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treading the boards again. Her life, however, has been touched by scandal | :00:00. | :00:00. | |
and Hollywood has changed dramatically in the youth she has | :00:00. | :00:00. | |
been involved. Guest today is Debbie Reynolds. | :00:07. | :00:21. | |
Debbie Reynolds, welcome to HARDtalk. What are you still so | :00:22. | :00:30. | |
driven to carry on? If I was and, if I was not having a wonderful time I | :00:31. | :00:34. | |
would be bored to than sitting at home and I would not know what to do | :00:35. | :00:39. | |
it myself. I have always been busy and active and home in the States I | :00:40. | :00:44. | |
travel 42 weeks a year and that is just constant. I never stopped | :00:45. | :00:48. | |
working since I was 16. I am used to it. I get quite nervous if, let's | :00:49. | :00:56. | |
say I had a two week vacation then I am nervous. I must keep busy. When | :00:57. | :01:00. | |
you started at 16 years old, and could you have imagined you would | :01:01. | :01:04. | |
still be doing it at 78 question now, I thought I would of been dead. | :01:05. | :01:10. | |
Is why I named the tour alive. When they called me they said, Debbie, | :01:11. | :01:14. | |
what should be named tour? I told I did not really know some people say | :01:15. | :01:18. | |
Debbie Reynolds, is she still alive? They went with that. OK, we will | :01:19. | :01:22. | |
call the tour alive and they added fabulous. And when people see me | :01:23. | :01:29. | |
they will see I am. You say you are driven but it is more than that, | :01:30. | :01:33. | |
isn't it? You have to do this financially. It has not been an easy | :01:34. | :01:37. | |
life for you financially. When I so driven, it is what you want to do. | :01:38. | :01:43. | |
Do I have to work, or as force that everybody needs to work. I raised | :01:44. | :01:47. | |
five children. They all went to university and they all always had a | :01:48. | :01:53. | |
mother who work. They had the cars, colleges, you know. I think all | :01:54. | :01:56. | |
parents work. Don't they? Especially as they have a divorce. That is the | :01:57. | :02:04. | |
thing. Your third husband left you bankrupt, didn't he? The second one | :02:05. | :02:07. | |
with the bankrupt first stop and the third husband, he just left with all | :02:08. | :02:12. | |
the money. That must be very difficult because as a Hollywood | :02:13. | :02:16. | |
star you had amassed a huge amount of money until your second and third | :02:17. | :02:20. | |
marriages. I know, but husband spent a lot of money. I called shop all | :02:21. | :02:26. | |
day on what they spend. Do you regret that you trusted your husband | :02:27. | :02:30. | |
is so much financially and in the end it just didn't work out that for | :02:31. | :02:34. | |
one reason or another in the case your second husband he gambled a | :02:35. | :02:38. | |
lot, didn't he? In the second husband, the hotel complex it didn't | :02:39. | :02:43. | |
work out? As a woman, I must answer you honestly. When you fall in love | :02:44. | :02:47. | |
you do not really ask the man in love with me? You think that he is. | :02:48. | :02:53. | |
Otherwise you would not get married. You just really do believe. I am | :02:54. | :03:01. | |
rather Victorian and I think of a man says he loves me and he wants to | :03:02. | :03:06. | |
marry me and be with me for the rest of alive, you must believe him walk | :03:07. | :03:09. | |
you wouldn't marry him. I'm not a complete fool until after the fact. | :03:10. | :03:13. | |
Then I was. Yes, I have been married three times. Twice, to settle and | :03:14. | :03:20. | |
went bankrupt and the third one went bankrupt but he didn't get | :03:21. | :03:22. | |
everything. He took all the money and ran but he did not get anything. | :03:23. | :03:28. | |
In a great resilience, you know? They do not tackle me on the way out | :03:29. | :03:33. | |
they just leave me fall in like a good punch. Back in 1988 it look | :03:34. | :03:38. | |
different. You were quoted as saying two more years than you would have | :03:39. | :03:42. | |
enough money to retire. That was prior to the marriage crumbling and | :03:43. | :03:46. | |
leaving you penniless again. I always say you can make it back. I | :03:47. | :03:52. | |
give myself not really a two-year period, a five-year plan. I always | :03:53. | :03:57. | |
say there is a light at end of the tunnel so I can get through because | :03:58. | :04:01. | |
if there is a tunnel there is a light. I can make it. I never give | :04:02. | :04:05. | |
up. What the bankruptcy mean? How did it affect you? The government | :04:06. | :04:10. | |
gets all the money. That is what bankruptcy means to me. It is a big | :04:11. | :04:16. | |
setback but you didn't do it, your husband does it. And in California, | :04:17. | :04:19. | |
California taxes community property so the government steps in and you | :04:20. | :04:24. | |
have to pay it back what your husband I was. Some people wonder | :04:25. | :04:29. | |
how this could happen. We always hear the stories about Hollywood | :04:30. | :04:32. | |
stars with people to protect their business interests. Someone doing | :04:33. | :04:35. | |
everything for them. But clearly there is not? No, there is often | :04:36. | :04:43. | |
someone stupid like me. Did you not get advice? I had great lawyers. | :04:44. | :04:48. | |
That is holed up in bankruptcy court. Somehow there is a different | :04:49. | :04:53. | |
thing with community property. So they win. And you are still working | :04:54. | :05:02. | |
as a result. The good fortune I have was to be in show business. In show | :05:03. | :05:07. | |
business if people care about you and if you have a good show and you | :05:08. | :05:12. | |
work hard your entire life and you have learnt to sing and dance and do | :05:13. | :05:16. | |
mimicry and just be good at your craft, people want to come and see | :05:17. | :05:21. | |
you. Cast your mind back to early days when you were first discovered | :05:22. | :05:25. | |
at the age of 16. What did it feel like to be on the verge of a | :05:26. | :05:30. | |
Hollywood career? Who knew? I was 16 and in school. Aged local beauty | :05:31. | :05:39. | |
contests for fun. This way he did it? Win a free scarf? A silk scarf. | :05:40. | :05:45. | |
I never had a silk scarf. Or a beautiful blouse. Did you want to be | :05:46. | :05:54. | |
an actress? No-one in my family was in acting and I wanted to be a gym | :05:55. | :05:58. | |
teacher. I wanted to go to college and I could go as I went to a | :05:59. | :06:03. | |
scholarship. So I kept my grades up and that is what I wanted to do what | :06:04. | :06:08. | |
I hope to be. But a harbour have a local contest in Burbank and I won | :06:09. | :06:11. | |
the contest. There was a talent scout there and they took me to | :06:12. | :06:15. | |
Warner Brothers and they did a screen test and they asked me why I | :06:16. | :06:19. | |
wanted to be in the movies and I said I don't. That must have shocked | :06:20. | :06:24. | |
them because every young girl in those days wanted to be an actress. | :06:25. | :06:28. | |
Especially in California. I truly had no thought about it. I liked to | :06:29. | :06:33. | |
go to the movies but why would you think you would be in the movies? It | :06:34. | :06:38. | |
is one thing to go and to see movie stars but why would you think you | :06:39. | :06:42. | |
were ever going to be there? If no-one in your family was, if you | :06:43. | :06:47. | |
were not exposed to it, I no dream of that. All of a sudden, I guess, | :06:48. | :06:53. | |
it was crazy but I fit into show business. You have to be able crazy | :06:54. | :06:57. | |
to be in show business. I have decided that. You came from a poor | :06:58. | :07:03. | |
background. My family were poor. We have enough food on the table but my | :07:04. | :07:08. | |
father did not make enough money. He worked for the railroad and there | :07:09. | :07:13. | |
was very little to go around. We didn't have furniture. We have a | :07:14. | :07:17. | |
little home my father built and I can't say that we knew we were poor | :07:18. | :07:21. | |
because everybody else was poor. So there was no-one to guide you to | :07:22. | :07:27. | |
say, do you feel terrible? We did not feel that we were different to | :07:28. | :07:31. | |
anybody else because everybody was poor. You have made some fantastic | :07:32. | :07:37. | |
films including the one that sticks in everybody's mind, Singin' In The | :07:38. | :07:41. | |
Rain with Gene Kelly. A wonderful musical. When you are making it at | :07:42. | :07:45. | |
the time did you think was going to be a great film that people would | :07:46. | :07:49. | |
remember the decades afterwards? I didn't know that because I was only | :07:50. | :07:53. | |
17 and will goal. They put me in the picture and I had never danced and | :07:54. | :07:58. | |
then the head of the studio said Gene Kelly, this is Debbie Reynolds. | :07:59. | :08:02. | |
Mary Francis was my real name. That said this is Debbie. They changed to | :08:03. | :08:07. | |
Debbie. They said she will be your new leading lady. Gene Kelly said it | :08:08. | :08:13. | |
really? Do you dance? I said, well, no. And I'm sure he was aghast. And | :08:14. | :08:22. | |
there are complicated dance scenes, aren't there? Absolutely. As | :08:23. | :08:25. | |
difficult as you could get. How did you tackle it? I could do the basic | :08:26. | :08:36. | |
steps. And then... A maxi forward is a dance step. So then Jean knew that | :08:37. | :08:44. | |
he had to teach me how to dance. So I did and I worked like a dog. I had | :08:45. | :08:49. | |
five different teachers and in six months they prepared me to work and | :08:50. | :08:53. | |
I worked really hard because if the taskmaster and a great dancer and | :08:54. | :08:57. | |
this was his idea. And then Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire and Stanley | :08:58. | :09:00. | |
Donnan, they were the creators. Henri LeConte could dance to drop | :09:01. | :09:05. | |
dead. His family were orphaned soakers. It was great. He could run | :09:06. | :09:09. | |
up the wall around backwards. They say all the taskmaster and some were | :09:10. | :09:13. | |
saying he was tough on you. Not always very nice. Now, he was tough. | :09:14. | :09:18. | |
You have the right idea. Did he shout at you? He had a microphone | :09:19. | :09:26. | |
and he used to yell at you. Gene Kelly? He would tell me smile, the | :09:27. | :09:31. | |
bigger, be louder. He was always coaching. You were his love interest | :09:32. | :09:37. | |
in the movie and you fought off quite another actresses who are in | :09:38. | :09:40. | |
the friend to get the role originally. People like Leslie Caron | :09:41. | :09:44. | |
and Judy Garland and in the end it was the unknown, Debbie Reynolds. It | :09:45. | :09:49. | |
was supposed to be an innocent virginal will goal and I was fat and | :09:50. | :09:53. | |
I think it was a tough deal for porting to be stuck with me who had | :09:54. | :09:57. | |
never danced. It would have been far better for him to have a great | :09:58. | :10:01. | |
dancer and I worked so hard that I think in the end when a look at the | :10:02. | :10:05. | |
performance of our little girl I think I did a good job. It must have | :10:06. | :10:09. | |
been a fantastic time in many ways in the 1950s. You also hanging out | :10:10. | :10:14. | |
with Frank and the rat Pack a great mob and there were you with your | :10:15. | :10:17. | |
innocent will girl image. How did you fit in with the rat Pack was to | :10:18. | :10:22. | |
mark I was not having a wild time when I started. I was just a | :10:23. | :10:27. | |
teenager. But then I did my first nightclub act and I did a movie with | :10:28. | :10:32. | |
ring Sinatra called a tender trap. He adopted me like a little sister | :10:33. | :10:37. | |
and he is the one who advised me to never marry a singer. And you did in | :10:38. | :10:41. | |
the end. Your first husband was Eddie Fisher, one of the best-known | :10:42. | :10:44. | |
singers of that time. A massive star. 20 gold records. Why should I | :10:45. | :10:51. | |
start off right? Why didn't you listen to Frank Sinatra? That | :10:52. | :10:54. | |
marriage ended in disaster after Eddie Fisher and run-off with | :10:55. | :10:59. | |
Elizabeth Taylor. I had to make these mistakes. I did wrong the | :11:00. | :11:02. | |
first time, I did wrong the second time and then the third time. I | :11:03. | :11:09. | |
called myself out. Your daughter said that she thought the courtship | :11:10. | :11:12. | |
between you and Eddie Fisher was a press release. They were riding the | :11:13. | :11:16. | |
wave of being a media couple more than having any real compatibility. | :11:17. | :11:19. | |
She said she probably didn't have much in common with Eddie Fisher. | :11:20. | :11:23. | |
Probably but I did not know that. I was in love, young love. What did I | :11:24. | :11:27. | |
go? I really didn't know anything. I thought it was terrific. He was | :11:28. | :11:33. | |
dialling, he was handsome he was a wonderful looking fellow at the | :11:34. | :11:39. | |
start and here I was a young star and... Quite a scandal when he ran | :11:40. | :11:43. | |
off with one of the world 's best-known actresses, Elizabeth | :11:44. | :11:47. | |
Taylor. We went to school together at the MGM lot. We were good | :11:48. | :11:50. | |
friends. She is the most beautiful woman in the world. I certainly was | :11:51. | :11:57. | |
not. And woman. I certainly was not. You could say we Eddie Fisher wanted | :11:58. | :12:01. | |
her but why would Elizabeth Taylor what Eddie Fisher? What did you mean | :12:02. | :12:06. | |
by that? She wonders to as well. Of course she found that out right | :12:07. | :12:12. | |
afterwards. I told Eddie, I told him that what would happen was that in | :12:13. | :12:16. | |
1.5 years he would realise that she was really nothing and she will | :12:17. | :12:19. | |
throw you out. That's what happened. She met Richard Burton and he was | :12:20. | :12:25. | |
our stop a lot of scrutiny when that story broke. It must have been | :12:26. | :12:29. | |
unbearable. At one stage it said it was an bearable when a man walk out | :12:30. | :12:34. | |
but the fact that the public took it as an affront of was watching, that | :12:35. | :12:38. | |
was unbelievable. It was played out in the public gaze, wasn't it? Isn't | :12:39. | :12:42. | |
everything in pub show business question mark everything in the | :12:43. | :12:47. | |
public. Terry said that mother is like Ratten Angelina and Jennifer | :12:48. | :12:50. | |
Aniston today. You and Eddie and Elisabeth. It was a similar story. I | :12:51. | :12:55. | |
always make a joke of it. I said that Elisabeth went down the Nile. | :12:56. | :13:00. | |
Eddie Fisher has always challenged your version. She knows I didn't | :13:01. | :13:06. | |
leave her for Elisabeth, we were apart long for that. Poor boy. I | :13:07. | :13:13. | |
feel so sorry for him he has to make up some story. He was even less | :13:14. | :13:20. | |
generous about you. He said that you were the next door but only if you | :13:21. | :13:28. | |
lived next door to a self is driven insecure woman. It was good that he | :13:29. | :13:35. | |
could read. Have you forgiven? I cared about but yes I have four | :13:36. | :13:40. | |
given Eddie I have never really understood a man leaving his | :13:41. | :13:45. | |
children. I can understand leaving the woman but he never really came | :13:46. | :13:50. | |
back around to be a very good father. So I don't particularly | :13:51. | :13:53. | |
admire that. I have wonderful children and I am their parents. So | :13:54. | :14:00. | |
if you ask if I have four given him, I say that with a bit of anger | :14:01. | :14:08. | |
because I have a son, his only son and he misses having a good father. | :14:09. | :14:11. | |
So when Eddie left he really left. Keating Collie would has changed a | :14:12. | :14:22. | |
lot? These days, is probably more frenetic. -- do you think Hollywood | :14:23. | :14:31. | |
has changed. The world has changed. When I came into films, the studios | :14:32. | :14:39. | |
owned the films and Congress took it over and they could no longer | :14:40. | :14:42. | |
release the film is so than television entered the scene so that | :14:43. | :14:49. | |
the film industry was cut in half, their power. Television took over | :14:50. | :14:54. | |
and then movies, the Golden era ended, nobody was under contract, | :14:55. | :15:02. | |
they dropped Greta Garbo, all the stars were let go, I was really the | :15:03. | :15:08. | |
only one left under contract was up you spent 17 years under contract. | :15:09. | :15:12. | |
In those days, they told you write, this week you will be in this film, | :15:13. | :15:16. | |
next week that film, it was a controlled life for an actress and | :15:17. | :15:22. | |
it's not the way these days. Now it's much harder. You have to raise | :15:23. | :15:25. | |
the money, buy the book, it's much harder. Were produced. They were | :15:26. | :15:31. | |
finding the movies for you. We were owned, we were under contract. It | :15:32. | :15:37. | |
was a wonderful life, though. We went paid very well, though. Today | :15:38. | :15:41. | |
they get $20 million per picture. What you think about that? I think | :15:42. | :15:46. | |
they should save their money. Some people say that they produced bad | :15:47. | :15:56. | |
movies big so they found bad movies. They are not all good today but I | :15:57. | :16:00. | |
think they made some very good pictures and some good ones today. I | :16:01. | :16:03. | |
think they are very fortunate in the salaries that they make. I wish to | :16:04. | :16:08. | |
all of the stars great success and I hope that they give a lot of their | :16:09. | :16:12. | |
money to charity because they have a great opportunity to help people | :16:13. | :16:16. | |
will stop most of them are doing that. I admire that very much. We | :16:17. | :16:21. | |
made $700 a week in the beginning I made 65 dollars a week or stop them | :16:22. | :16:26. | |
a $20 million. There is a great deal of difference. Other differences, | :16:27. | :16:30. | |
they talk about the Golden age of Hollywood that it was an innocent | :16:31. | :16:34. | |
time in some ways. I think that's why your breakup with Eddie Fisher | :16:35. | :16:37. | |
was such a scandal that played out that the films were more innocent | :16:38. | :16:41. | |
too, when they? Boy meets girl, they fall in love and meet -- live | :16:42. | :16:45. | |
happily ever after. Jono Donna Reed, Andy Griffith, corny pictures. There | :16:46. | :16:52. | |
is too much violence and pornography, really, I call it | :16:53. | :16:56. | |
pornography, today. The innocence is gone. I think a body can look | :16:57. | :17:01. | |
beautiful through a veil, it doesn't have to be boom, I don't really want | :17:02. | :17:06. | |
to see a man's frontal or a woman. It is not appropriate for children. | :17:07. | :17:11. | |
All young people. If it wasn't that type of movie, you could see it but | :17:12. | :17:15. | |
I don't beget should be the general public for every film. You think | :17:16. | :17:19. | |
Hollywood is dictating the product or the audience? Television has gone | :17:20. | :17:26. | |
much too far. Television. I don't think the films necessarily but they | :17:27. | :17:31. | |
have but really, television is pushing it because it's so popular | :17:32. | :17:35. | |
and there is so much cable today. You have hundreds of programmes. | :17:36. | :17:38. | |
Before, we didn't even have television. He had two stations, | :17:39. | :17:46. | |
then for stations and now it's... To fill that, if an octopus. To give | :17:47. | :17:50. | |
the public what they want is very difficult. It's difficult for all | :17:51. | :17:54. | |
the networks, the competitions are real. The paparazzi is only. -- the | :17:55. | :18:03. | |
competition is unreal. The paparazzi is unreal. What about your breakup | :18:04. | :18:10. | |
with Eddie Fisher, it was back then but what if it was today? You | :18:11. | :18:15. | |
watched it with Angelina with Brad, they follow them everywhere. I feel | :18:16. | :18:19. | |
sorry for them but I went through that. I had hundreds of press on my | :18:20. | :18:23. | |
front lawn and the backyard, the swimming pool. All around. It is | :18:24. | :18:26. | |
difficult and it's not something that one likes to have happened. It | :18:27. | :18:31. | |
won't happen to me again. I'm just going to be here and the UK and play | :18:32. | :18:36. | |
at the Apollo Theatre, I'm just going to have a good time and be | :18:37. | :18:40. | |
live on stage and do what I like to do but my life can be easy now | :18:41. | :18:44. | |
because I've been in the business of 63 years and I've had 63 wonderful, | :18:45. | :18:48. | |
glorious years. I'm very happy with my life, I've been through all of it | :18:49. | :18:53. | |
now and I've done all of it and I've had a great life and a great time | :18:54. | :18:57. | |
and I'm still having it, that's what I like. You always make very pithy | :18:58. | :19:01. | |
comments, you are a very direct person that she made pithy comments | :19:02. | :19:07. | |
about why you stopped making films. Maybe it is realism that its artist | :19:08. | :19:12. | |
Bill, I don't like making -- taking my clothes offer supportive think | :19:13. | :19:17. | |
about Hollywood today? I do think it's glamorous, pretty. I think | :19:18. | :19:19. | |
there are ways to make things exciting and and mysterious at the | :19:20. | :19:28. | |
same time, that's no need. I'm a religious person, I don't need to go | :19:29. | :19:33. | |
that way. I don't believe in that example for the young people. You | :19:34. | :19:37. | |
can be a good entertainer and a good actress. If you want to, go ahead | :19:38. | :19:42. | |
but it's not something I ever wanted to do and therefore I never did it. | :19:43. | :19:46. | |
The clock will never be turned back to the innocent age. I think not. I | :19:47. | :19:53. | |
think this is it. We don't have to go... I don't really have a comment | :19:54. | :19:57. | |
about it because we are here and today is today and so we have to | :19:58. | :20:01. | |
face, that we can handle ourselves well. We can handle ourselves with | :20:02. | :20:06. | |
class and dignity. We don't have to fall down amongst the masses, so to | :20:07. | :20:14. | |
speak, meaning, if you want to be trashy, you can be trashy. There is | :20:15. | :20:19. | |
really no need, it is much more fun to have little dignity in life. You | :20:20. | :20:23. | |
have always been open about the mistakes you made in your love life | :20:24. | :20:28. | |
and picking the wrong man. What about the mistakes you made | :20:29. | :20:31. | |
professionally? One time in the late 60s you had a row with NBC over the | :20:32. | :20:36. | |
Debbie Reynolds show because you decided to make a stand over tobacco | :20:37. | :20:40. | |
advertising. What happened then? Everyone could smoke on camera and | :20:41. | :20:44. | |
you could advertise cigarettes. I didn't know Congress would pass a | :20:45. | :20:47. | |
law that you couldn't within six months and I had a new show, the | :20:48. | :20:53. | |
Debbie Reynolds Show and it was out like the Lucille Ball, show. A | :20:54. | :20:59. | |
two-year contract at a lot of money. I was having a great time but then | :21:00. | :21:03. | |
the show came out and they were advertising cigarettes. I got very | :21:04. | :21:10. | |
upset because I said, I'm not advertising cigarettes. You promised | :21:11. | :21:14. | |
me that I wasn't. That was quite a stand to take it that pick -- | :21:15. | :21:24. | |
particular period. They work at you don't have to advertise it for the | :21:25. | :21:28. | |
young people and I didn't want to do it. I told them I didn't want to | :21:29. | :21:32. | |
have a cigarette sponsor and they said well, that's too bad, that's | :21:33. | :21:36. | |
what you have. And I told them it wasn't in my contract and they read | :21:37. | :21:39. | |
the contract and that was the truth. Your thinking was ahead of the game. | :21:40. | :21:45. | |
Banning in cigarette advertising in many countries didn't happen until | :21:46. | :21:50. | |
later. I lost millions for that stand but I'm happy I did it but I | :21:51. | :21:58. | |
think it was foolishly it was foolish for me financially but then | :21:59. | :22:02. | |
my husbands would have then had more money to spend. One thing that has | :22:03. | :22:06. | |
always got you through and we have seen it in the past few minutes is | :22:07. | :22:10. | |
your sense of humour. How important is it in show business? Life itself | :22:11. | :22:18. | |
is hard, it is not just show business. Rough and tumble in | :22:19. | :22:23. | |
whatever form. It doesn't matter if you sell bicycles or work in the toy | :22:24. | :22:29. | |
store. Life isn't easy. Life is what we can make of it and with a sense | :22:30. | :22:34. | |
of humour, a faith in whatever faith, it doesn't matter, as long as | :22:35. | :22:38. | |
we are good to other people and we are kind and we look around our | :22:39. | :22:42. | |
lives and we do unto others, I think we will make it through. Debbie | :22:43. | :22:47. | |
Reynolds, thank you so much for appearing on HARDtalk. Good to see | :22:48. | :22:52. | |
you, good to see you, thank you very much. | :22:53. | :22:54. |