Born Mary Frances Reynolds on April 1, 1932, in El Paso, Texas, the future Debbie Reynolds was the daughter of railroad mechanic and carpenter Raymond Francis Reynolds, and homemaker Maxine Harman. She had one older brother, William. Her father lost his job in the Great Depression and the family lived for several years with Maxine's parents before further work opportunities took them to Glendale and then to Burbank, California. Reynolds worked hard at school, where she was a member of the band, enjoyed sports, and was a girl scout. In 1948 Reynoldes entered the Miss Burbank beauty pageant on a whim, and won. There, she was spotted by Warner Bros. and MGM scouts who tossed a coin to see who would get to offer her a contract. The Warner scout won, though he offended Reynolds by insisting that she change her name to Debbie. At just sixteen, she went to work on the Warners lot, taking dance and drama lessons alongside her continuing studies. Debbie’s first film role was a bit part alongside Bette Davis and Robert Montgomery in June Bride, after which she had a small role in The Daughter of Rosie O'Grady, with June Haver and Gene Nelson. When Warner let her contract lapse, MGM snapped her up and cast her in Three Little Words, with Fred Astaire and Red Skelton. She acquitted herself well and went on to receive critical acclaim for her work in Two Weeks With Love and Mr. Imperium.
Reynolds' big break came in 1952 when despite the objections of co-star Gene Kelly and the fact she couldn't tap dance, she was cast as the heroine in hit musical Singin' in the Rain. This quickly established Reynolds as a major star and led to a career spanning over forty feature films, including The Tender Trap, with Frank Sinatra and Celeste Holm; John Ford's How the West Was Won, with Henry Fonda and Gregory Peck; and Oliver Stone's Heaven and Earth, with Haing S Ngor and Joan Chen. She received an Oscar nomination for her performance opposite Harve Presnell in The Unsinkable Molly Brown. Later in her career Reynoldes also took on television work, including a regular role alongside Eric McCormack and Debra Messing in Will & Grace.
Besides her acting career, Reynolds developed her talent as a singer, recording several hit songs (such as "Tammy" from Tammy and the Bachelor, in which she starred opposite Leslie Nielsen) and selling out Las Vegas shows. It was her singing success which led her to meet and marry fellow musician Eddie Fisher, then a teenage pop idol. The couple had two children, future Star Wars icon Carrie Fisher and producer Todd Fisher. The couple divorced in 1955, after Fisher's very public affair with Elizabeth Taylor, whom he had been consoling after the death of her husband and his best friend producer Mike Todd. Taylor subsequently married Fisher, but divorced him after meeting Richard Burton. She and Reynolds eventually reconciled and appeared together in These Old Broads, with Shirley MacLaine and Joan Collins, in 2001.
In 1960 Reynolds married shoe magnate Harry Karl, but his gambling addiction caused her serious financial problems despite the success of her production company, Harman Productions, and of her TV show A Date With Debbie. They divorced in 1973 and she later married real estate developer Richard Hamlett.
Reynolds' career has spanned many different activities, including doing theatrical work, producing exercise videos, doing voiceover work, running a casino, and trading in Hollywood memorabilia. She has worked to raise money for children's charity The Thalians Club and has provided a scholarship for Girl Scouts. Reynolds has also published an autobiography, Debbie: My Life.
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