Hollywood legend Debbie Reynolds has passed away aged 84. She suffered a stroke last night and was taken to Cedars Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, where she died at the hospital. The sad news comes one day after her daughter Carrie Fisher passed away due to a heart attack.
Reynolds began her career as a beauty queen, and at the age of 19 gained the role of Kathy Selden in the 1952 musical Singin’ in the Rain. The Gene Kelly movie launched her career as an actress and singer, and she was nominated for an Academy Award for The Unmistakable Molly Brown. Other memorable roles Reynolds had included The Tender Trap and the voice of Charlotte in the animated Charlotte’s Web; she made her final screen appearance in Steven Soderbergh’s Behind the Candelabra as Liberaci’s mother.
One of her final projects, however, was alongside her daughter in the documentary Bright Lights: Starring Debbie Reynolds and Carrie Fisher which explored the close relationship the two shared and the ups and downs in their careers. The documentary had its premiere earlier this year at Cannes and will air on HBO in early 2017. The film will undoubtably take on a new meaning now that the two have passed so close to each other.
Debbie Reynolds is survived by her granddaughter Billie Lourd, who currently stars in Scream Queens and had a small cameo alongside Carrie Fisher in Star Wars: The Force Awakens.
Originally published December 29, 2016. Updated April 16, 2018.
