REYNOLDS SPEAKS ABOUT ALZHEIMER'S 

By George Bennett, Palm Beach Post Staff Writer 

August 2, 2003

Get a good look, Debbie Reynolds told the luncheon audience of about 250 at an Alzheimer's conference Friday. 

"The only reason I want you to see me is because I'm still living," the actress said jokingly. 

Reynolds left little doubt about that. Still pert and in full possession of her star power at 71, she wowed the crowd with nearly an hour of stand-up schtick, impressions, bits of song and recollections of her own experiences dealing with Alzheimer's in both of her parents. 

"You're not alone with this problem," she said to those whose loved ones have Alzheimer's. "The most important thing is to let them know they're not alone. Even if they may not know it exactly, they'll feel your love, they'll feel the warmth." 

She spoke at an annual conference for Alzheimer's caregivers and health care professionals sponsored by Alzheimer's Community Care Inc. 

Reynolds fought tears when she spoke of her parents' Alzheimer's battles. 

"I don't think we ever get over it, do we?" she said. Whenever things got weepy, she swung back into comic material. 

"There's people here who have no idea who I am. Did you see the motion picture Star Wars? The first one? Well, I'm Princess Leia's mother," said Reynolds, whose tabloid-fodder marriage to singer Eddie Fisher more than four decades ago produced Carrie Fisher, the actress and author. 

Eddie Fisher famously divorced Reynolds in 1959 for Elizabeth Taylor. Both are now Reynolds punch lines. "She's three months older than I am," she said of Taylor in a taunting, sing-songy voice. Also: "If I could convince Elizabeth to sell some of that jewelry, we could build a couple homes." 

Her take on Eddie Fisher drew uproarious laughter, but cannot be printed. 

"The only other person as dumb as me in love and romance is Burt Reynolds," she said of Palm Beach County's cinematic favorite son. "Maybe I should have married Burt. I wouldn't have had to change my last name, and we could share wigs." 

Debbie Reynolds' film credits include 1964's The Unsinkable Molly Brown, for which she received an Oscar nomination. She starred in several musicals, including Singin' In The Rain with Gene Kelly in 1952. At one point Friday, she broke into a flawless version of "Tammy's In Love" from her 1957 picture Tammy and the Bachelor. 

"Those are happy movies," she said of musicals. "Today they make movies, it's more about sex, isn't it? Do you sing when you do that?"