Debbie Reynolds' life in pictures: 'I’ve dreamt beyond my dreaming'

A look back at the star's great loves and professional successes.

Debbie was discovered while competing in the 1948 Miss Burbank contest (which she won) at the age of 16. The next day, MGM Studios offered her a contract and she was then thrust into the glitz and glamour of Hollywood’s golden era.

It was a far cry from the simple life she was used to, telling Hello! in 2013 that, “I had one pair of shoes and one pair of jeans. We never had a Christmas tree because we just simply didn’t have the money.”

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“Ladies and gentlemen, stop that girl … That's the girl whose voice you heard and loved tonight. She's the real star of the picture. Kathy Selden!” declares Gene Kelly in the climax of 1952’s Singin’ in the Rain. Debbie was only 19 when she made the film that turned her into a star, and remarkably had no professional dance training before cameras started rolling.

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While filming the intricate dance sequences in Singin’ in the Rain, Debbie says she received some welcome advice from her old friend and co-star in 1950’s Three Little Words, Fred Astaire (seen here on set). “I said, ‘this is so hard’ and he took my hand and said I could watch him rehearse. He never let anyone watch. So I sat there and watched him die creating steps. And then he said, ‘See how hard it is? It never gets easier. Go rehearse,” she recalled.

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Oscar came calling for Debbie in 1965 after her unforgettable turn as Molly Brown in The Unsinkable Molly Brown. Unfortunately she lost the trophy to Mary Poppinsstar Julie Andrews, but according to Debbie, the role meant more to her than any award, saying, “Mary is my favourite of all the roles I’ve played. She is the woman I’ve become as the years have passed. I’m right there with her when she declares, ‘I ain’t down yet!’”

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Even though she’s received an Oscar nomination and five Golden Globe nods, Debbie still can’t believe she made it as a movie star. Back in 2013, around the release of her memoir Unsinkable, Debbie opened up to Hello!about her career, saying, “You dream about something that you can achieve and I certainly didn’t think I’d be making movies. It was an impossible dream,” adding, “I’ve dreamt beyond my dreaming. As a dream, it’s a wonderful life.”

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Before Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie and Jennifer Aniston, there was the love triangle of Debbie, her husband, Eddie Fisher, and their good friend, Elizabeth Taylor.

Married in 1955, Debbie and Eddie had two children together before he ran off with Elizabeth, leaving Debbie a single mother at the age of 27. Years later, the two starlets bumped into each other and patched things up during a trans-Atlantic cruise to London.

Debbie was married twice more, first to shoe store owner Harry Karl and then to real estate developer Richard Hamlett.

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Frank Sinatra romanced Debbie in 1955’s The Tender Trap, and even though she once told Hello!, “He was darling. He was so sweet and wasn’t rough at all – he was very gentle. A very soft kisser!” the two remained just friends when the cameras stopped rolling.

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The Texas-native wasn’t only a hit on the big screen. Between 1973 and 1983, Debbie garnered awards and accolades for her Broadway performances in Irene, Annie Get Your Gun, Debbie and Woman of the Year(seen here).

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Debbie’s greatest joys in life were her two children: actor Todd Fisher and Carrie Fisher, who died just one day before her mother on Dec. 27.

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Debbie proved that there were no hard feelings between her and Elizabeth Taylor by starring alongside the Oscar-winner in the 2001 TV movie These Old Broads, penned by Debbie’s daughter, Carrie. Shirley MacLaine and Joan Collins rounded out the star-studded cast.

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