December 28, 2016

Debbie Reynolds has died.

"She wanted to be with Carrie."

IN THE COMMENTS: William said:
This had a multiplier effect. Debbie was sucked into the vacuum. I liked them both, and I'm genuinely sorrowful to hear of their deaths. Carrie was very open about her family life and her relations with her mother.. If HBO brings back Wishful Drinking, take a look. It's a performance piece, but you really get the sense that you know them in a way you don't with other celebrities. The piece supposed to be a comedy about life in Hollywood, but I bet it would play like Sophocles upon re-viewing.......Well, they were both performers and I can't imagine a more dramatic exit.
We were watching "Wishful Drinking" last night when I got a text from my son Chris: "debbie reynolds died!"

There's a new HBO documentary, made to air in 2017, with Debbie Reynolds and Carrie Fisher. Here's a little clip, showing that the 2 women lived in houses next door to each other:



"I usually come to her. I always come to her."

This last time, she came to you.

34 comments:

Unknown said...

Man... God's sniper has been working overtime this year... can we get a break, please?

Kevin said...

TCM had just reedited their year end montage to include Zsa Zsa Gabor and Carrie Fisher. Everyone joked that they should have waited. I guess they should have waited.

cubanbob said...

What a tragedy. Poor daughter and granddaughter.

Big Mike said...

Losing a child can be a big shock to the system. RIP

D. B. Light said...

For some reason this affects me much more than Carrie's death.

Karen of Texas said...

When my dad was in the hospital dying from pancreatic cancer, I was sitting by his bed holding his hand while he drifted in and out. At some point I leaned forward and tested my head next to our clasped hands. I heard him ask me what was wrong, and I say up and wiped away my tears and said something like I hated to see him like that, suffering. We both knew where things were heading. And he told me 2 things I've never forgotten.

"Sometimes it has to hurt before it can get better." And, "It's okay. This is the way things are supposed to be. No parent should ever have to bury their child."

Kathryn51 said...

Sad, sad, sad - Debbie was one of my very favorites. Just loved Unsinkable Molly Brown.

One of my earliest memories was Mom and next door neighbor talking about Eddie and Liz and "poor Debbie". Liz was the slut (although they didn't use that word in my hearing), Eddie was a cad and Debbie was The Wronged Woman.

This hits me much harder than Carrie even though Carrie is my generation.

Karen of Texas said...

*rested and *sat up. Stupid autocorrect.

Rob said...

And if he hadn't died in 2010, Eddie Fisher would be next.

Michael K said...

"For some reason this affects me much more than Carrie's death."

Me too. Debbie was not that much older than I am and I loved her in her early movies.

She was also badly abused by the men in her life and seemed to me to be pretty innocent.

Doris Day was another that was badly treated.

Carrie Fisher was to me a spoiled brat. Debbie was a real trouper.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

2016 is not done killing.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

At least she won't have to bury her daughter.

Oso Negro said...

The Black Rabbit of Inle at work!

William said...

This had a multiplier effect. Debbie was sucked into the vacuum. I liked them both, and I'm genuinely sorrowful to hear of their deaths. Carrie was very open about her family life and her relations with her mother.. If HBO brings back Wishful Drinking, take a look. It's a performance piece, but you really get the sense that you know them in a way you don't with other celebrities. The piece supposed to be a comedy about life in Hollywood, but I bet it would play like Sophocles upon re-viewing.......Well, they were both performers and I can't imagine a more dramatic exit.

320Busdriver said...

These things usually happen in threes, but this year its dozens.

Stephen Taylor said...

Comment seen on another blog....

"Deb, a much more famous, and talented, and classy, and dramatic, and interesting celebrity... outdoes her daughter, by dying days after her daughter, whose second most famous act is being angry that her mom is always showing her up.

If you wrote the script as fiction, they wouldn't believe you."

Rob said...

These things usually happen in threes, but this year its dozens.

Oh, for heaven's sake, every year it's dozens. In 2007, in May alone, we lost Tom Poston, Jerry Falwell and Charles Nelson Reilly.

Wince said...

Never realized the bachelor in "Tammy and the Bachelor" was Leslie Nielson.

Also starring: Debbie Reynolds, Walter Brennan, Fay Wray (King Kong) and Sidney Blackmer (Roman in "Rosemary's Baby; his first movie credit in 1914!).

harrogate said...

Did someone just say we lost Jerry Falwell

Seeing Red said...

At least neither of them suffered.

Wince said...

"Please don't beat yourself up over this... it's not your fault... That's what old people do. They die."

Laslo Spatula said...

2016, it's not too late for you to take Cher.

I am Laslo.

320Busdriver said...

Oh, for heaven's sake, every year it's dozens. In 2007, in May alone, we lost Tom Poston, Jerry Falwell and Charles Nelson Reilly.

I think its the music icons we've lost this year that make it seem worse than most.

sunsong said...

WOW! RIP Debbie

Trumpit said...

I don't care whether Trump dies in 2016 or in 2017, just so long as it is before 1-20-17. God are you listening?

Tammy, er, Debbie was very talented. She could sing. She put on a Las Vegas shows until recently, if I'm not mistaken. If she could keep up a schedule like that as a senior citizen, she must have had what it takes to succeed in show business - one of the hardest professions to succeed in.

I don't believe that nonsense about wanting to join her daughter in death, but the shock of Carrie's sudden death might have prompted the stroke. Never underestimate the toll that stress can take on a person. All life is fragile and ephemeral. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is a real phenomenon, and not at all a joke.

Debbie Reynolds had a good life by any measure, and will be very much missed.

Laslo Spatula said...

“Cher, it is time for you to come with me.”

“Oh dear God, are you Death?”

“Indeed I am: hence the scythe. It is Time.”

“But I’ve invested so much in trying to hold back the ravages of time…”

“Alas, all the plastic surgery in the world does not prevent me from my grave duty.”

“Surely you could go and take someone else. Why don’t you take, say, Madonna, instead? It could be HER time, right?”

”I have worked up quite the spectacular end for Madonna, but now is not the time.”

“You mean I’m going to miss seeing it? Damn! That makes all of this even worse.”

“Let’s just say you’ll be watching from another viewpoint.”

“Can you just give me a hint? Does she die in a fire? Does she get decapitated by a crazed Puerto Rican back-up dancer?”

“All in due time, my Cher.”

“But if I die the Gay Community will be crushed…”

“They’ll get along. They still have Johnny Depp. For now.”

“Johnny Depp is gay?”

“If you mean does he have anonymous men fuck him in the ass in the back of seedy nightclubs, then the answer is Yes.”

“You know, I always kinda suspected that. So when does Johnny die?”

“Not for awhile yet. First he gets fat. Like Marlon Brando fat. I have quite the downward spiral planned. It may or may not involve small boys.”

“Well, at least I will see my beloved Sonny again.”

“I’m afraid Sonny wants nothing to do with you in the Afterlife. He resents you for encouraging his daughter in becoming a man.”

“But it is what Chaz wanted.”

“Perhaps. But this I must tell you: she was born a woman, and I will greet her as a woman in Death. Everything in-between means nothing to me.”

“That’s being pretty intolerant, Death…”

“You have not seen the things I have seen. Overdosed transvestites, mutilated Drag Queens, strangled whores. I’m not saying I’m a misogynist, but in my line of work it helps.”

“Okay, okay: take me. I am ready.”

“Good. Now what I need you to do is get in a car with Madonna…”

I am Laslo.

traditionalguy said...

Tammy in Tammy and the Batchelor and Lillith in How the West Was Won are the epitome of two great performances of a Scots Irish woman. And Debbie was just being herself.

As I recall the anger at Fisher for dumping little Debbie was palpable in 1958. But no one was angry at Liz over it at all. Taylor and Fisher made a strange pair, which was on display in Butterfield 8.

Darrell said...

Upstaging Carrie once again.

Alex said...

Fucking 2016!

MacMacConnell said...

Darrell said...
"Upstaging Carrie once again."

That's what I thought, but then Carrie was an actress and writer, Debbie was an actual movie star.

Wilbur said...

"Man... God's sniper has been working overtime this year... can we get a break, please?"

Would you feel better if this or any other celebrity waited to die until 2017? Their deaths are not affecting me, anymore than the thousands of other people who died yesterday or will die today.

robother said...

So, Carrie was Debbie's main human contact. Same thing happened to my 84 yr old bachelor uncle, as best as we could make out: He showed up at his dental office, and his assistant of 50 years had had a stroke the night before. He went home and died, of a stroke or heart attack.

Hammond X. Gritzkofe said...

There's a new HBO documentary, made to air in 2017

Aged actors doing Reality TV. Hey, it's an honest living. No reason why not, long as there's a market for it.

Etienne said...
This comment has been removed by the author.