Welcome to the first Insecure Writer's Support Group post of 2017. A special thanks to Alex J. Cavanaugh for continuing to guide us and inspire us. Be sure to visit the rest of the supportive writers.
Goodbye To A Multi-Talented Mother & Daughter
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| Debbie Reynolds & Carrie Fisher; abctvnews.com
It was the end of an era when Debbie Reynolds died on December 28 one day after her daughter Carrie Fisher. Fisher died from a heart attack while Reynolds died from a stroke. Her son Todd Fisher told 20/20 that his mother's final words were that she wanted to be with her daughter.
Debbie Reynolds planned on becoming a gym teacher until she won a Miss Burbank contest. Though she wasn't a dancer, an MGM talent scout was in the audience which led to her role with Gene Kelly and Donald O'Connor in Singing In The Rain. Reynolds married singer Eddie Fisher and they were such close friends with Elizabeth Taylor and Michael Todd that they stood up in their wedding. Before Carrie turned two-years-old, Fisher left her mother for Elizabeth Taylor after her husband Michael Todd was killed in a plane crash.
Reynolds went on to marry two other successful men who later lost their fortunes as well as hers, but like her Academy Award nominated character in The Unsinkable Molly Brown, Reynolds always re-invented herself and never gave up.
Known as Princess Leia in Star Wars, Carrie Fisher also was a talented writer. She wrote Postcards From The Edge, a witty look at being a patient in a rehab facility for drug and alcohol abuse. Meryl Streep and Shirley MacLaine played characters based on Fisher and Reynolds in the film version and Fisher explained that she was later diagnosed as manic depressive/bipolar which her mother said she inherited from her father's side of the family. That was one of many lines from Fisher's one-woman play Wishful Drinking that aired on HBO.
The mother and daughter never lost their sense of humor and though they were estranged for many years, they reconciled and even lived next door to each other. Below are some of Fisher's best lines:
"My body hasn't aged as well as I have."
"Everyone drives somebody crazy, I just have a bigger car."
"The only exercise I get lately is running off at the mouth and jumping to conclusions."
After Reynolds wrote her 2013 biography, Unsinkable: A Memoir, she said, "These are my recollections. If you remember things differently, send me your version - but only if it's funnier."
This weekend I watched Wishful Drinking and The Unsinkable Molly Brown for the first time and found myself crying for Fisher and Reynolds. My husband also enjoyed the HBO special as well as the classic movie.
When my mom and I first heard about their deaths she told me how much she loved Debbie Reynolds and how she looked good until the end. She thought she was a wonderful singer, dancer and actress and she knew that she died of a broken heart before it was reported on the news.
I asked my mom if she thought the same thing could ever happen to her and she replied, "Yes, I would definitely die of a broken heart if God forbid anything ever happened to...your brother."
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