PEOPLE’s Lynette Rice recalls her 2015 meeting with legendary actressDebbie Reynolds, whodied Wednesdayat the age of 84, one day after her daughterCarrie Fisherdiedat age 60.
In preparation for the Life Achievement honor that Debbie would receive from the Screen Actors Guild in 2015, I had the privilege of interviewing the then-83-year-old actress about her extraordinary life and career. I begged for the chance, actually; when a former PEOPLE colleague lamented about having too much on her plate, I pleaded for the chance to do the interview myself for PEOPLE, and I couldn’t believe my luck. I was going to meet Molly Brown.
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She spoke candidly about always wearing wigs (“Doing your own hair — why bother?”) and the pains she took as a young actress to make her waist look slender.
“I wanted to have no ribs,” she recalled. “I wore what was called a waist-nipper in those days. My mother made it. It’s a piece of rubber band I wore around to hold my rib cage in. I don’t know why I always loved that. I guess I was a glutton for punishment. I think I was born one of those people who loved swords and fought in armor.”
Next up: a picture of her and Frank Sinatra, whom she met on the set ofThe Tender Trap. “He’s a very sweet man. He was very good to me and gave me some very good advice that I did not listen to. He said, ‘Sweetie…’ — he called me sweetie — ‘don’t marry Eddie.’ He said, ‘You shouldn’t get married to a singer. We’re not faithful. It’s ridiculous for you to take this on.’”
That led us to the most fascinating photo in my stack — the one of her, Eddie, andElizabeth Taylorat the Tropicana Hotel in 1958. (Debbie married Eddie three years earlier). Elizabeth was married to Mike Todd at the time and, like Debbie, was in her 20s. “She had been a star forever,” recalled Debbie, who had attended school with Liz while they were both at MGM. “I was in awe of going to school with her. And if you weren’t, you were lying or blind.”
Though her notorious affair with Eddie broke up his marriage to Debbie, Liz made amends with her old school chum years later. “We were friends until her death,” Debbie told me. “But we had that lapse of time when she took Eddie to live with her because she liked him too.”
Finally, a happy picture of her daughter Carrie and her brother Todd as toddlers. “Aren’t they beautiful?” she said, gazing at the old press photo. “I always loved to put little outfits together for them. They were raised on the MGM backlot. I was very blessed, very blessed to have these children. I was just lucky.”
Time was up; another reporter was scheduled to interview Debbie about her Life Achievement award. It tickled the actress that she was winning such an honor. “Every moment adds up to a life, and that’s why I am here with you for an achievement award that they say I’ve earned,” said Debbie, smiling. “The golden era of Hollywood. Fortunately, that’s really my life. My life is golden.”
source: people.com
