Mary Frances Debbie Reynolds April 1 1932 December 28 2016 was an American actress singer businesswoman film historian and humanitarian She was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Most Promising Newcomer for her portrayal of Helen Kane in the 1950 film Three Little Words and her breakout role was her first leading role as Kathy Selden in Singin in the Rain 1952 Other successes include The Affairs of Dobie Gillis 1953 Susan Slept Here 1954 Bundle of Joy 1956 Golden Globe nomination The Catered Affair 1956 National Board of Review Best Supporting Actress Winner and Tammy and the Bachelor 1957 in which her performance of the song Tammy reached number one on the Billboard music charts1 In 1959 she released her first pop music album titled Debbie She starred in How the West Was Won 1963 and The Unsinkable Molly Brown 1964 a biographical film about the famously boisterous Molly Brown Her performance as Brown earned her a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress Her other films include The Singing Nun 1966 Divorce American Style 1967 Whats the Matter with Helen 1971 Charlottes Web 1973 Mother 1996 Golden Globe nomination and In amp Out 1997 Reynolds was also a cabaret performer In 1979 she founded the Debbie Reynolds Dance Studio in North Hollywood which still operates today In 1969 she starred on television in the eponymous The Debbie Reynolds Show for which she received a Golden Globe nomination In 1973 Reynolds starred in a Broadway revival of the musical Irene and was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Lead Actress in a Musical She was also nominated for a Daytime Emmy Award for her performance in A Gift of Love 1999 and an Emmy Award for playing Graces mother Bobbi on Will amp Grace At the turn of the millennium Reynolds reached a new younger generation with her role as Aggie Cromwell in Disneys Halloweentown series In 1988 she released her autobiography titled Debbie My Life In 2013 she released a second autobiography Unsinkable A Memoir Reynolds also had several business ventures including ownership of a dance studio and a Las Vegas hotel and casino and she was an avid collector of film memorabilia beginning with items purchased at the landmark 1970 MGM auction She served as president of The Thalians an organization dedicated to mental health causes Reynolds continued to perform successfully on stage television and film into her eighties In January 2015 Reynolds received the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award In 2016 she received the Academy Awards Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award In the same year a documentary about her life was released titled Bright Lights Starring Carrie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds the film premiered on HBO on January 7 2017 On December 28 2016 Reynolds was hospitalized at CedarsSinai Medical Center following a medical emergency which her son Todd Fisher later described as a severe stroke She died that afternoon one day after the death of her daughter Carrie Fisher
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