So many heartbreaking goodbyes this holiday season. Today, the brilliant showgirl Debbie Reynolds, "Unsinkable Molly Brown" herself, America's Sweetheart (1950s/1960s edition), charitable icon, Hollywood memorabilia queen, and mother of Carrie Fisher...
She left us just one day after her famous daughter's death...
If there's ever been a time to rewatch Postcards from the Edge in which Meryl Streep and Shirley Maclaine razzle-dazzle in Oscar worthy performances as thinly veiled versions of Carrie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds, that time is most certainly now. If there's a best time for the documentary Bright Lights about Carrie & Debbie to come out (it premiered at festivals this fall) it's right now.
Debbie Reynold's Honorary Oscar just 13 months ago gave us plenty of opportunity to celebrate her wonderful onscreen joie de vivre, which was originally best harnessed for cheerful musicals and later found new sassy grandma gay-icon form in a mini-reinvention in comedies like Mother (1996 - Golden Globe nomination Best Actress), In & Out (1997), and sitcoms like Wil & Grace (1999-2006) where she did 10 episodes as Grace's focus-pulling mother Bobbi Adler.
Previous Discussions of Debbie Flicks...
• Singin' In the Rain (1952)
• I Love Melvin (1954)
• How The West Was Won (1960)
• The Unsinkable Molly Brown (1964)
• Charlotte's Web (1973)