This Is Your Life: Debbie Reynolds

Debbie REYNOLDS (1932-2016)

THIS IS YOUR LIFE - Debbie Reynolds, actress and singer, was surprised by Michael Aspel at the end of her cabaret show at her Hollywood Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, USA.

Debbie, who was born in El Paso, Texas, USA, moved to California with her family aged 8, and after being crowned Miss Burbank 1948, was offered a contract with Warner Brothers, making her film debut in 1950 in the musical, The Daughter of Rosie O'Grady.

After moving to MGM, Debbie's breakout role was her first leading role, as Kathy Selden in the musical Singin' in the Rain. She later films include How the West Was Won and The Unsinkable Molly Brown, for which she earned an Academy Award nomination for best actress.

"It’s very nice!"

programme details...

Edition No: 912
Subject No: 892
Broadcast date: Wed 15 Mar 1995
Broadcast time: 7.00-7.30pm
Recorded: Sun 5 Feb 1995
Venue:
Series: 35
Edition: 20
Code name: Rain

on the guest list...

Todd Fisher - son
Jane Russell
Jack Haley Jr
Ann Miller
Rip Taylor
Eva Gabor
Virginia Mayo
Carrie Fisher - daughter
Robert Wagner
Donald O'Connor
June Allyson
Lillian Burns Sidney

production team...

Researcher: Mandy Nixon
Writer: Roy Bottomley
Director: Brian Klein
Associate Producer: John Graham
Executive Producer: Peter Estall
Producer: Malcolm Morris

names above in bold indicate subjects of This Is Your Life

related pages...

The Glamorous Life

Hollywood in the spotlight

Ann Miller

Screenshots of Debbie Reynolds This Is Your Life

Producer Malcolm Morris recalls this edition of This Is Your Life in his book, This Is My Life...

It would be nice if all my plans were to go so well but I was plagues with problems when we decided to push our luck and go for another world star. The lady in question had been a superstar of the big screen for many years; she had appeared in films with Gene Kelly, Fred Astaire, Gregory Peck, Jane Russell, Danny Kaye, Donald O'Connor and Frank Sinatra. She had done it all – and she was still doing it all at her own hotel in Las Vegas.

It was a great scoop for us when we contacted her son who agreed we could do a programme on his mother, but our troubles setting up a Life on Debbie Reynolds were only just beginning.

Firstly, there was no television studio in Las Vegas big enough for our set, so we asked our CBS TV friends Pat Walker and Tom Onge to bring out their own crew to Las Vegas with one of their mobile outside broadcast units and pull the surprise at the end of Debbie's cabaret at the hotel.

After the surprise we would, with her permission, shut her in her dressing room for an hour while we built a new set from scratch with its own lighting and cameras and would invite the existing audience to stay on and watch our programme. All our guests were secretly flown in to Las Vegas and hidden in other hotels along the Strip.

I had been to Las Vegas some years before and as an opener I planned to film Michael in the heart of the town to set the scene for our audience at home. The problem was I would have very little time to shoot. We had to film the opening and within 30 minutes rush to the hotel and hide Michael so that he could walk onto Debbie's stage for the surprise.

No problem. I knew I wanted to film Michael down the Golden Nugget Strip, a vast road of fantastically lit gambling casinos. Our film vans pulled into the main Las Vegas street, only to be stopped by huge barriers across the road. The whole mile and a half of the strip was being redeveloped and it was no longer possible to enter it for the next six months.

I had no time for tears, however, and I spotted another road which would have to do. Michael was busy learning his words and I sent the camera crew off to fix the camera and some lights for the shoot.

Take one: Action! Michael started to walk along the street towards the camera. 'Here we are in Las...' He didn't get any further as a rather tall policeman on a horse came over and politely asked me what I was doing. Hearing my explanation and my accent he said it was OK.

'Stand by...' I said.

'But,' he interrupted, 'where is your pass for street filming?'

'Ah ... ah yes,' I said, 'well, that's been arranged through my location manager.'

My American cameraman looked puzzled. What location manager?

I was now sweating gently. 'Yes, it must be at the hotel with him.' The discussion went on between me and the policeman. The clock was ticking and I began to panic.

'Well,' he said with the sort of finality that policemen deliver.

'Wait,' I said, 'I'm doing this for British television.' He looked very unimpressed, 'For ... er ... Thames Television.' He looked blank. 'You know, Thames Television, the people who made The Benny Hill Show.'

The world changed, the policeman got off his horse and we discussed Benny Hill for ten minutes, then he rode off saying that I should get on with what I was doing before he came back.

That was good enough for me: Stand by and action, cue Michael. The camera panned to Michael who started walking along the street again.

'Here we are in Las...' A car pulled up alongside Michael and three well-wined and dined holiday Brits leaned out of their windows shouting, 'Hello Michael, where's your Red Book? Are you going to do us?'

Stand by for take three. Action! Camera on Michael once more. 'Here we are in Las Vegas...'

The cameraman waved his hand in front of the camera. 'Sorry, buddy, our batteries are dead, no problem though, we'll get some new ones from the van, take ten minutes at most.'

Ten minutes later Michael was doing his walk again. 'Here we are in Las Vegas and ...' Michael stopped. 'And I can't remember the next xxxxxxx word!'

I couldn't blame him. I looked at my watch; we were 30 minutes behind time.

Take five action! This time we got it right, the camera and lights were all shoved back in our van and we went back to the hotel. Michael went off to change his shirt and I went up to my room to collect my other notes. A quick shower and I'd calmed down again. I got into the lift and went down to the show floor – only the lift didn't open and I was stuck inside.

I had disobeyed a cardinal rule of television which is never go into a lift before the making of a programme because you will get stuck. It didn't matter that I had never been stuck in a lift before in my life; if it was going to happen then this would be the time, and it was.

I had always wondered what would happen when you picked up one of those phones in a life. Well, now I knew. Nothing.

I can panic, I thought, nobody would blame me, I deserve a good panic and a cry, but I really had no time to indulge myself. I pressed both alarm buttons and jiggled the phone at the same time. Eventually an American voice asked me what I wanted and I explained in my best British accent about my predicament. I hope I don't have to get into Benny Hill again, I thought, but the door really was stuck ad they had to get their own fireman to attack the outer layer of their door before he got to mine about one hour later.

We eventually made the programme and I got to meet the dream lady of my youth, Miss Jane Russell. Knowing that she was going to be on the show I had come prepared with an original photo of her as she appeared in her first film, The Outlaw, lounging back in a hayloft looking sultry. She still looked stunning and I asked her to write something naughty across the photo.

'Like what?' she asked.

'It was a magnificent evening, you were wonderful, love Jane Russell.'

She looked at me and smiled. 'No way,' she said and wrote her best wishes.

But you can't blame a feller for trying.

Series 35 subjects