Actress Debbie Reynolds, star of the classic Singin’ in the Rain, died Wednesday at the age of 84, just one day after her daughter, Carrie Fisher.
Her son, Todd Fisher, told Variety, “She wanted to be with Carrie.”
Reynolds was rushed from Todd Fisher’s Beverly Hills, Calif., home to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center on Wednesday after a suspected stroke.
She was born Mary Frances Reynolds in El Paso, Texas, and was discovered at the age of 16 after entering and winning the Miss Burbank contest. Warner Bros. talent scout Solly Baiano signed her to a $65-a-week contract, and studio head Jack Warner renamed her Debbie against her wishes, Variety reports.
When her Warner contract lapsed, she was picked up by MGM, and as Variety notes, Reynolds was one of MGM’s principal stars of the 1950s and ’60s, starring in films such as the 1952 classic Singin’ in the Rain and 1964’s The Unsinkable Molly Brown, for which she was nominated for the best actress Oscar.
In 2015 Reynolds was honored with the Screen Actors Guild Lifetime Achievement Award as well as the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
Reynolds was married to singer Eddie Fisher and was part of a big scandal in 1958 when the singer left her for actress Elizabeth Taylor.
Reynolds’ daughter, actress Carrie Fisher, died Tuesday after suffering a heart attack last week. Reynolds is survived by her son, Todd Fisher, and Carrie’s daughter, Billie Lourd.
Read more at Variety.