RIP Debbie Reynolds

[Hardbopjazz]

2016 has been a bad year for the entertainment  business. Debbie Reynolds dies the day after her daughter.

https://www.yahoo.com/celebrity/debbie-reynolds-dies-84-just-014354818.html

 

[Larry Kart]

I reviewed her stage show at a suburban Chicago theater in the early '80s. Wouldn't say she had as much talent as the otherwise similar Mitzi Gaynor (who often played that venue and whose act always was a gem of its kind), but Debbie brought with her what sounded like the original MGM Rogers Edens charts from her film musicals, and played by an orchestra of the area's top freelancers she and they sounded terrific.

[JSngry]

I didn't like her when I was a kid, but the more I understood what work meant, and that even famous people have to pay the bills and that not every person (famous or otherwise) even tries to be a parent, and, especially, that paying bills and being a parent involves actual goshdarn effort and discipline, the more I came to dig her, not really as a "star", but as a human.

RIP.

[Larry Kart]

About the long-stemmed, turned-on-a-lathe Mitzi, in a review I once wrote that she reminded me of a vintage Packard hood ornament. Her genial husband Jack Bean (they both were genial) sent me a Xmas card that year that mentioned what I'd said and asked if that were a compliment. I said, you bet.

[catesta]

Wow, she goes the next day after her daughter. RIP

[Scott Dolan]

Yeah, what a horrific 24 hours for that family.  

[Brad]

The Unsinkable Debbie Reynolds: An Appraisal

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/29/movies/30reynolds-appraisal.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Farts&action=click&contentCollection=arts&region=rank&module=package&version=highlights&contentPlacement=2&pgtype=sectionfront&_r=0

[Dave Garrett]

Her legacy would be assured if she'd done nothing but SINGIN' IN THE RAIN, but something that is often overlooked is her role in preserving a particular aspect of Hollywood history long before many other people cared: 

http://www.vanityfair.com/style/2016/12/debbie-reynolds-protected-and-preserved-hollywoods-most-precious-relics?mbid=social_twitter

I hadn't realized that health issues had prevented her from attending the Governors Awards a full year ago until reading this. 

Edited December 30, 2016 by Dave Garrett

[medjuck]

I  really liked her in The Rat Race. Watched it because of Elmer Bernstein's music but found it had lots else to recommend it. 

[Larry Kart]

She was terrific in Albert Brooks' "Mother." BTW, Albert's original choice for the role was Nancy Reagan, but she reluctantly turned him down.

[Brad]

A look at Eddie Fisher from Jazz Wax. 

http://www.jazzwax.com/2016/12/who-was-eddie-fisher.html?utm_source=feedblitz&utm_medium=FeedBlitzRss&utm_campaign=FeedBlitzRss&utm_content=Who+Was+Eddie+Fisher%3f

[page]

It is not that strange this happened. It does happen more often that people die soon after a loved one, like husbands and wives who have been together for a long time.
I remember my grandmother sort of gave up fighting her illness after she had heard my father had died, and passed away herself.

I've enjoyed the movies of Debbie Reynolds, I didn't know Carrie Fisher was her daughter. Talent ran in the family obviously.
R.I.P.

[Big Beat Steve]

On 31.12.2016 at 2:28 AM, Brad said:

A look at Eddie Fisher from Jazz Wax. 

http://www.jazzwax.com/2016/12/who-was-eddie-fisher.html?utm_source=feedblitz&utm_medium=FeedBlitzRss&utm_campaign=FeedBlitzRss&utm_content=Who+Was+Eddie+Fisher%3f

About Eddie Fisher and Sinatra, Dean Martin, etc. the German Wikipedia entry on Eddie fisher has an interesting bit about Fisher's relationship with the Rat Pack (based on info from Richard Havers' Sinatra bio, it seems) - my translation:

Aside from the off-stage mutual respect between Fisher and Sinatra, came to acquire a legendary reputation as a sort of "natural enemy" of Frank Sinatra who started mocking him in public from the 50s on for his alleged lack of singing talent and compared Fisher's singing technique to that of a snare drum. Later on others from the Rat Pack joined in those jokes that became a sort of running gag: Dean Martin, for example, when making fun of his own (often faked) alcohol consumption on stage, was quoted like this: "I need alcohol in order to believe I’m Dean Martin, a singer, a movie star. Without booze, I’m Eddie Fisher." In 1965 Sinatra answered Fisher's Eddie Fisher Today release (Dot Records) with his similarly titled album on reprise: Sinatra ‘65: The Singer Today.

7 hours ago, page said:

I've enjoyed the movies of Debbie Reynolds, I didn't know Carrie Fisher was her daughter. Talent ran in the family obviously.
R.I.P.

I didn't know Carrie Fisher was her daughter either until I read the Fisher obits. But once you know it the similarity is striking. After Carrie Fisher had died, I showed a pic of Debbie Reynolds and Eddie Fisher (that I had come across in one of my 1955 copies of Down Beat just the day before) to my son (aged 16) who is a huge Star Wars fan (and has seen post-Star Wars pics of her). He was amazed at the visual likeness.

Edited January 1, 2017 by Big Beat Steve