Reynolds regularly appeared in movie musicals during the 1950s and chalked up several hit records despite an only intermittent career as a recording artist. Her song “Aba Daba Honeymoon” was a top 3 hit in 1951. She is also remembered for her smash recording of the theme song “Tammy” which earned her a gold record and was the best-selling single by a female vocalist in 1957 and was number one for 5 weeks on the Billboard pop charts. Reynolds also scored two additional top 25 Billboard hits with “A Very Special Love” in 1958 and 1960s “Am I That Easy To Forget”, a pop version of Skeeter Davis’ country hit (interestingly, Davis’ real first names are also Mary Frances). During the 1950s, Reynolds also starred in numerous movies, such as Bundle of Joy (1956), with her then husband, Eddie Fisher and record hit songs (most notably “Tammy” from her 1957 film Tammy and the Bachelor, playing opposite of Leslie Nielsen, the first of the series of Tammy movies) and headline major Las Vegas showrooms. Her starring role in The Unsinkable Molly Brown (1964) led to an Oscar nomination, but she lost to Julie Andrews in Mary Poppins. She played Jeanine Deckers in The Singing Nun. In what Reynolds called the “stupidest mistake of my entire career”, she made big headlines in 1970 after instigating a fight with NBC over cigarette advertising on her TV show. NBC canceled the show.[2] She is still making appearances in film and television, one of the few actors from MGM’s “golden age of film” (along with Anita Page, Mickey Rooney, Lauren Bacall, Cyd Charisse, Margaret O’Brien, Jane Powell, Rita Moreno, Leslie Caron, Dean Stockwell, Van Johnson, Angela Lansbury, Russ Tamblyn and June Lockhart) who are still active in filmmaking. From 1999 to its 2006 finale, she played the recurring role of Grace’s ditzy mother Bobbi Adler on the NBC sitcom Will & Grace. She also plays a recurring role in the DCOM TV movie series Halloweentown as Aggie Cromwell. Reynolds made a guest appearance as a presenter at the 69th Annual Academy Awards. Reynolds has several CDs on the market of both vintage performances and later recordings. |
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