Debbie Reynolds
Debbie Raynolds

Debbie Reynolds

This is a photo of Debbie Reynolds during the 1960s. "Reynolds was born Mary Frances Reynolds in El Paso, Texas on April 1, 1932 the second child of Maxine N. (née Harmon; 1913–1999) and Raymond Francis Reynolds (1903–1986), who was a carpenter for the Southern Pacific Railroad. She has a Scottish-Irish and English ancestry." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Debbie_Reynolds "EL PASO -- Debbie Reynolds hasn't been back to El Paso in nearly 60 years (until the year 2010), so her memories of the dusty little town where she was born are sketchy. "It will be shocking," she said. "Everybody tells me it's now a metropolis with tall buildings. I remember walking down the street and tumbleweeds followed me." Her memories of El Paso are vague and bittersweet. "I always felt very fortunate, but understand when I say it was not a pleasant experience, that it wasn't easy for me," she said, noting that her family had to scrape by during the tough, Depression-era economy. El Paso city directories from 1931 to 1939 list several addresses for the Reynolds, including 815 N. San Marcial, where they lived with her maternal grandparents, Owen and Maxine Harman. The Reynolds family also lived at 3117 N. Piedras and 2208 Erie before living for five years at the Magnolia address. Magnolia Street holds the most memories for Reynolds, though she doesn't recall the short time she spent at Houston Grammar School, now the recently closed Houston Elementary School. Reynolds credits those hard times and her family's hard-work ethic for her success and a career that is still active 62 years since she started. She starred in "The Unsinkable Molly Brown "(1964), a biographical film about the famously boisterous Margaret Brown, for which she received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress. In 1973 Reynolds was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical for her performance in "Irene". She was also nominated for an Emmy Award for playing Grace's mother on "Will & Grace", and recently landed the role of a grandmother in Katherine Heigl's next movie, "One for the Money." "I made it. I came from a tough family," she said. "I guess they build 'em tough in El Paso." http://www.elpasotimes.com/ci_15649924

Area: Central / Five Points

Source: UTEP Special Collections

Uploaded by: El Paso Museum of History

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