and an emotionally crippled son unable to leave the garage.

In R129 's photo, Debbie looks like Marilyn Monroe with brown hair.

This is supposedly Debbie Reynolds.

r162 No she doesn't.

r163 No it isn't.

R157 Please, Ann Miller was really talented. She had a good belter's voice, had acted in films since she was like 15 or 16 and could tap with precision fast and circular taps and probably pause enough to kick you right in the scrotum while at it.

r165 I loved Annie. But she didn't even have a high school education, and it showed.

Sachi Parker never felt loved. Carrie knew she was loved. As for Todd, he might have been able to support his mother and protect her in her businesses if he'd been educated, but he was too lazy for that.

Debbie molested her children. Sexually. Now it can be told. Shirley was just too interesting to be motherly. Which is worse? See the results. I pity you R167.

r168, what do you base such an outrageous claim upon? I mean, I *must* challenge you and demand evidence. I’ve been here for 9 years, but have never demanded proof before this post.

Is that really true?

No, it's just another DL making shit up

Carrie Fisher in her show "Wishful Drinking" talks about her mother and says she was a lovely woman. I believe her. That was a fun show, too.

Test

I thought that she was a bad dramatic actress. And her turn as Molly Brown was really atrocious.

She's excellent in "The Catered Affair", holding her own with Bette Davis and Ernest Borgnine. She's better in "Molly Brown" after she gets the brass bed and tones down the hillbilly stuff.

Here is a clip from WOMAN OF THE YEAR (1983). Debbie took over for Raquel Welch, who had taken over for Lauren Bacall.

Reynolds' run was not successful, the show closed a month after she took over. A week before the show closed, Reynolds collapsed on stage during the matinee and her understudy had to finish the show. Ever the trouper, she returned to finish the run, and as you can hear on the recording, was still able to belt out a song.

The curtain speech is a self-deprecating delight. She profusely thanks the company, the crew, and the audience, and makes a not-so-subtle dig at the producers.

I saw Debbie in "Woman of the Year", and she was great. They reconfigured the choreography and were tossing her around, over and again like there's no tomorrow. No wonder she fainted after one show.

[quote]I thought that she was a bad dramatic actress. And her turn as Molly Brown was really atrocious.

Thank you. Your post has been forwarded to The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and the Hollywood Foreign Press Association and both her Best Actress nominations have been formally revoked.

Snap

Her in woman of the year. The first broadway show I saw. She was fabulous

I love Debbie but she bellows her way through this. She was no belter.

That HBO documentary was disturbing on many levels (old age is really shitty, our parents become our children, people we love and trust can betray us, etc) but one of the hardest things to watch was Carrie's visit with her father Eddie Fisher, shortly before his death.

To say Eddie looked awful is an understatement. I know he abused alcohol and drugs, but if I looked like that, no way would I allow myself to be photographed, in close up, no less. Shoot me from the back, or with low lighting, but damn, not in broad daylight.

The documentary omitted one of Carrie Fisher's best lines. 'When Michael Todd died, my father rushed to Elizabeth's side to comfort her...with his penis'.

Eddie abused plastic surgery too.

[Quote] When Michael Todd died, my father rushed to Elizabeth's side to comfort her...with his penis'.

Carrie's choice of "consoled" was better than "comfort[ed]":

[Quote] he ultimately consoled her with his penis.

The set up was delicious, as well:

[Quote] Well, naturally, my father flew to Elizabeth's side, gradually making his way slowly to her front.

I read a bio about Eddie Fisher and I think he had the opposite of a small dick from what I remember reading. I saw the tv interview where Debbie said it was small and I got the feeling she was just looking to tarnish his reputation.

Lets face it Taylor was practically a nympho and somebody once said of her...every minute she spends outside of the bedroom is a wasted one................ which was a compliment on her skills in the sack............so I doubt she was going to marry somebody that she didnt click with a great deal in that regard. Fisher didnt have much else going for him, so I think Debbie was fibbing.

As to her wealth, she made a lot of money and she spent a lot of money and her husbands spent more of it. She was suppposely worth an estimated $50 million plus at her death and I would guess most of it came from the hollywood memorabilia she sold several years before. She never did the collecting for profit but it turned out to be pretty shrewd.

R183 thanks for the clarification, You're right, 'consoled' is better than 'comforted'

R184, Eddie was not a bad looking guy in 1959. And Mike Todd was no Adonis.

Didn't Liz convert to Judaism for Eddie? Debbie never did.

Liz converted for Mike Todd.

Why do so many DL threads get highjacked by the unhinged or those clearly off their meds?Where is there any proof whatsoever that Debbie Reynolds molested her children?Who just casually drops something like that into the mix without credible sources listed to back such a claim?

Regardless of her sexuality, I suspect Debbie was not a great lay. She was probably too preoccupied with her career.

Debbie lay with her children. Both at once.

Debbie didn’t do anything to her children! And I can’t stand her. But that’s too far.

Eddie was a pretty cute guy back in the day, and he was really popular, with a beautiful singing voice. If you ever listen to his recordings or check them out YouTube, he was really good.

Eddie loved Debbie. But when Debbie started abusing their children - he turned to LIz for comfort and support. They found love in a hopeless place.

Eddie was pretty annoyed that she got a number one hit with Tammy and he was the singer in the family.

R22, I am enjoying the hell out of your video, Debbie’s interview and Q&A at a Book Fair.

She is such a wit, I hadn’t known what a comedian she was. I mean, I knew she was funny and a firecracker, but watching this is something else.

Wish I’d caught a live show if only for the stories.

DL, you should watch this.

[quote]She is such a wit, I hadn’t known what a comedian she was. I mean, I knew she was funny and a firecracker, but watching this is something else.

You thought Carrie got her sense of humor from Eddie Fisher?

I didn’t realize how much Billie Lourd resembles a young Debbie until looking at some of the photos posted in this thread. I’ve always looked for the resemblance to Carrie, which is there, but she has many of Debbie’s expressions too. This is such a talented family; all three have done some great work.

I don't see a Debbie resemblance. A Bryan Lourd resemblance, certainly.

Pa 'n' offspring.

Debbie was wonderful in the movie "Mother." Probably her best role.

Debbie does a very funny Zsa Zsa and Bette Davis here

R200 Thanks for sharing. I had forgotten that she was a great mimic!

[quote]According to Todd Fisher, Debbie said "I'm going to be with Carrie." She then laid down on his sofa and died a short time later.

No, she said, “I miss her so much, I want to be with Carrie."

[quote]Why do so many DL threads get highjacked by the unhinged or those clearly off their meds?

It's been a problem for a while, but it is getting worse lately.

That pout Carrie adopted... I wonder if she'd still be here if the Star Wars reboot had never come into her life.

To each his own, R197.

"Debbie! Judy's out, and you're the new Judy! Do ya think ya got the goods, kid? The studio's got BIG, BIG plans for ya!"

Debbie started around 1948 or 49 while Judy was still at MGM. Judy left after "Summer Stock" in 1950. Louis B. Mayer himself was out by the end of 1951, which was a year before "Singin' in the Rain" made Debbie into a star. Did Mayer actually say what R206 said?

Debbie said that she was given the role in ... Rain by LB Mayer.

Yes Gene Kelly didn't want her simply because she was a kid with zero dancing experience. Kelly had no veto power and had to take her and taught her everything they did in the movie in six months before the shooting began.

Kelly was an ego driven perfectionist.

With thighs that could crack walnuts.

Gene Kelly usually preferred to dance by himself. But he did have a helluva ass!

Ummmhmmmmmm

No pit hair back then? WTF!

Debbie Reynalds must be the least accomplished dancing partner Gene Kelly ever had to endure. He loved dancing with Rita Hayworth and Leslie Caron. Even sloppy Judy.

Gene also danced with the great Vera-Ellen and Cyd Charisse, as well as with Michael Kidd and Dan Dailey in "It's Always Fair Weather". He apparently was jealous of famous choreographer Kidd, as it is rumored that Kidd had a show-stopping (or at least really good) solo number which was cut from the film at Kelly's insistence.

In Singing in the Rain Debbie's dancing is flawless. Even more astonishing that she was still a teenager and could keep up with those vets. She never misses a thing and has surprising grace and fluidity. Nothing amateurish or second rate about it. Gene was just being an ass and was skeptical on having to work with someone so green. But she was more than lived up to it. The proof in on film.

In SINGIN' IN THE RAIN, the plot of the film hinges on the idea that, as 'talkies' replace silent films, Reynolds' character steps in to provide the singing and speaking voice of shrill movie star Lina Lamont (Jean Hagen).

Actually, when Debbie was dubbing for Jean's singing voice, Debbie herself was being dubbed by Betty Noyes. Not only that, in 'Good Morning', it's Debbie's voice, but in her duet with Kelly, 'You Are My Lucky Star', it's again Betty Noyes.

And to make matters even weirder, when Debbie is dubbing Jean Hagen’s speaking voice (when she says, ‘Until the stars turn cold’) that’s actually Jean Hagen’s real speaking voice. And just to make it completely confusing, when Lockwood and Lamont are urged by the audience to sing at the premiere, when they sing the title number, it's Debbie dubbing Jean.

Someone refresh my memory.

Didn't either Debbie or Eddie say that their marriage was basically arranged by the movie studio they both worked for?

Eddie wasn't a movie star (though he did a film with Debbie and later with Elizabeth Taylor). He was a huge popular recording artist and I believe had a tv show too, or made lots of appearances and was beloved by both teens and their parents ("Oh, My Papa" was one of his big hits).

I never understood why they didn't get Noyce to dub Debbie throughout the entire film if they were going to use an obvious voice double during the dubbing scene. It doesn't make any sense. The film is, otherwise, perfect even if the Broadway Melody section feels like something from a different movie and stops the film cold. Debbie was excellent in it and, yes, she keeps up with the pros beautifully and these were in the days when you couldn't fake it. They did long, wide takes as if you were seeing it on stage, so everything had to look good for longer. No cutting to someone's feet for the tough stuff.

Debbie Reynalds got a hell of a break co starring in Singing in The Rain with Gene Kelly and Donald O'Connor. She's not overly impressive. Not a good singer, dancer or actress. But she's young and has some ish. How the hell did she get that part?

I always took all the dubbing as a sort of inside joke, R220, especially the use of Jean Hagen's real voice for Debbie.

(R221) Debbie had plenty of appeal, and was under contract. Back when the Studios would train people for months in acting, singing, and dancing to bring out their best. She was lovely photogenically. Great face, skin and body. A pleasant speaking voice, singing voice, and a solid dancer. She could act well enough to have some dramatic weight and even better as a comedic actress. And she had what all great stars have, a naturalness. She doesn't look awkward in front of the camera, and reads extremely well. She may have seemed corny as she aged but she came from a time when you put on SHOW.

What did Gene Kelly and Hermès Pan think of each other?

Debbie's career at MGM had very few low points, she had big commercial successes yearly or every other year, and she's one of the few who stayed to the very end of her contract after the 50s purge. She's also one of the few MGM musical stars who sustained a high level career after her MGM days via touring, Vegas, Broadway and TV. There's a whole generation that knows her as Grandma Aggie in Halloweentown. Jane Powell and Kathryn Grayson didn't have anything like that--after MGM...a little Broadway, headlining stock tours, Murder She Wrotes and Love Boats and they were done.

Jane Powell, in particular, had tons of dinner theater and summer stock. I don't think Kathryn Grayson did much episodic tv, although she did do some opera and musicals.

Debbie was really more of an "entertainer" than anything else and that category doesn't really exist anymore. She act competently, esp. in comedy and she could move around and sing as well as the typical contract player, but she had a personality and exuberance to make it all work.

She had that "it" quality. You wanted to watch her and listen to her do her thing. She wasn't the best at anything - acting, singing, or dancing, but when she was well cast, she was fantastic and, even when she wasn't, she made up for it with sheer star quality.

She really was a survivor. She managed to stay relevant to kids through Halloweentown and Will and Grace.

The Debbie/Eddie/Liz scandal actually helped Debbie's popularity and she indeed was one of the few people at MGM to continue, as most of the rest of the musical people and other stars' contracts were not renewed. Jane Powell had a huge hit with "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers" in 1954 and finished up her contract there in 1955 and did musicals and a couple of dramatic films over at other studios, pretty much finishing her film career in 1958. Then she went on to tv, where there were a lot of variety shows and tv adaptations of film musicals, then lots of stock, on Broadway replacing Reynolds in "Irene" (both were great, btw), soaps, off-Broadway, concerts, etc. She's still with us at age 91, too. Plus, she was a terrific dancer, keeping up with Fred Astaire and re-creating her big number from "Royal Wedding" in 1989 "Why Did You Believe Me...." with Leroy Reams at an Alan Jay Lerner tribute at Lincoln Center. So she worked over the years and seemed quite unpretentious and down-to-earth about a career that had her for about a dozen years as one of the top stars at MGM during the Golden Age. Powell almost had a scandal of her own when she was going to leave her husband and marry Gene Nelson. I think she may have left her husband, but Nelson changed his mind and stayed with his wife apparently. But Debbie's scandal really got the public in her favor, and while it crushed Eddie's career, it catapulted Debbie's (and Elizabeth's) as well.

R229 Gene Nelson was a hot piece of ass. I bet she was devastated when he dumped her for his wife.

It's terrible thing when a man leaves you for his wife.

Gene Nelson.

Gene Nelson with Doris Day.

Tea for Two.

Nelson didn't have much of a film career but he went on to do a lot of directing of tv shows---sitcoms, dramas, classic shows and drek.

Surprisingly, Eddie got little sympathy from the public when Liz and Richard Burton cuckolded him. Or was it she who did the cuckolding? Or was it Richard?

Well I'm glad that Gene Nelson got to gig a lot and make a swell living for himself and his family! He deserved it!

Gene Nelson dancing and doing gymastics in a gym. Gene Kelly must have been terrified of him!

He's what you'd call "light in the loafers".

Let's not forget that Jane Powell had a part in Bounce, the Sondheim-Weidman show, in 2003.

Wow. All this talk about Gene Nelson and NO ONE has mentioned his most DL-appropriate role?

Debbie might have made a very good Sally opposite him, too. Or Debbie and Donald O'Connor, too.

Or Rose Marie and Morey Amsterdam, who already were famous as Sally and Buddy!

Debbie had a thimbleful of voice.

But no one has done the dancing like Gene Nelson did in the original "Follies", seen below.

Though Donald could have, if asked, at that time.

Not even Harry Groener?

Acting wise, I think Debbie would have been a great Sally. Sally is described in the script as being petite and much like the girl from all those years ago and Debbie always aged very well. She would have been a bit too young during the early 70's when the production and the initial movie was being discussed. She probably could have done something with Losing My Mind and maybe In Buddy's Eyes, but Too Many Mornings would have needed some major key adjustments. She's no soprano.

I can't imagine Debbie making good on such lines as "It IS tomorrow!"

Or the line to the effect of "I should have died the first time."

Well, at one point in "Moll Brown" she was "down"

Molly, that is

In the documentary, Debbie is sitting down for an interview with the filmmaker in Carrie's dining room. Suddenly, the house alarm goes off. It's super loud. Nobody can seem to turn it off and Debbie shows her professionalism in that scene. She just sits there, smiling and pretending nothing is going on. Love her.

She was an adorable young kid.

She was a really pretty girl. And of course, very funny. Adorable.

She gave a lovely performance in A Catered Affair.

Debbie and Carrie were gay and so we're their beards. No idea who their real female lovers were.

Me neither.

Then how can you say that they were lesbians?

Anyone can say anything. You get to be President that way.

Debbie was too pretty and feminine to have made a lesbian lifestyle choice.

Lipstick Lesbian!

I suspect that ball that Nazarene bullshit stunted whatever sexuality she ever had.

She was friends, close friends with Liberace and then went on to play his mother in HBO's "Behind the Candelabra" and was really good.

....

"Suddenly, the house alarm goes off. It's super loud. Nobody can seem to turn it off and Debbie shows her professionalism in that scene. "

I saw that scene, and thought it showed that Debbie wasn't as sharp as she once was. She doesn't seem to know what to do or what to say or how to turn off the alarm, and she just sits there and smiles and hopes that the problem will go away. I've seen that in elders who are getting frail, one of the first things to go on the mental front is problem-solving ability.

"she just sits there and smiles and hopes that the problem will go away" This is probably how she approached her marriage. I don't think this is merely a byproduct of aging.

Reynolds was basically outed in William Mann's biography of Elizabeth Taylor about seven or eight years ago. Very telling that she never sued for defamation...

80 year old women aren't too interested in defending their sexual preferences and lifestyle choices. Reynalds was not a lesbian.

Paul Lynne called Agnes Moorehead, “one of Hollywood’s biggest all time dykes”.

Lynde, not Lynne. Damned autocorrect!

All I have ever heard was gossip about Debbie being a lesbian or bisexual. Never been proven. I know people talk about her and Agnes Moorehead but I don't believe they were lovers. It's All Talk.

The Unsinkable Molly Brown.

Debbie and Gene.

Harve Presnell...he never really took off as an actor did he? At least not in movies.

[quote] Harve Presnell...he never really took off as an actor did he? At least not in movies.

He was in that Howard Keel / Gordon MacRae mold and they just weren't writing movie musicals anymore.

In his 40s and 50s he appeared on Broadway and on tour as Daddy Warbucks in ANNIE and its less-than-successful sequel ANNIE WARBUCKS. If you listen to the OCR of ANNIE WARBUCKS, he still has that gorgeous baritone.

I presume he did Mack and Mabel somewhere.

Harve Presnell had boyish good looks. He's 75 now.

That looks like a man to me.

[quote] Harve Presnell had boyish good looks. He's 75 now.

He's been 75 for awhile now

Debbie was without question the funniest guest actor in Will & Grace after the four leads and Shelley Morrison. She had the exact right sense of the show's heart and absurdity. Bobbie Adler is a brilliant case of a fictional tv character played so well you figure they're a real person, like Rhoda Morgenstern.

[quote]Debbie was without question the funniest guest actor in Will & Grace after the four leads and Shelley Morrison. She had the exact right sense of the show's heart and absurdity. Bobbie Adler is a brilliant case of a fictional tv character played so well you figure they're a real person, like Rhoda Morgenstern.

My business associate Benji and I disagree with you.

You didn't rate Nurse Pittman (Jennifer Elise Cox)?

Eileen Brennan as Jack's acting teacher is up there in hilarious guest stars.

And here I thought that this was a thread about Phylicia Cosby's sister, the dancer.

Andrea Martin was pretty funny as Zusanna, the sister of Jack's former acting teacher, Zandra (played by Eileen Brennan), who tries to convince Jack to return to the stage.