Los Angeles – Hollywood star Debbie Reynolds died Wednesday in Los Angeles, just one day after the death of her daughter Carrie Fisher.
The Oscar-nominated actress died at Cedars-Sinai hospital after suffering a stroke, her son Todd Fisher confirmed to entertainment news website TMZ.
“She wanted to be with Carrie,” Fisher told Variety. Carrie Fisher, famous for playing Princess Leia in the “Star Wars” film series, died aged 60 on Tuesday, days after suffering a heart attack on a flight from London to Los Angeles.
Debbie Reynolds gets a kiss from daughter Carrie Fisher at the 21st Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, California on January 25, 2015. The US actress reportedly died on Wednesday aged 84, a day after Fisher. (Credit Image: © Andy Holzman/Los Angeles Daily News/ZUMA Wire)
TMZ said 84-year-old Reynolds, who rose to stardom in the 1952 hit film “Singin’ in the Rain,” was at her son’s home in Beverly Hills on Wednesday afternoon making plans for her daughter’s funeral when she became ill and an ambulance was called.
Joan Collins, who starred beside Reynolds in the film “These Old Broads,” wrote on Twitter that she was “truly heartbroken” to hear about the death of the film star, adding that “she was a wonderfully warm friend and colleague.”
Actor William Shatner also praised Reynolds’ career, calling her “one of the last of Hollywood Royalty.”
Between 1950 and 1967, Reynolds appeared in more than 30 movies, receiving her only Oscar nomination for playing the title character in the 1964 film “The Unsinkable Molly Brown.”
The blonde-haired star also appeared in musicals on Broadway and in 1969 featured in her own TV show, “The Debbie Reynolds Show,” for which she received a Golden Globe nomination.
Online on Wednesday, US television host Ellen DeGeneres said she felt for the family after the two deaths in such short succession.
“I can’t imagine what Carrie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds’ family are going through this week. I send all of my love,” she tweeted.
– dpa
