2016 just couldn't end without another tragic event.
Just one day after Carrie Fisher died, her mother and beloved actress, singer, author and dancer Debbie Reynolds, passed away on December 28th. She was 84 years old.
Her life was something out of a movie.
Reynolds was born Mary Frances Reynolds from El Paso, Texas. She grew up poor and lived a very modest life. A natural-born mimic, she would perform for her classmates in high school to make up for the fact she didn't have an extensive wardrobe.
"Instead of cashmere, I wore a comic routine," she wrote in one of her books.
Her humble beginnings set the course for her living every day with grace and humility. Even through what was considered the biggest scandal of the 1950's and two bad divorces, Reynolds maintained her grace and composure, making her America's 1950's Sweetheart.
At the age of 16, Reynolds entered the Miss Burbank beauty pageant and won the chance to do a screen test for Warner Bros. the very next day.
“I’m just here ’cause I won this contest, and I got a free blouse and scarf,” she said about why she entered the pageant in an interview with CBS News in 2013. “That’s the only reason I’m here. I don’t know what you guys are doing wasting your time on me.”
That same day the studio chief changed Reynolds name from Mary Frances to Debbie because he felt Mary Frances was too old-fashioned.
“I didn't want to be called Debbie, but that's the name Jack Warner gave me,” she said in an interview for the Los Angeles Times. Her polite nature made her keep a name she didn't want.
Her career really took off in 1952, when she landed a role in Singin' in the Rain. Acting next to the likes of Gene Kelly and Donald O'Connor, Reynolds held her own when it came to the dance numbers and credits her younger days as a girl scout. Kelly said she "was a great copyist, and she could pick up the most complicated routine without too much difficulty.”
From there, Reynolds excelled both on-screen and on broadway. Some of her work includes The Tender Trap (1955), Tammy and the Bachelor (1957), How the West Was Won (1962) and her Oscar-nominated performance in The Unsinkable Molly Brown (1964) -- what many critics would consider her best performance.
As much as her career took off, she was also known for what was considered one of Hollywood's biggest scandals in the 1950's. The scandal would not only change her private life, it would also be pivotal for her career.
While married to her first husband, singer Eddie Fisher, Reynolds encouraged him to console her best friend at the time, late actress Elizabeth Taylor, after Taylor's husband, Mike Todd, died in a plane crash. Reynolds went as far as to allow Fisher to move in temporarily with Taylor so he could, as he put, "keep an eye on her". Taylor and Fisher ended up together just two weeks after he moved in with her. Fisher and Reynolds divorced in 1959.
Following the scandal, Fisher's career took a huge blow while Reynold's career blossomed. She received an outpour of support from the public and would appear in four movies following her divorce. Maybe it was her sparkling personality. Maybe it was the fact that she was now the single mother of two young children. Maybe it was the fact that she was betrayed by both her best friend and husband. Whatever it was, the public couldn't help but feel for Reynolds and support her through her tough time.
Aside from all her career success, Reynolds was also an avid collector, attempting to preserve the film industry's history through a massive collection of cinematic memorabilia. It all started in 1970 when Reynolds realized MGM would auction off anything to anyone, for the right price.
"They literally threw away our history and I just got caught up in it," Reynolds said in an interview withThe Hollywood Reporter. "The stupidity and the lack of foresight to save our history. Oh yes, they gave them away if you came up and said that you have something you had to offer. It was no matter about the history."
Unfortunately, due to tough financial troubles Reynolds faced in the 70's, she was forced to auction off her prized collection. Items like dresses from The Unsinkable Molly Brown, the original ruby slippers from The Wizard of Oz, a collection of Rat Pack tuxedos and more could be found at her auctions.
Through her feisty personality, exceptional acting skill, humility, and grace, Debbie Reynolds was truly Hollywood royalty and will be greatly missed. She taught us many things but the one that stands out, "being normal is vastly overrated."