Reynolds was one of the most enduring and endearing Hollywood actresses, starring alongside Gene Kelly, Frank Sinatra, Tony Curtis, Donald O'Connor, Fred Astaire and Dick Van Dyke.
Her big break was the film Singin' In The Rain she landed the role Kathy Selden at the tender age of just 19.
It was to be a springboard to a stellar career spanning seven decades and culminating last year in The Screen Actors Guild's Life Achievement Award.
Reynolds received a best actress Academy Award nomination for the 1964 musical 'The Unsinkable Molly Brown.'
After her transition from starlet to star, Reynolds became immensely popular with teenage girls and even more so when in 1955 she married Eddie Fisher, the pop singer whose fans were equally devoted.
The couple made a movie together, 'Bundle of Joy,' which seemed to mirror the 1956 birth of Carrie. The Fishers also had a son, Todd, named after Eddie's close friend and Elizabeth Taylor's husband, showman Mike Todd.
The foursome were close friends and regularly vacationed together.
But at the peak of her stardom, Reynolds was drawn into a scandal when her husband began an affair with Taylor after her husband was killed in a plane crash. Reynolds and Fisher divorced in 1959 and he married Taylor.
It was Hollywood's greatest scandal to date. Taylor was assailed as a husband stealer, Fisher as a deserter of his family.
Heartbroken Reynolds who had been betrayed by her husband and her best friend won sympathy as the innocent victim, which was only emphasized when she appeared before news cameras with diaper pins on her blouse.
A cover headline in Photoplay magazine in late 1958 blared: 'Smiling through her tears, Debbie says: I'm still very much in love with Eddie.'
Fisher's singing career never recovered, but Taylor, who left him for Richard Burton in 1962, weathered the storm and remained a top star.
Reynolds and Taylor made peace years later and appeared together in the 2001 television movie 'These Old Broads,' written by her daughter Fisher.
In the Star Wars actress's 2008 autobiography Wishful Drinking, Fisher described her parents' divorce.
'He first dried her eyes with his handkerchief, then he consoled her with flowers, and he ultimately consoled her with his penis,' Fisher wrote of her father and Taylor. 'This made marriage to my mother awkward.'
In a 2010 interview with Rage Monthly, Reynolds reflected on her philosophy of life.
'I always go by a five-year plan,' she said. 'I get through today and I'm not going to get upset for five years.
'I always picture a long tunnel and at the end of the tunnel, there's a light. I know I can make it to that light and I'll take five years to get there. Now I've gone through many tunnels. So, I just keep trying. I never give up.'
Mary Frances Reynolds was born on April 1, 1932. She was discovered by a talent scout when she took part in the Miss Burbank beauty contest aged 16.
Warner Brothers changed her name to 'Debbie,' and she had a bit part that year in 'June Bride.'
She was signed by MGM in 1950 and that year, in 'Two Weeks with Love,' Reynolds performed the hit duet 'Aba Daba Honeymoon' with Carleton Carpenter.
She also made her feature acting debut in 1950 in 'The Daughter of Rosie O'Grady.'
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