DEBBIE REYNOLDS KEEPS DOING WHAT SHE DOES

By Nancy Stetson

Naples Daily News 

April 2, 2004

If singer/actor/dancer Debbie Reynolds originally had had her way, she would have become a gym teacher, and the world would never have been gifted with her musical and dramatic talent.

"I loved gymnastics," she confesses. "In high school, I wanted to become a gym teacher. I was aiming at a scholarship."

But she entered a local beauty contest and won.

And that changed everything.

"It changed the whole course of my life," she says. "There was a talent scout there. I never went to college. I finished high school at MGM Studios, where I did movies such as 'Singin' in the Rain,' 'The Tender Trap,' 'The Unsinkable Molly Brown,' pictures like that. I made over 40 films. I was there for 15 years. I guess I have my degree in filmmaking and dancing and singing over the years, and travel. I've certainly traveled a million miles for one of your smiles."

On Wednesday, April 7, Reynolds performs at the Barbara B. Mann Performing Arts Hall in Fort Myers (Florida).

She almost didn't attend that beauty contest.

"I didn't have high heels, that's why I didn't want to go," she says. "But my mother said to wear what I had and 'Be who you are,' and 'You gave your word.' Down-to-earth, normal people beliefs, that's how I was raised. I went to the contest knowing I would not win, so I was very relaxed about the evening.

"It was an accident. It was meant to be. What happens to a lot of us, a lot of things are just planned that we don't know anything about. We have to step forward enough that we take chances. You go to a contest. If you're shy, you stay home."

Though this is her 55th year in the business, Reynolds hasn't grown tired of it. "I love the business and I love performing," she says.

She turned 72 yesterday, on April Fool's Day.

"It is wonderful," she says. "The alternative is not interesting to observe. I don't want to kick off at this moment. I happen to be in Reno, I'm in a lovely suite of rooms, I have room service. I love that better than going to the market and cooking, especially my cooking. I'm a happy camper."

As for being an April Fool's baby, "I love that," she says. "Everyone expects the unusual of you. I'm free of superstition, it's a very superstitious-free day. I've adopted it: I'm good at comedy, I love a joyful time. (Being born on April 1) I have a real excuse to be different, in every way. So call me a fool and enjoy the fun!"

In addition to performing her hits, such as "Tammy," "Aba Dabba Honeymoon," "Am I That Easy to Forget" and "A Very Special Love," Reynolds also does impressions.

"I'm an all-around performer, that means that you can do it all, not just singing and dancing," she says. "I've always done impressions, I just don't advertise that. I don't say I'm Mrs. Rich Little. My fans that know me know that I do Burns and Davis and Streisand, Patsy Cline, Willie Nelson. I have a perfect pitch ear, I can do a voice of any kind."

In addition to performing, Reynolds is also putting together a museum of movie memorabilia. Her collection includes 3,500 costumes, props, furniture, vintage studio equipment, photographs, movie posters and lobby cards. She was hoping to open it in Hollywood, but funding fell through after the war in Iraq began.

A group of developers in Pigeon Forge, Tenn., approached her son, Todd Fisher about building the museum there, on Belle Star Island.

"It's a whole new development surrounded by water," she says. "They're doing a new, huge project, shopping malls and a small (amusement park like) Disneyland, though there's nothing quite like Disney. I made a decision, we'll have to send mini truckloads of memorabilia there."

Her son, who also designed Reynolds' Las Vegas theater and museum, will design the building.

"I'm blessed to have a child with this talent," she says. "He wants to see it happen in my lifetime. It's been very exciting for us."

She's still searching for a name. As it won't be in Hollywood, The Hollywood Museum won't work, she says.

"I'm thinking of Debbie Reynolds Presents The Motion Picture Museum," she says. "But I don't like the word 'museum,' it depicts old. And that's not the case. (The collection) goes through the silent era, through now, all the costumes and film clips and furniture and space ships. It's a very current, hip museum."

She hopes to have it open in a year.

Reynolds is equally as complimentary of her daughter, actress and writer Carrie Fisher. Fisher's recently released her fourth novel, "The Best Awful."

"She's a very good writer," Reynolds says. "She sleeps with the dictionary. (Her book) has just climbed to fifth on the best seller list. It's very clever."

And Reynolds keeps on doing what she knows best: entertaining.

This June, Reynolds will celebrate being in show business for 56 years.

"I've been lucky to make it through and still continue on," she says. "At a certain age, they may think, 'Are they going to wheel her out?' But as long as you're in good shape, stay in good condition, as long as your health holds, you can keep doing what you do.

"I love what I do, and I'm very lucky to get to do it. I'm there to please the audience."