0:00:16 > 0:00:20Debbie Reynolds was the girl next door who became film royalty,
0:00:20 > 0:00:23the celluloid sweetheart who got the guy
0:00:23 > 0:00:26in one of cinema's greatest musicals...
0:00:26 > 0:00:30and lost her husband in one of Hollywood's greatest scandals.
0:00:31 > 0:00:36And in later years, when her own star was slightly fading,
0:00:36 > 0:00:42she found herself mother to the most famous Princess in the movie galaxy.
0:00:44 > 0:00:49Throughout the ups and downs of a career that spanned seven decades,
0:00:49 > 0:00:52Debbie loved the world of show business as much as any fan.
0:00:53 > 0:00:57She shared her story many times over the years,
0:00:57 > 0:01:00knowing it was as fascinating as any movie script.
0:01:02 > 0:01:07It was a tale that started one May day in 1948.
0:01:07 > 0:01:12Her family were poor and had originally come from El Paso, Texas.
0:01:12 > 0:01:16But the search for work had meant a move to Burbank,
0:01:16 > 0:01:21just half an hour's ride from the Hollywood sign and it was there
0:01:21 > 0:01:23that Debbie entered a talent contest
0:01:23 > 0:01:26that altered the course of her life completely.
0:01:28 > 0:01:30I entered this contest because they gave
0:01:30 > 0:01:33a free blouse and scarf away and it was a silk blouse.
0:01:33 > 0:01:36Well, I never had a silk blouse in my whole life and I thought,
0:01:36 > 0:01:39"Just enter the contest" - I knew I wouldn't win.
0:01:39 > 0:01:40That's silly, because I didn't do anything.
0:01:40 > 0:01:44I didn't sing or dance, I was just silly, you know?
0:01:44 > 0:01:46I played the record and impersonated the record,
0:01:46 > 0:01:49I used to do Betty Hutton and I'd play the record
0:01:49 > 0:01:52and then I'd mouth it and Beatrice Kay,
0:01:52 > 0:01:56who did silly songs like Bird in a Gilded Cage.
0:01:56 > 0:02:00She played kind of mad people, like Bea Lillie type, you know?
0:02:00 > 0:02:03Anyway, long story, I entered the contest,
0:02:03 > 0:02:05a talent scout was there, took me to Warner Brothers,
0:02:05 > 0:02:08they made a screen test of me, which I thought was very funny,
0:02:08 > 0:02:12so I just laughed my way through and they signed me, shockingly enough.
0:02:12 > 0:02:15And that started and I was 16, then.
0:02:18 > 0:02:21That contract changed everything.
0:02:21 > 0:02:26Debbie was signed by first Warner Brothers and then MGM,
0:02:26 > 0:02:30joining a roster of young actors like Elizabeth Taylor,
0:02:30 > 0:02:34who the studios developed and moulded into stars.
0:02:34 > 0:02:38And the first thing Debbie had changed was her name.
0:02:38 > 0:02:41- TEXAS ACCENT:- My name is Mary Frances, cos originally,
0:02:41 > 0:02:44I'm from Texas and if you're from Texas, everybody's called
0:02:44 > 0:02:47Elizabeth, Sue, Lou-Ellen, Mary Frances, somethin' like that.
0:02:49 > 0:02:52- How did you get Debbie, how did Debbie come about?- Well, Debbie...
0:02:52 > 0:02:55See... I was Mary Frances.
0:02:55 > 0:02:58Mr Warner, Jack Warner, of course,
0:02:58 > 0:03:01he's very strong, he's in charge.
0:03:01 > 0:03:03You know, the heads of the studios were Louis B Mayer
0:03:03 > 0:03:06and Zanuck and all those famous people, so he didn't like Mary,
0:03:06 > 0:03:08he said it was too simple.
0:03:08 > 0:03:11Frances was boring and Mary Frances was really awful,
0:03:11 > 0:03:15so he said, "You're going to be called Debbie Morgan,
0:03:15 > 0:03:20"because I had a dog named Debbie and Dennis Morgan is a big star."
0:03:20 > 0:03:22So I said, "I don't think so.
0:03:22 > 0:03:24"I'm not going to be Debbie Morgan, I don't know who that is.
0:03:24 > 0:03:27"That's not me, I'm Mary Frances Reynolds", so he said, "Well,
0:03:27 > 0:03:30"you'll have to be Debbie, I wouldn't change it."
0:03:30 > 0:03:33I said, "Did you ever change your name from your father's name?"
0:03:33 > 0:03:36And of course he had, so it didn't do any good.
0:03:36 > 0:03:38LAUGHTER
0:03:38 > 0:03:41And were you really excited at being in the movies?
0:03:41 > 0:03:44No, I was saving my money to go back to school to be a gym teacher.
0:03:44 > 0:03:45Gym teacher, of course.
0:03:45 > 0:03:48You weren't stunned and knocked out by it?
0:03:48 > 0:03:51Well, I thought it was wonderful for other people,
0:03:51 > 0:03:53but it didn't make sense for me.
0:03:53 > 0:03:56I mean, Mary Frances Reynolds to be in the movies didn't seem...
0:03:56 > 0:03:59But Debbie - Debbie came up in this movie, Three Little Words.
0:03:59 > 0:04:03- Let's have a look, just a little part.- SQUEAKILY:- Boop-boop-a-doop!
0:04:03 > 0:04:04Try it this way...
0:04:04 > 0:04:07# Da da-da-da da da da da da. #
0:04:07 > 0:04:09That ought to fix it.
0:04:09 > 0:04:10I don't think so.
0:04:10 > 0:04:13# Da da-da-da da da da da da. #
0:04:13 > 0:04:15Too many notes.
0:04:15 > 0:04:18It's NOT too many notes! Look... Hey, fellas...
0:04:18 > 0:04:21Can we borrow your piano just a minute?
0:04:21 > 0:04:22Listen.
0:04:24 > 0:04:28# I want to be loved by you Just you
0:04:28 > 0:04:30# And nobody else but you
0:04:31 > 0:04:36# I want to be loved by you alone
0:04:36 > 0:04:38# Boop-boop-a-doop! #
0:04:38 > 0:04:39LAUGHTER
0:04:42 > 0:04:44# I want to be kissed by you
0:04:44 > 0:04:48# Just you and nobody else but you
0:04:49 > 0:04:53# I want to be kissed by you alone
0:04:54 > 0:04:56# Boop-boop-a-doop! #
0:04:57 > 0:05:00APPLAUSE
0:05:03 > 0:05:08And that was the first one, that was you, Red Skelton and Fred Astaire.
0:05:08 > 0:05:11Weren't they cute, Red Skelton?
0:05:11 > 0:05:14That was actually Helen Kane's voice who did that.
0:05:14 > 0:05:16Now I can do it cos I do impressions of everybody now,
0:05:16 > 0:05:19but that was really her voice and her name was Helen Kane,
0:05:19 > 0:05:21not that I knew that, because it's a long time ago.
0:05:21 > 0:05:25- But that's the way she talked... - SQUEAKILY:- "Boop-boop-bi-doop." Really, like that.
0:05:25 > 0:05:26THEY SPEAK IN SQUEAKY VOICES
0:05:26 > 0:05:30It sounded like she swallowed her tongue and just couldn't get it out.
0:05:30 > 0:05:31LAUGHTER
0:05:36 > 0:05:40It's clear from that exchange with Terry Wogan Debbie always had
0:05:40 > 0:05:44a knack for comedy and that is further demonstrated
0:05:44 > 0:05:49in a much-loved moment from the 1950 film Two Weeks with Love.
0:05:49 > 0:05:51# "Aba, daba, daba, daba, daba, daba, dab"
0:05:51 > 0:05:53# Means "Monk, I love but you"
0:05:53 > 0:05:54# "Baba, daba, dab" in monkey talk
0:05:54 > 0:05:56# Means "Chimp, I love you, too"
0:05:56 > 0:05:58# Then the big baboon, one night in June
0:05:58 > 0:06:00# He married them, and very soon
0:06:00 > 0:06:03# They went upon their aba, daba honey...moon... #
0:06:14 > 0:06:17It seems to me that you made the transition from being
0:06:17 > 0:06:20"Little Miss Amateur" to seasoned trooper very quickly,
0:06:20 > 0:06:22seeing again your routine
0:06:22 > 0:06:25in Aba Daba Honeymoon.
0:06:25 > 0:06:29I was just a clown, I think that everyone in life is born with
0:06:29 > 0:06:32a personality - if you're boring or you're interesting
0:06:32 > 0:06:35or you're funny or you're not. You can learn a lot of things in life,
0:06:35 > 0:06:38but I don't think that you can be given timing
0:06:38 > 0:06:41and you can't be funny unless you're funny.
0:06:41 > 0:06:46When I say funny, I don't mean rolling around falling on the floor,
0:06:46 > 0:06:49but I mean appreciation of humour
0:06:49 > 0:06:53and finding things that are funny within a situation,
0:06:53 > 0:06:57whereas you could look at it very straight-on and dead serious.
0:06:57 > 0:06:58You know people like that.
0:06:58 > 0:07:01I always just thought everything was terrifically funny
0:07:01 > 0:07:03and when I was a kid, I was really a nut.
0:07:03 > 0:07:08God was very good to me, that he gave me a sense of humour
0:07:08 > 0:07:13and that I think was what came across when I was young.
0:07:15 > 0:07:18Despite that song and dance routine,
0:07:18 > 0:07:20Debbie was a far from obvious choice
0:07:20 > 0:07:25for one of the lead roles in Singing In The Rain,
0:07:25 > 0:07:29which demanded that she held her own alongside the dancing geniuses
0:07:29 > 0:07:32that were Gene Kelly and Donald O'Connor.
0:07:32 > 0:07:34How did you get the part for that?
0:07:35 > 0:07:38Well, Gene Kelly has one version and Debbie has another version.
0:07:38 > 0:07:42Gene says that he picked me and he saw my screen test and that,
0:07:42 > 0:07:43in fact, that's how it happened.
0:07:43 > 0:07:47Now, I remember walking into this huge office and Mr Mayer was
0:07:47 > 0:07:52a rather short, plumpish fellow and he had a little bit of an accent.
0:07:52 > 0:07:53I don't know if it was Hungarian...
0:07:53 > 0:07:56- ADOPTS ACCENT:- It was a little accent.
0:07:56 > 0:07:58He said to me, "Now Debbie,
0:07:58 > 0:08:01"you're going to be in a picture with Gene Kelly."
0:08:01 > 0:08:06And, uh... I mean, I was shocked, thrilled, surprised.
0:08:06 > 0:08:10Didn't know what that meant, to do what? So then he says...
0:08:10 > 0:08:13"And he's coming to meet you and he'll love you and you're in
0:08:13 > 0:08:15"the movie, it's called Singing in the Rain."
0:08:15 > 0:08:18At that moment, Gene Kelly comes in the office and he sits down
0:08:18 > 0:08:21and you know, Gene was always full of it and in those days...
0:08:21 > 0:08:25- Full of it?- Yes. Thirtysomething, like, very young - huge star.
0:08:25 > 0:08:27You know? So he sits down
0:08:27 > 0:08:29and I remember Mr Mayer saying to him,
0:08:29 > 0:08:32"And Gene, I want you to meet your leading lady, Debbie Reynolds,"
0:08:32 > 0:08:34and Gene just...
0:08:34 > 0:08:36LAUGHTER
0:08:36 > 0:08:40..stared at me, like, "Who? SHE is? This is it?" You know?
0:08:40 > 0:08:45- That's what- I- remember and I think I remember RIGHT, so THERE, Gene.
0:08:45 > 0:08:47LAUGHTER
0:08:49 > 0:08:51# All I do is dream of you... #
0:08:51 > 0:08:52Debbie was always a fighter
0:08:52 > 0:08:56and behind the happy grin was grit and determination.
0:08:56 > 0:09:00But she needed help from another screen legend to get through
0:09:00 > 0:09:03those punishing dance routines.
0:09:04 > 0:09:07And then Fred Astaire was working next door and one day,
0:09:07 > 0:09:09when I was sobbing under the piano, I mean,
0:09:09 > 0:09:11really just sobbing away and everybody had gone to lunch,
0:09:11 > 0:09:13I was just blubbering,
0:09:13 > 0:09:15"I can't do it, I'll never be able to do it, why did I...?
0:09:15 > 0:09:16"I want to go home!
0:09:16 > 0:09:19"I want to be a gym teacher!" Well, Mr...
0:09:19 > 0:09:21I didn't know who it was, but some legs walked by the piano
0:09:21 > 0:09:23and said, "Who's crying underneath there?"
0:09:23 > 0:09:26"It's just me..." "Well, what's the matter?"
0:09:26 > 0:09:29"I'm never going to be to learn how to dance like this and I'm just..."
0:09:29 > 0:09:31He says, "Debbie, this is Mr Astaire".
0:09:31 > 0:09:33He gives me his hand, he pulls me out and he says,
0:09:33 > 0:09:36"I'm going to let you watch me rehearse."
0:09:36 > 0:09:38He never let anybody watch him rehearse,
0:09:38 > 0:09:41he had a guard at the door and he worked with a drum
0:09:41 > 0:09:43and he had his cane.
0:09:43 > 0:09:45And he never let you watch him rehearse,
0:09:45 > 0:09:47so he let me watch and I sat at the door,
0:09:47 > 0:09:51on the floor and I watched Mr Astaire rehearse
0:09:51 > 0:09:55and just sweat and go crazy and get frustrated and it was very hard
0:09:55 > 0:09:57and he turned to me, and he said, "Now, you see?
0:09:58 > 0:10:02"See, this is tough work, it will never be easy.
0:10:02 > 0:10:06"Just get back in there and go rehearse. Stop crying!"
0:10:06 > 0:10:11So I stopped crying, wiped my nose and learned how to dance.
0:10:11 > 0:10:14Well, you certainly did dance and the memorable scene, of course,
0:10:14 > 0:10:17when you're singing Good Morning with Donald and with Gene, jumping
0:10:17 > 0:10:21over the couches and things - did that take a long time to get right?
0:10:21 > 0:10:22Oh, yes!
0:10:22 > 0:10:25Well, to hit it at the same time and then it
0:10:25 > 0:10:29has to be timed just right and then of course the front flips,
0:10:29 > 0:10:33so the rollover had to be the same, exact same time.
0:10:33 > 0:10:35Oh, we rehearsed that.
0:10:35 > 0:10:38Gene didn't have to rehearse as much of course and Donald didn't either,
0:10:38 > 0:10:42but I was a gymnast, so I was pretty good, I was very strong
0:10:42 > 0:10:46and that I could learn rather quickly, compared to the steps.
0:10:46 > 0:10:49I'd say we rehearsed that number two months, just the one number.
0:10:49 > 0:10:51And then when you actually came to film it?
0:10:51 > 0:10:53The whole thing was six months.
0:10:53 > 0:10:55Filming it?
0:10:55 > 0:10:56Oh, we shot that many, many times.
0:10:56 > 0:10:58I don't know - 40 times?
0:10:58 > 0:11:01And then Gene printed the first take!
0:11:01 > 0:11:02HE LAUGHS
0:11:03 > 0:11:05He was a perfectionist, but he was right.
0:11:05 > 0:11:08INSTRUMENTAL SECTION FROM Good Morning
0:11:35 > 0:11:39Believe it or not, those dance scenes weren't the only tough ones
0:11:39 > 0:11:41Debbie had to get through.
0:11:41 > 0:11:42At the end of the whole movie,
0:11:42 > 0:11:45we're in front of this big signboard and it's the end,
0:11:45 > 0:11:49so Gene Kelly kisses of course Kathy Selden, the young girl.
0:11:49 > 0:11:52Well, I had never heard of any other kissing
0:11:52 > 0:11:53and so Gene Kelly was kissing me
0:11:53 > 0:11:55and all of a sudden, I felt something else.
0:11:56 > 0:11:59And...I didn't know what that was, you see.
0:11:59 > 0:12:02And it was called French kissing, I believe.
0:12:02 > 0:12:05And of course I screamed in horror,
0:12:05 > 0:12:09"Ah! What is that? Eurgh!"
0:12:09 > 0:12:12And I had to go to my room and gargle and they had to cut this,
0:12:12 > 0:12:15cut the film and I had to drink Coca-Cola and they tried
0:12:15 > 0:12:19to explain it to me and I said, "No, no, no - I won't kiss like that,
0:12:19 > 0:12:21"I will not do that other kissing, never."
0:12:25 > 0:12:29The sweet, wholesome image was a key part of Debbie's public persona,
0:12:29 > 0:12:32enhanced by a seemingly happy marriage
0:12:32 > 0:12:35to singing sensation Eddie Fisher.
0:12:35 > 0:12:43But in 1959, Eddie abandoned her and their two children for Liz Taylor -
0:12:43 > 0:12:46one of Debbie's closest friends.
0:12:46 > 0:12:50In the eyes of the public, Liz was the heartless seductress,
0:12:50 > 0:12:55Eddie was the cad and Debbie the poor, wronged woman.
0:12:56 > 0:13:00How did the tremendous emotional upset of your marriage
0:13:00 > 0:13:04and seeing so many details of it being reported and going through
0:13:04 > 0:13:06the enormous upheaval of that?
0:13:06 > 0:13:08Still making movies, still putting
0:13:08 > 0:13:12on a tremendously strong and very, very viable public face?
0:13:12 > 0:13:15I don't discuss it because it's nobody's business...
0:13:15 > 0:13:20why something ends - it's only my devastation, not anybody else's.
0:13:20 > 0:13:23I have my children. I think that, somehow...
0:13:24 > 0:13:31..the unhappy times in my life have always forced me into working.
0:13:31 > 0:13:36So, perhaps it's meant to be that I did go on and work,
0:13:36 > 0:13:39otherwise I would have retired years ago,
0:13:39 > 0:13:43I would be retired now if I could, but I have lots of children
0:13:43 > 0:13:48to put through college and I really don't have enough funds in which...
0:13:48 > 0:13:50I like to live very nicely.
0:13:50 > 0:13:52In order to do so, I have to work.
0:13:52 > 0:13:55To live as nicely as I like to live!
0:13:55 > 0:13:57And to do the things with the children and all
0:13:57 > 0:14:00that I want to do, so, in a way...
0:14:00 > 0:14:02life has spurred me on, also.
0:14:04 > 0:14:07Debbie didn't talk about it then...
0:14:07 > 0:14:10but that would eventually change.
0:14:10 > 0:14:12Your daughter Carrie Fisher said,
0:14:12 > 0:14:14"I always thought your whole courtship,"
0:14:14 > 0:14:15that's you and Eddie Fisher,
0:14:15 > 0:14:17"was a sort of press release," that's what Carrie said.
0:14:17 > 0:14:21"They were riding the wave of being a media couple more than having
0:14:21 > 0:14:22"any real compatibility."
0:14:22 > 0:14:25She says you probably didn't have much in common with Eddie Fisher.
0:14:25 > 0:14:27Oh, probably, but I didn't know that.
0:14:27 > 0:14:30You know, I was in love, young love, what did I know about love?
0:14:30 > 0:14:33I really didn't know anything. I thought this was terrific.
0:14:33 > 0:14:36He was darling, he was handsome,
0:14:36 > 0:14:40he was a wonderful-looking fellow
0:14:40 > 0:14:43and a star and here I was, a young star.
0:14:43 > 0:14:45- So...- Quite a scandal, though,
0:14:45 > 0:14:46when he ran off with what was I suppose one
0:14:46 > 0:14:49of the world's best-known actresses at the time, Elizabeth Taylor.
0:14:49 > 0:14:52Yes, Elizabeth. Well, we went to school together at the MGM lot,
0:14:52 > 0:14:57we were good friends and she was the most beautiful woman in the world.
0:14:57 > 0:14:58I certainly wasn't.
0:14:58 > 0:15:01And the most sexual woman in the world, I certainly wasn't.
0:15:01 > 0:15:04Well, I think you said about all this, you could see why Eddie Fisher
0:15:04 > 0:15:06wanted HER, but why would Elizabeth Taylor want Eddie Fisher?
0:15:06 > 0:15:10- What was wrong with Eddie Fisher? - Well, SHE wonders too, now!
0:15:11 > 0:15:14But of course, she found that out, right afterwards.
0:15:14 > 0:15:15Well, I told Eddie.
0:15:15 > 0:15:18I said, "You know what's going to happen is that in a year and a half,
0:15:18 > 0:15:21"she's going to realise that you're really just nothing
0:15:21 > 0:15:23"and she's going to throw you out."
0:15:23 > 0:15:26So that's what happened, she did Cleopatra,
0:15:26 > 0:15:27she met Richard Burton and he was out.
0:15:27 > 0:15:31Have you forgiven him? Doesn't sound like it from the comments that...
0:15:31 > 0:15:32Er, I kid around about it.
0:15:32 > 0:15:35Yes, I have forgiven Eddie,
0:15:35 > 0:15:40but I've never really understood a man leaving his children.
0:15:41 > 0:15:43I can understand leaving the woman,
0:15:43 > 0:15:48but he never really came back and around to be a very good father,
0:15:48 > 0:15:50so I don't particularly admire that.
0:15:50 > 0:15:55I mean, I have wonderful children and I'm their PARENTS.
0:15:55 > 0:15:58So when you say have I forgiven him, I say that
0:15:58 > 0:16:01with a sort of bit of anger,
0:16:01 > 0:16:05because I have a son that is his only son
0:16:05 > 0:16:09and he misses having a good dad.
0:16:09 > 0:16:11So when Eddie left, he really left.
0:16:14 > 0:16:16Focusing on her career
0:16:16 > 0:16:19was the main way that Debbie coped with the scandal.
0:16:19 > 0:16:22And the change in her private life
0:16:22 > 0:16:25coincided with changes happening in Hollywood.
0:16:25 > 0:16:28It was fairly obvious by the end of the '50s, wasn't it,
0:16:28 > 0:16:30that musicals were on the way out.
0:16:30 > 0:16:33How did you manage the transition from musical to light comedy
0:16:33 > 0:16:35and, ultimately, drama?
0:16:35 > 0:16:37Well, I wasn't that deep, you see.
0:16:37 > 0:16:40I was never the intellectual of Hollywood that everyone ran to
0:16:40 > 0:16:43for advice. And still, they do not!
0:16:43 > 0:16:45Uh, I was very young.
0:16:45 > 0:16:50I saw the change and I've always been intuitive for survival.
0:16:50 > 0:16:54I think it's terribly nice to live and I like to work.
0:16:54 > 0:16:58In order to work, you must create your own being.
0:16:58 > 0:17:01It is not going to come running TO you and I have never been
0:17:01 > 0:17:06the performer that is the one that has been the socially in one
0:17:06 > 0:17:08or the hot copy all the time.
0:17:08 > 0:17:12I really have kind of had to create my own career,
0:17:12 > 0:17:15to keep it going, shall we say.
0:17:15 > 0:17:18I never had one producer or a number, or any,
0:17:18 > 0:17:22that believed in me, that bought properties for me and, you know,
0:17:22 > 0:17:26"this girl is going to be the best ever", or a manager behind me
0:17:26 > 0:17:30that was going to sock it, keep the career going.
0:17:30 > 0:17:35So, when musicals went out, I knew that and I went into comedies,
0:17:35 > 0:17:39because I was rather amusing and I offered to do...
0:17:39 > 0:17:40Well, first of all,
0:17:40 > 0:17:44I never charged the biggest salaries in the world,
0:17:44 > 0:17:47like a lot of people did, because I knew they wouldn't go for me first.
0:17:48 > 0:17:51One of the first films she made after her marriage break-up
0:17:51 > 0:17:55was 1960's The Rat Race, with Tony Curtis.
0:17:55 > 0:17:59Debbie's role had her playing against type
0:17:59 > 0:18:04as a jaded, cynical dancer in a sleazy New York pick-up joint.
0:18:06 > 0:18:09Oh, baby, you really are something to be up against.
0:18:09 > 0:18:11You bring out the best in me.
0:18:12 > 0:18:15You're quite a guy. I hope you've got enough tickets.
0:18:15 > 0:18:18Well, if I don't, I know where to get 'em.
0:18:18 > 0:18:20I believe for the film The Rat Race,
0:18:20 > 0:18:24you became a dime-a-dance girl, or at least a 10-cents-a-dance girl.
0:18:24 > 0:18:27I think in the States, they're called taxi dancers, but, anyway,
0:18:27 > 0:18:31you're paid 10 cents to have a dance with somebody.
0:18:31 > 0:18:33Was this research or was it just done for a laugh?
0:18:33 > 0:18:37It was actually about a week I worked there and I wore
0:18:37 > 0:18:38a tight sweater which really,
0:18:38 > 0:18:40if I wore the tightest sweater in the world,
0:18:40 > 0:18:43wouldn't be too large of a...
0:18:43 > 0:18:45Appearance, shall we say.
0:18:45 > 0:18:48..And a tight skirt and they were very nice men,
0:18:48 > 0:18:51very lonely and terrible dancers
0:18:51 > 0:18:53and they sweated a lot.
0:18:53 > 0:18:55Never did like that too much.
0:18:55 > 0:18:58But they talk a lot and I usually talk the most,
0:18:58 > 0:19:00as you can see from this interview,
0:19:00 > 0:19:03but I didn't and I listened and I learned a great deal
0:19:03 > 0:19:06as far as how that character,
0:19:06 > 0:19:08that girl,
0:19:08 > 0:19:12who was trying to get ahead in a very tough city in New York -
0:19:12 > 0:19:16which New York IS tough, and if you're broke, it's REALLY tough...
0:19:16 > 0:19:20What she would feel like and what kind of lengths would she go to
0:19:20 > 0:19:21to try and survive and so forth.
0:19:22 > 0:19:26You now owe me 481.15.
0:19:26 > 0:19:28- Right?- Right, Nelly.
0:19:29 > 0:19:32Could be a zero in two or three weeks if you played it smart.
0:19:34 > 0:19:36I'd rather be dumb my way than smart yours.
0:19:37 > 0:19:42Four years after The Rat Race came a film that Debbie personally
0:19:42 > 0:19:44preferred to Singing in the Rain -
0:19:44 > 0:19:48The Unsinkable Molly Brown.
0:19:48 > 0:19:52The film earned Debbie her first and only Academy Award nomination -
0:19:52 > 0:19:54for Best Leading Actress -
0:19:54 > 0:19:56and would later provide the title
0:19:56 > 0:19:59for her memoirs - Unsinkable.
0:20:01 > 0:20:05Molly Brown was a wonderful role, the Unsinkable Molly Brown.
0:20:05 > 0:20:09She was a great character and her whole story was wonderful
0:20:09 > 0:20:11and I was lucky to get it because Shirley MacLaine was set for it
0:20:11 > 0:20:14and then she had a law suit with Hal Wallis and at the last minute,
0:20:14 > 0:20:17she couldn't do it and I was very lucky to do it because I was
0:20:17 > 0:20:21expecting a baby and I lost the child
0:20:21 > 0:20:23and they called me while I was just...
0:20:23 > 0:20:26The first week of recovering.
0:20:26 > 0:20:27I think that really got me well
0:20:27 > 0:20:30and over the loss of this child passing on.
0:20:31 > 0:20:35Then I did Molly Brown, which I was very proud of my performance,
0:20:35 > 0:20:37I was nominated for an Academy Award.
0:20:37 > 0:20:40And I loved the movie, I think I did a splendid job
0:20:40 > 0:20:42and I love the character.
0:20:45 > 0:20:48# Belly up, belly up to the bar, boys
0:20:48 > 0:20:49# Better loosen your belts
0:20:49 > 0:20:51# Only drink when you're all alone
0:20:51 > 0:20:54- # Or with somebody else - Yeah!
0:20:54 > 0:20:56# Belly up, belly up to the bar, boys
0:20:56 > 0:20:58# Better have a few more
0:20:58 > 0:20:59# And never whirl with a three-toed girl
0:20:59 > 0:21:02- # Or a discontented whor... - Horrible example
0:21:02 > 0:21:04# Like a girl whose name was Carrie
0:21:04 > 0:21:07# She carried her charms to everybody else
0:21:07 > 0:21:08# But her I had to marry
0:21:08 > 0:21:10# Or die, die, die... #
0:21:10 > 0:21:12The Unsinkable Molly Brown
0:21:12 > 0:21:15turned out to be one of Debbie's final film highs.
0:21:16 > 0:21:18By the late '60s and early 70s,
0:21:18 > 0:21:22she'd stepped away from the cinema, focusing for a while
0:21:22 > 0:21:25on a successful TV series called,
0:21:25 > 0:21:28naturally, The Debbie Reynolds Show.
0:21:30 > 0:21:31You always made very pithy comments,
0:21:31 > 0:21:33you're obviously a very direct sort of person,
0:21:33 > 0:21:36but you make very pithy comments about why you stopped making films.
0:21:36 > 0:21:39You said, "I stopped making movies because I don't like taking
0:21:39 > 0:21:41"my clothes off - maybe it's realism, but in my opinion,
0:21:41 > 0:21:43"it's utter filth." Very direct about, as you were saying,
0:21:43 > 0:21:45what you think Hollywood is doing now.
0:21:45 > 0:21:47I don't think it's glamorous, I don't think it's pretty,
0:21:47 > 0:21:48I don't think it's sexy.
0:21:48 > 0:21:51I think there's ways to make everything wonderful and exciting
0:21:51 > 0:21:54and interesting and mysterious at the same time,
0:21:54 > 0:21:56there's no need for it.
0:21:56 > 0:21:58It depends what one wishes in life.
0:21:58 > 0:22:01I just never wanted my career or my life to go that direction.
0:22:01 > 0:22:04You've always been very open about the mistakes you made
0:22:04 > 0:22:06in your love life and about picking the wrong men.
0:22:06 > 0:22:09What about the mistakes you made professionally?
0:22:09 > 0:22:11I mean, at one stage in the late '60s, you had a row,
0:22:11 > 0:22:14early '70s, with NBC, didn't you? Over The Debbie Reynolds Show,
0:22:14 > 0:22:18because you decided to make a stand over tobacco advertising.
0:22:18 > 0:22:19What happened there?
0:22:19 > 0:22:21Well, everyone could smoke on camera,
0:22:21 > 0:22:23you could advertise cigarettes.
0:22:23 > 0:22:26Now, I didn't know Congress was going to pass a law
0:22:26 > 0:22:28that you couldn't within six months
0:22:28 > 0:22:31and I had a new show, The Debbie Reynolds Show,
0:22:31 > 0:22:34it was like The Lucille Ball Show and The Carol Burnett Show.
0:22:36 > 0:22:38A two-year contract set, a lot of money,
0:22:38 > 0:22:40and I was having a great time doing it,
0:22:40 > 0:22:45but then the show came out and they were advertising Salem cigarettes
0:22:45 > 0:22:48and I got very upset because I said,
0:22:48 > 0:22:51"I'm not advertising cigarettes or liquor.
0:22:51 > 0:22:53"You promised me that I wasn't."
0:22:53 > 0:22:55That was quite a stand to take at that particular period,
0:22:55 > 0:22:57when almost everyone smoked.
0:22:57 > 0:23:01Well, everybody did, but you don't have to advertise it
0:23:01 > 0:23:04for the younger people, you don't have to do that
0:23:04 > 0:23:05and I didn't have to do that.
0:23:05 > 0:23:10So I just told them I didn't want to have a cigarette sponsor.
0:23:10 > 0:23:12They said, "Well, that's too bad, that's who you have."
0:23:12 > 0:23:15I said, "No, that's not my contract."
0:23:15 > 0:23:18So they read the contract and that was the truth.
0:23:18 > 0:23:20Your thinking was quite ahead of the game, though,
0:23:20 > 0:23:23because the banning of cigarette advertising in most countries
0:23:23 > 0:23:26- didn't happen until many years later.- About a year later.
0:23:26 > 0:23:29I lost millions for that stand,
0:23:29 > 0:23:31but I'm not proud of it. I mean,
0:23:31 > 0:23:32I'm happy I did it.
0:23:32 > 0:23:35I think at one stage you described it as the most stupid mistake
0:23:35 > 0:23:39- you'd ever made. - It was foolish for me, financially,
0:23:39 > 0:23:42but then my husbands would have just had more money to spend.
0:23:44 > 0:23:47That line about husbands refers to the fact
0:23:47 > 0:23:51that Singing In The Rain's lucky star
0:23:51 > 0:23:53was unlucky in love...
0:23:53 > 0:23:55more than once.
0:23:55 > 0:23:58Husband number two was a multimillionaire,
0:23:58 > 0:24:02but lost all his and most of her money through gambling.
0:24:02 > 0:24:05After a failed business venture,
0:24:05 > 0:24:09The Debbie Reynolds Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas,
0:24:09 > 0:24:12her marriage to husband number three ended in bitter divorce.
0:24:14 > 0:24:18The hotel featured a fascinating museum of Hollywood memorabilia
0:24:18 > 0:24:22and even contained the costume worn by her love rival,
0:24:22 > 0:24:25Elizabeth Taylor, in Cleopatra.
0:24:27 > 0:24:32I started collecting at the MGM auction, which was in 1970,
0:24:32 > 0:24:37and, at that time, the people that owned the studio decided
0:24:37 > 0:24:39they liked real estate
0:24:39 > 0:24:42and they weren't interested in any other memorabilia.
0:24:42 > 0:24:47Debbie knew from personal experience how film fans loved
0:24:47 > 0:24:50to get a close-up encounter with Hollywood stardom.
0:24:50 > 0:24:54I think that the people really wanted me to, you know,
0:24:54 > 0:24:57they've heard about you and maybe they've liked your films
0:24:57 > 0:25:00and now they see you in person, but can they sit next to you
0:25:00 > 0:25:03and can they talk to you and really say hello and get an autograph
0:25:03 > 0:25:07and know it's really yours and not the secretary's or a printed thing?
0:25:07 > 0:25:09I think that means a lot to them -
0:25:09 > 0:25:11it means a lot to me, because when I wrote
0:25:11 > 0:25:14Katharine Hepburn a fan letter and she sent me back a picture
0:25:14 > 0:25:18that I'd sent to her... I know she doesn't like to give autographs,
0:25:18 > 0:25:21so I was really rather praying that she would consider my request
0:25:21 > 0:25:26and she did, and she signed it Kate Hep - H-E-P.
0:25:26 > 0:25:29She said, "I don't really like giving autographs,
0:25:29 > 0:25:32"but I respect your work, Debbie, and so I'm signing."
0:25:32 > 0:25:34And I was thrilled to get it.
0:25:38 > 0:25:42Debbie was also thrilled years later when her shrewd collecting
0:25:42 > 0:25:46paid dividends and made millions when she put the items up for sale,
0:25:46 > 0:25:51helping with the financial problems her husbands had left her.
0:25:52 > 0:25:56It wasn't just husbands that Debbie had problems with.
0:25:56 > 0:26:00Another turbulent relationship was with her daughter, Carrie Fisher.
0:26:00 > 0:26:03They were estranged for many years
0:26:03 > 0:26:07and when Carrie wrote the novel Postcards From The Edge
0:26:07 > 0:26:11about a difficult mother-daughter relationship,
0:26:11 > 0:26:14everyone assumed it was autobiographical.
0:26:15 > 0:26:20- And I have a wonderful daughter, as you know.- Yes.- ..Princess Leia.
0:26:20 > 0:26:24Yes, she wrote that book about you, which was not exactly flattering.
0:26:24 > 0:26:27See, it's not really about me, Postcards From The Edge -
0:26:27 > 0:26:30she's a writer, so she wrote a book about a crazy lady
0:26:30 > 0:26:32and people think it's me!
0:26:32 > 0:26:33LAUGHTER
0:26:34 > 0:26:37You only remember the bad stuff, don't you?
0:26:37 > 0:26:39What about the big band that I got to play at that party,
0:26:39 > 0:26:41do you remember that? No!
0:26:41 > 0:26:45You only remember that my skirt accidentally "twirled up".
0:26:46 > 0:26:49- And you weren't wearing any underwear.- Well!
0:26:50 > 0:26:55When Postcards From The Edge was turned into a film in 1990,
0:26:55 > 0:26:59Debbie had wanted the role of the overbearing mother,
0:26:59 > 0:27:01but was told by the director...
0:27:01 > 0:27:04that she just wasn't right for it.
0:27:05 > 0:27:08In the end, Debbie and Carrie's relationship
0:27:08 > 0:27:10couldn't have been closer.
0:27:10 > 0:27:13They lived next door to each other in Beverly Hills
0:27:13 > 0:27:16and saw each other daily.
0:27:17 > 0:27:19As I recall,
0:27:19 > 0:27:21you were the best mom,
0:27:21 > 0:27:26I always thought, when I was 14 and on,
0:27:26 > 0:27:30until now, when they ran those "best mother" tribute contests,
0:27:30 > 0:27:33whatever they run when you're little and I always couldn't imagine
0:27:33 > 0:27:35having a better mother.
0:27:35 > 0:27:38You were the prettiest mother, you were the funnest mother,
0:27:38 > 0:27:40so... I STILL think that way.
0:27:40 > 0:27:42APPLAUSE
0:27:50 > 0:27:52When Debbie died last month,
0:27:52 > 0:27:55at the age of 84, it meant saying goodbye
0:27:55 > 0:27:58to one of the greats of the golden age,
0:27:58 > 0:28:02who'll be forever remembered for that winning performance
0:28:02 > 0:28:04in Singing In The Rain.
0:28:04 > 0:28:06The timing of her passing
0:28:06 > 0:28:10was given added poignancy
0:28:10 > 0:28:15for coming just one day after Carrie's unexpected death.
0:28:17 > 0:28:20The news shocked film fans the world over,
0:28:20 > 0:28:22but even in their grief,
0:28:22 > 0:28:25family members were able to joke that,
0:28:25 > 0:28:30"Somewhere, Carrie would be laughing about one more in a long line
0:28:30 > 0:28:34"of examples where Debbie Reynolds,
0:28:34 > 0:28:35"her mother,
0:28:35 > 0:28:37"had stolen the show."