Actress Debbie Reynolds dies a day after daughter Carrie Fisher
(NBC News via CNBC) – Actress and singer Debbie Reynolds died Wednesday, one day after the death of her daughter, “Star Wars” actress Carrie Fisher, her son said.
“She’s gone to be with Carrie,” Todd Fisher said. “She loved taking care of her and now she’s gone to be with her.”
Reynold’s death at 84 comes after she was rushed to a hospital from a Beverly Hills home earlier in the day.
Reynolds, 84, catapulted to fame after her first leading role in 1952 at age 19, playing Kathy Selden in “Singin’ in the Rain,” starring alongside veterans Gene Kelly and Donald O’Connor.
Born April 1, 1932, Reynolds appeared in beauty pageants before making her debut her film debut in 1950 in the musical “The Daughter of Rosie O’Grady.”
The actress starred in the “The Debbie Reynolds Show,” a short-lived sitcom on NBC during the late 1960s.
Reynolds then turned her attention to the stage, performing on Broadway and in Las Vegas over the next 20 years.
She continued to appear in films throughout the 1990s. In all, the actress appeared in dozens of films, televisions shows and stage productions and has been nominated for multiple Golden Globes and Academy and Emmy Awards.
Reynolds married three times, first in 1955 to singer Eddie Fisher. The pair had two children together, Carrie and Todd. The couple divorced just two years after Carrie was born, following Fisher’s affair with actress Elizabeth Taylor. Reynolds later married shoe Mogul Harry Karlin in 1960, before getting divorced in 1973. Her third marriage was to real estate developer Richard Hamlett in 1985. The two divorced in 1996.
Reynold’s death comes one day after the death of her daughter, actress Carrie Fisher, stunned the world following the “Star Wars” actress’ heart attack during a flight over the weekend. Fisher was 60 years old.
Carrie Fisher often spoke of the ups and downs in her relationship with her mother and growing up in the shadow of famous parents.
In 2012, Fisher told the TODAY Show the relationship between the two was “certainly not … typical.”
“But now I have officially turned into my mother. In our family, to turn into one another we do night club acts,” she said, in reference to her one-woman show “Wishful Drinking.”
The two appeared side-by-side in a 2016 documentary called “Bright Lights: Starring Carrie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds.” The documentary premiered at this year’s Cannes Film Festival and was set to air on HBO in March 2017.
Reynolds on Tuesday thanked those who “embraced the gifts and talents of my beloved and amazing daughter” in a post on Facebook following Fisher’s death, adding, “I am grateful for your thoughts and prayers that are now guiding her to her next stop.”
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Top: Debbie Reynolds and Gene Kelly in the 1952 movie Singin’ in the Rain. Photo: John Springer Collection | Corbis | Getty Images via CNBC
Inset: Debbie Reynolds entertains guest at her pool party in Los Angeles, circa 1955. Photo: Earl Leaf | Michael Ochs Archives | Getty Images via CNBC
SOURCE: NBC News’ Daniella Silva via CNBC
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