Trivia of Debbie Reynolds

Trivia of Debbie Reynolds (1 April 1932 - 28 December 2016)

*Won the 1948 Miss Burbank contest and was offered a screen test by Warner Bros. the day after her win. She initially entered the contest because everyone who entered received a silk scarf, blouse and free lunch.

*Accomplished musician on french horn, bass and violin and was a fashion designer in her spare time.

*She's one of iconic stars of movie Singin' in The Rain (1952).But she remarked that making this movie and surviving childbirth were the two hardest things she'd ever had to do. The filming experience was particularly unpleasant due to her harsh treatment by perfectionist Gene Kelly.Gene Kelly was a taskmaster with Debbie Reynolds, who had never danced to this degree before rehearsals started. Fred Astaire, who was in an adjacent dance studio, found her crying under a piano and reassured her that all of her hard work was worth the effort.Decades later, Kelly expressed remorse about his behavior: "I wasn't nice to Debbie. It's a wonder she still speaks to me."

*Her first husband, Eddie Fisher left her for her good friend Elizabeth Taylor in 1958. The outpouring of public sympathy increased her fame, due to Taylor’s femme-fatale reputation and Reynolds’ girl-next-door image.Reynolds forgave Taylor later in life. They rekindled their friendship and even costarred in the 2001 TV movie These Old Broads, written by her daughter, Carrie Fisher.

*The Unsinkable Molly Brown (1964) is Debbie Reynolds' personal favorite movie.MGM's original choice for the role of Molly Brown was Shirley MacLaine, but she was locked in contract with Hal B. Wallis at the time. The film's director even asked Reynolds to decline the role. When Reynolds asked why, he commented that she was too short. Reynolds replied, "Well, just how short is the part?" That was the end of his objections. Her performance as Brown earned a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress.

*In 1969 she followed Doris Day and some of her contemporaries in launching a sitcom bearing her name. When the debut episode included an advertisement for cigarettes, a direct violation of one of her contractual stipulations, she made such a fuss about it that NBC ended up canceling the series.

*She died just less than 36 hours after the death of her daughter Carrie Fisher.After her passing, several physicians pointed out that it was likely --not a coincidence, but a case of 'broken heart' syndrome.