actually, frank sinatra, who she worked with, warned her years before not to marry him. she said all of us singers, we re all bad news, are cheaters. she herself said she didn t necessarily choose the right men. of course, he ended up marrying elizabeth taylor who was her friend at the time. the amazing thing about debbie reynolds, though was her spirit. years and years later, she and elizabeth taylor became great friends. in fact, they did a tv movie together that sort of poked fun at the whole situation and poked fun at that whole time in their lives. i think that s sort of what people will remember her for. is her just rising to the occasion, and you know, it was sort of that old hollywood where people sort of put on that brave face and the show must go on, and she worked throughout that tumultuous time in her life, and always smiling, always perky, always america s sweetheart. she and her daughter shared that. they took some of the toughest of times and they just dealt with them
rain. she was 20 years younger than gene kelly when she filmed the movie. she had no dance experience. she had sang before. she was obviously already an acterous, but a very young one. she talked many, many years later about that experience and said between that and child birth, those were the two hardest things she had to do in her life. it was an absolutely grueling shoot, but the one that sort of made her famous and kept her on the map for many years. it s such an iconic movie. i want to play a little bit of singing in the rain. so there she is, she s america s sweetheart. she marries a pop superstar in eddy fisher. and then the celebrity really blows up because frankly, it all went very wrong. it all went very wrong.
singing my song reporter: singer, dancer, actress, debbie reynolds was a hollywood triple threat and america s sweetheart. her film career began at the age of 16, after being spotted in a beauty pageant. i m laughing reporter: her star officially launched just a few years later after a spirited performance opposite gene kelly in 1952 s singin in the rain. they put me in singin in the rain and just locked me in a big old studio and for three months i had five different teachers. one for tap, ballet, jazz, modern, and just work, work, work, work. you know, until i just fall apart. reporter: other notable roles followed including tammy and the bachelor which resulted in her number one hit song tammy. she played opposite gregory peck in how the west was won and her performance in the unsinkable molly brown earned
reynolds became america s sweetheart and a bona fide triple threat. i was dancing for three months, so i was hysterical. reporter: earned a best actress oscar nomination for the unsinkable molly brown. that ship may be down, but not me. i m n syncabsun unsinkable. reporter: her first marriage to eddie fisher, carrie s father, ended in a love triangle, leaving for her best friend, elizabeth taylor. reynolds would go on to marry and divorce two more times. i don t choose well. i don t blame anybody but myself but i seem to have poor taste in men. reporter: reynolds had a volatile relationship with her daughter. carrie fisher famously wrote about in postcards from the edge which was turned into a movie
messing, she was grace s mother on will and grace. right? absolutely. she would pop up in different shows and different things over the years. she slowed down in recent years, and as i mentioned, she wasn t able to accept her honorary oscar last year which was a signifier that she wasn t doing very well. but she did work up till, you know, her 70s and 80s. let s talk about, again, the mother/daughter relationship. sometimes when you have kids who are movie stars and also go into acting, they re overshadowed by their parents. these two seemed to work in tandem, matt, and seemed to love each other. every role that they were in. carrie fisher wasn t concerned about being sort of typecast as princess leia and debbie reynolds wasn t concerned about being typecast as america s sweetheart. no, absolutely not. if you look at the roles that carrie fisher took, obviously she was cast in star wars when