Watch Debbie Reynolds in Her Greatest Roles

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/28/movies/debbie-reynolds-death-movies.html

Version 0 of 1.

Debbie Reynolds, who died on Wednesday at 84, had a career that started during the golden age of movie musicals and continued through the seen-it-all present. Here is a look at six notable films for which Ms. Reynolds will be remembered.

Ms. Reynolds was just 19 when she took on a star-making role opposite Gene Kelly and Donald O’Connor in this let’s-make-a-musical movie musical set in the late 1920s as silent films made way for talkies. Among the most memorable numbers is “Good Morning,” in which the three actors tapped their way through a kitchen, up and down stairs and — most elegantly — over two couches. Reflecting later on the making of the film, Ms. Reynolds said, “The two hardest things I ever did in my life are childbirth and ‘Singin’ in the Rain.’”

Frank Sinatra played a theatrical agent who falls for a young actress, played by Ms. Reynolds, in this romantic comedy directed by Charles Walters. (“Debbie Reynolds is all cuteness and spunk,” wrote Bosley Crowther in his review.) In a 2013 interview with NPR, Ms. Reynolds, who was married three times — including to the singer Eddie Fisher — said she received some relationship advice from Sinatra: “He said: ‘Now, I know you’re engaged to Eddie, but I don’t want you to marry a singer, because none of us are faithful, and he won’t be, and I’m not. We’re just awful,’ he said, ‘so don’t do it.’ And of course I didn’t mind him, and I had a lot of problems because I didn’t mind him, but Eddie and I were very young and very much in love at the time, but I guess he falls in and out of love.”

Ms. Reynolds received her only Academy Award nomination playing the title role in this movie adaptation of the Broadway musical, which is based on the rough-around-the edges life of a survivor of the sinking of the Titanic. (Ms. Reynolds replaced Tammy Grimes, who won a Tony Award for playing the role on stage.) Reviews were mixed; Variety said that Ms. Reynolds “thrusts herself into the role with an enormous amount of verve and vigor,” but at times, “her approach to the character seems more athletic than artful.” Ms. Reynolds later played Molly Brown on stage in a touring revival.

The sweet-faced Ms. Reynolds played against type — opposite Shelley Winters, no less — in this macabre thriller about murderous sons, religious fanaticism, lesbianism and bunny rabbits. Although the film received mostly negative reviews, to some fans of genre films, Ms. Reynolds gave an indelible performance. After this film, Ms. Reynolds did little screen work for many years, other than memorably giving voice to the title character in the 1973 animated movie “Charlotte’s Web.” She instead focused on the stage, winning a Tony nomination for the 1973 revival of “Irene,” starring in the 1976 musical revue “Debbie,” and, in 1983, replacing Lauren Bacall in the musical “Woman of the Year.”

Albert Brooks played a wayward science-fiction writer who moves back home with Mom, played by Ms. Reynolds, in this comedy-drama, directed by Mr. Brooks. In her review, Janet Maslin wrote that Ms. Reynolds played the role “divinely,” and showed off “both acting expertise and apparent training at the International Mothers’ School for Passive-Aggressive Bedevilment of Children.” When the film was released, Ms. Reynolds, who was 64 at the time, said she was surprised to have been cast in the film after years of dwindling offers. “I felt that at my age, you don’t have a comeback,” she said. “I almost feel like I’m starting over again.”

This new documentary, which had its premiere at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, focuses on Ms. Reynolds and her relationship with her daughter, the actress Carrie Fisher, who died on Tuesday, one day before Ms. Reynolds. A review in The Hollywood Reporter noted that the “relaxed feel of the access” keeps the movie “warmly engaging, and the tremendous affection evident from the filmmakers for their subjects is quite contagious.” Directed by Alexis Bloom and Fisher Stevens, the movie is to be shown next year on HBO.