WEBVTT - Debbie Reynolds and Robert Osborne 0:00:00.960 --> 0:00:05.560 Hi'm Alec Baldwin and you're listening to Here's the thing, 0:00:06.200 --> 0:00:10.200 my chance to talk with artists, policymakers and performers, to 0:00:10.280 --> 0:00:14.440 hear their stories. What inspired their creations, what decisions changed 0:00:14.480 --> 0:00:20.160 their careers, what relationships influenced their work. Well, I never 0:00:20.239 --> 0:00:24.120 thought about me being in show business. I was a fan, 0:00:24.640 --> 0:00:27.400 didn't watch TV, and I loved the movies. My guests 0:00:27.440 --> 0:00:31.040 today both worked in film and TV during the Golden 0:00:31.080 --> 0:00:35.680 Age of Hollywood. Robert Osborne began his career acting, but 0:00:35.840 --> 0:00:38.960 his fascination with show business, drama on and off the 0:00:39.000 --> 0:00:42.479 set led to a very different job, one he seems 0:00:42.680 --> 0:00:45.280 to have been made for. Hi. I'm Robert Osborne, and 0:00:45.320 --> 0:00:48.159 our Jimmy Cagney tribute continues now with Jimmy and this 0:00:48.479 --> 0:00:52.240 is the Third Man. Osborne has been host of Turner 0:00:52.280 --> 0:00:55.840 Classic Movies for almost two decades. His knowledge of the 0:00:55.840 --> 0:00:59.560 film industry is encyclopedic, and he will tell you it's 0:00:59.680 --> 0:01:02.720 rare when a movie comes along and inspires a whole 0:01:02.760 --> 0:01:16.880 generation of actors, singers and directors. Just sing Singing in 0:01:16.920 --> 0:01:20.560 the Rain is one of those movies. It also transformed 0:01:20.560 --> 0:01:23.600 the life of its leading lady, Debbie Reynolds my first 0:01:23.640 --> 0:01:28.039 guest this Hour. Reynolds was just a twenty year old 0:01:28.080 --> 0:01:31.679 actress under contract at MGM, but after her performance in 0:01:31.720 --> 0:01:35.000 that iconic film, she was destined to become a star. 0:01:44.160 --> 0:01:47.760 Some of the highlights of Reynolds's career include Tammy in 0:01:47.920 --> 0:01:51.080 Tammy and The Bachelor, with a song that reached number 0:01:51.120 --> 0:01:56.600 one on the Billboard Charts, I have a cotton Woods 0:01:56.760 --> 0:02:08.880 Whispering Able Jimmy jim ted Love. Reynolds was nominated for 0:02:08.919 --> 0:02:11.880 an Academy Award for her leading role in The Unsinkable 0:02:11.919 --> 0:02:15.440 Molly Brown and received a Tony nomination for her Broadway 0:02:15.480 --> 0:02:19.800 debut in the musical Irene. Debbie Reynolds was born in 0:02:19.880 --> 0:02:24.160 Texas and raised in Burbank, California, but after her career 0:02:24.280 --> 0:02:27.160 took off, the small town girl found herself living in 0:02:27.200 --> 0:02:30.800 a universe occupied by the biggest stars of her time. 0:02:31.240 --> 0:02:34.120 Right across the street was Jimmy Stewart and Lucille Ball, 0:02:34.200 --> 0:02:36.720 and everybody was on that one street. It was like, 0:02:37.040 --> 0:02:41.160 let's have a party every night. George Burns and Eddie 0:02:41.200 --> 0:02:44.799 Cannor lived on one block, so I would drive over 0:02:44.840 --> 0:02:47.840 there because that street was more fun than my phone. 0:02:48.040 --> 0:02:50.600 There was a lot of fun to be had back then. 0:02:51.200 --> 0:02:54.160 This was still the golden age of Hollywood, but it 0:02:54.280 --> 0:02:57.840 was also the studio system where executives bought and sold 0:02:57.840 --> 0:03:01.200 actors like property. Although a parny to Reynolds, it had 0:03:01.200 --> 0:03:04.680 its upside too. When we were under contract, most of us, 0:03:04.919 --> 0:03:09.360 Shirley McClain and Elizabeth Theater were at MGM, and everything 0:03:09.480 --> 0:03:11.679 was done for us, you know, the makeup of hair. 0:03:12.360 --> 0:03:15.200 It sent cars for us. We were very spoiled. We 0:03:15.240 --> 0:03:18.079 didn't kind of know what to do when they dropped everybody, 0:03:18.120 --> 0:03:21.880 like when television came in. You remember what year around 0:03:21.880 --> 0:03:26.080 there was. The end of the studio system kind of 0:03:26.120 --> 0:03:28.720 died as you get into the fifties. It is slowly 0:03:28.800 --> 0:03:31.480 died a death. You know. It was like interesting to 0:03:31.560 --> 0:03:34.560 watch it was. I didn't realize it was the end, 0:03:34.720 --> 0:03:36.520 you know, I didn't know that it was that you 0:03:36.560 --> 0:03:38.280 didn't know what the change meant. Well, I was a 0:03:38.360 --> 0:03:42.040 young girl, so I didn't And I wasn't an intellectual. 0:03:42.160 --> 0:03:48.320 I wasn't educated. I'm from Burbank, Burbank and originally from 0:03:48.360 --> 0:03:51.160 You want to be a gym teacher, that's me, you 0:03:51.200 --> 0:03:55.160 know what I always aim high me too. I love, Jim, 0:03:55.200 --> 0:03:57.200 you know I love. I wanted to be a lifeguard 0:03:57.400 --> 0:04:01.920 son girls. Well yeah, swim, yes, Well, I was never 0:04:02.240 --> 0:04:06.400 that ambitious. I wanted to be a gymnast. I wanted 0:04:06.400 --> 0:04:11.080 to work on the bars and Entropedes work. I loved 0:04:11.120 --> 0:04:14.280 all that stuff as a young girl in Burbank. And 0:04:14.280 --> 0:04:18.359 you're athletic, no doubt. What's the first thing that happened 0:04:18.400 --> 0:04:21.560 that says show business to you? Well, I never thought 0:04:21.680 --> 0:04:25.080 about me being in show business. I was a fan 0:04:25.760 --> 0:04:28.200 and I would go to the movies because my mother 0:04:28.320 --> 0:04:31.080 let me. But no one else in our church was 0:04:31.160 --> 0:04:35.440 allowed to go to films because movie stars were all 0:04:35.520 --> 0:04:39.880 evil creatures, just dreadful. My mother let me go to films. 0:04:39.880 --> 0:04:43.880 His mother was very religious, very my family said my dad. 0:04:44.080 --> 0:04:46.279 My father used to say, no, no, no, I'm not 0:04:46.320 --> 0:04:48.159 going to go to church with you. I've told you 0:04:48.160 --> 0:04:50.400 that I'm not going to go because all those good 0:04:50.480 --> 0:04:52.800 people will be killed. If I walked down, the roof 0:04:52.880 --> 0:04:56.479 would fall in. And he was always teasing my mother 0:04:57.760 --> 0:05:00.839 by asking what church did you go to? Churches and Nazarene, 0:05:01.440 --> 0:05:04.520 which is like hard shell Baptist, kind of like your 0:05:04.520 --> 0:05:06.640 mom was a heart. She was a Texan She was 0:05:06.680 --> 0:05:11.520 a Texan Texan Baptist. She was tough and strict and 0:05:11.560 --> 0:05:14.480 there were so many rules. How many kids in the family. 0:05:15.040 --> 0:05:17.320 Just my brother and I were in the family. And 0:05:17.320 --> 0:05:20.520 then my mother discovered what's your brother's name? Bill? And 0:05:20.560 --> 0:05:24.520 do you know who Bill is? To me? You don't know. 0:05:24.800 --> 0:05:28.400 Do you know that Billy Reynolds was my makeup artist 0:05:28.400 --> 0:05:30.919 on nuts Landing for a year? Oh my gosh, was 0:05:30.960 --> 0:05:34.880 he your brother? Billy isn't He was my makeup artist 0:05:35.320 --> 0:05:39.560 and he's one of the people that helped me survived 0:05:39.600 --> 0:05:43.679 that experience because those three broads from the Joan Colins 0:05:43.680 --> 0:05:45.520 School where they were having the makeup put on with 0:05:45.560 --> 0:05:49.279 a trowel every day. I'd have federally funded programs to 0:05:49.279 --> 0:05:52.240 pay for the makeup for them. Billy Reynolds would turn 0:05:52.279 --> 0:05:53.800 to me and he'd sit there and say, you know, 0:05:54.480 --> 0:05:57.320 did you bring a book with you? We're in a 0:05:57.360 --> 0:06:00.599 be here for a while. These girls are three hours 0:06:00.600 --> 0:06:03.680 in the chair. And then he told me that he 0:06:03.760 --> 0:06:06.360 was Elvis's makeup artist. Yes, And you know that every 0:06:06.360 --> 0:06:08.200 time he mentioned Elvis, he didn't mention it a lot 0:06:08.200 --> 0:06:12.200 because he was very shy, very shy. He mentioned Elvis 0:06:12.240 --> 0:06:15.440 once or twice, and he started to cry. He would 0:06:15.480 --> 0:06:17.000 turn away from me and hid to say. He said 0:06:17.000 --> 0:06:20.719 to me, almost was the greatest man I ever worked with. Well, 0:06:20.760 --> 0:06:23.720 the other used to play Elvis used to tease him 0:06:23.720 --> 0:06:28.480 a lot and put snakes down his pants, and popcorn 0:06:28.520 --> 0:06:30.919 and pop pop popcorn and put it in his drawers. 0:06:31.120 --> 0:06:32.880 You know, they used to kid my brother. They used 0:06:32.880 --> 0:06:36.080 to just pick on him kind of, but he didn't care. 0:06:36.400 --> 0:06:41.760 My brother was a baseball player, really man's man. He 0:06:42.000 --> 0:06:46.320 lives men in my house with me. Will you give 0:06:46.400 --> 0:06:48.839 him my love? I don't even know if he'll remember me. 0:06:49.400 --> 0:06:52.560 She Oh, he remembers everything. He just doesn't talk about it. 0:06:52.760 --> 0:06:56.240 You know some men that are like almost reclusive, but 0:06:56.400 --> 0:06:59.400 not really, because underneath all of that is a great 0:06:59.400 --> 0:07:02.760 sense of where I adore my brother. I think our 0:07:02.800 --> 0:07:06.240 life was rather tedious and hard because we didn't have 0:07:06.320 --> 0:07:09.080 any money. I mean, my dad made two hundred a month. 0:07:09.480 --> 0:07:12.920 Now that's better than nothing, but it's still also advised 0:07:13.080 --> 0:07:16.720 very little. So our life was a little bit meager. 0:07:16.760 --> 0:07:18.880 You know, we never had a Christmas tree. We never 0:07:19.280 --> 0:07:21.760 had so when the opportunity came along for you to 0:07:21.760 --> 0:07:25.120 get into the business, and I'm from the same school. Actually, 0:07:25.520 --> 0:07:27.680 I'm wondering where you was enticed by and where you 0:07:27.800 --> 0:07:30.440 was thrilled by as much about making money to help 0:07:30.480 --> 0:07:33.680 your family as you were about your own glory. Well, 0:07:33.760 --> 0:07:37.720 mostly I thought it was a joke that I won 0:07:37.800 --> 0:07:40.880 this contest, and then all of a sudden, I'm in movies. 0:07:40.960 --> 0:07:43.240 The silliest thing I was the contest. It was a 0:07:43.280 --> 0:07:47.920 Miss Burrbank, Mrs Burbank. Don't don't, don't, don't downplay that. 0:07:48.200 --> 0:07:52.040 No change my whole life and made my whole life 0:07:52.080 --> 0:07:55.320 wonderful and marvels travel all over the world and meet 0:07:55.360 --> 0:08:00.200 all these fabulous interesting people and see different countries. So 0:08:00.280 --> 0:08:02.800 I'm very proud to say I was Miss Burbank and 0:08:02.960 --> 0:08:05.040 had a hole in my bathing suit and there my 0:08:05.160 --> 0:08:08.240 rear end was hanging out, and I didn't have shoes, 0:08:08.400 --> 0:08:12.360 high heel shoes, so I had I'm very grateful for 0:08:13.160 --> 0:08:17.800 stumbling in the show business step to Miss Burbank. What happened? 0:08:18.520 --> 0:08:20.600 They took me to Warner Brothers and made a little 0:08:20.640 --> 0:08:23.160 screen test and asked me why I wanted to be 0:08:23.200 --> 0:08:25.520 a movie star. So of course I told him I 0:08:25.600 --> 0:08:28.680 didn't want to. And after they laughed and they said 0:08:28.680 --> 0:08:30.560 of course you do. I said, no, I don't. I 0:08:30.680 --> 0:08:33.360 don't really. I mean, this is just fun. You're just 0:08:33.720 --> 0:08:37.280 this is your kidding around, right. I was very square 0:08:37.640 --> 0:08:41.480 and my family were very virginal, you know, very go 0:08:41.640 --> 0:08:45.480 to church Wednesday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday. You're glad they were square. 0:08:46.040 --> 0:08:49.200 I'm grateful for that kind of upbringing throughout your career. 0:08:49.480 --> 0:08:51.080 And I'm not just saying this, I mean I wouldn't 0:08:51.080 --> 0:08:53.600 waste your time of mind. You know, you're a gorgeous woman, 0:08:53.679 --> 0:08:55.920 and everybody thinks of you and think of you being 0:08:56.000 --> 0:08:59.720 three things beautiful and talented, but also being very straight laced. 0:08:59.760 --> 0:09:01.280 I mean your career with something where there's a kind 0:09:01.280 --> 0:09:03.719 of a in the sensuality quote and there's any of 0:09:03.760 --> 0:09:06.880 a gardener over here. It's kind of working that whole thing. 0:09:07.440 --> 0:09:09.560 And then there's you, who you didn't work that whole thing. 0:09:09.640 --> 0:09:11.240 Did you find that that was something that was because 0:09:11.240 --> 0:09:14.120 of your childho your upbringing. I just grew up that way, 0:09:14.160 --> 0:09:18.040 so I thought that's the way everybody was until after 0:09:18.720 --> 0:09:22.040 three husbands. Now I realized that ass totally wrong. Concept 0:09:22.400 --> 0:09:26.920 unlucky and love unlucky. What else happens when you're unlucky 0:09:27.040 --> 0:09:29.319 and I just made it up. You just wrote that 0:09:29.640 --> 0:09:31.839 just for you. Okay, well we should record you later. 0:09:32.720 --> 0:09:36.120 Good morning, We've danced the whole night through. Good morning, 0:09:36.440 --> 0:09:39.319 good morning to you, and you and you and you're 0:09:39.480 --> 0:09:43.360 good morning, good morning. It's great to stay in Blake. 0:09:43.440 --> 0:09:47.640 Good morning, good morning to you. What fun you see? 0:09:48.080 --> 0:09:50.120 I can't sing to save my life. If you put 0:09:50.160 --> 0:09:52.120 a gun to my head and said saying you almost 0:09:52.160 --> 0:09:55.679 sang on, when did you know you could sing? When 0:09:55.720 --> 0:09:57.240 did you know you? When did you realize you could? 0:09:57.280 --> 0:10:02.160 Just started singing like other a pole? So what you're saying, 0:10:02.559 --> 0:10:07.120 you started by doing mimicry. I started mimic McDonald's I've 0:10:07.160 --> 0:10:11.160 never tried and the ricks. She's a soprano, but I 0:10:11.240 --> 0:10:15.480 would do the alto and ethel Mermon anybody with a 0:10:15.600 --> 0:10:19.160 big voice, you know, I'd always do their voices. Because 0:10:19.240 --> 0:10:24.000 I I enjoy comedy, comedies everything. I love vaudeville, that's 0:10:24.080 --> 0:10:28.040 my favorite thing. I enjoy drama somebody else doing it, 0:10:28.600 --> 0:10:31.520 I personally don't want to do it Debbie Reynolds, because 0:10:31.880 --> 0:10:34.839 it's so serious. It makes me sad, it takes me 0:10:34.960 --> 0:10:38.319 where it goes, and so I don't accept any parts 0:10:38.840 --> 0:10:41.840 that are devastating, because I don't want to be unhappy 0:10:41.920 --> 0:10:44.920 in my life. I'll just live my life. Is that's 0:10:45.000 --> 0:10:48.199 tough enough, So I don't need any parts that make 0:10:48.280 --> 0:10:50.760 me miserable. So when you're at Warners and you say 0:10:50.800 --> 0:10:52.000 to them I don't want to be an actress and 0:10:52.000 --> 0:10:54.079 they do the screen test, what happens there that you 0:10:54.360 --> 0:10:57.679 wind up banking over to mgm Well, what happens is 0:10:57.760 --> 0:11:00.120 they send me to a meeting and so they all 0:11:00.200 --> 0:11:03.720 Gene Kelly in the room and Mr Mayer says, here, Jean, 0:11:04.160 --> 0:11:06.640 this is a new girl that you're going to have 0:11:07.120 --> 0:11:11.559 as you're leading lady. And I'm seventeen, and but I 0:11:11.640 --> 0:11:15.240 had never danced before, I'd never acted before, nothing, nothing, person, 0:11:15.559 --> 0:11:18.480 just a girl's scout. So there was a Jene Kelly 0:11:18.520 --> 0:11:20.960 a movie. So I couldn't believe the whole scene. I mean, 0:11:21.000 --> 0:11:23.240 I just thought the whole thing was silly. I really 0:11:23.320 --> 0:11:26.559 thought it was silly. So Mr Kelly said, can you 0:11:26.679 --> 0:11:29.280 do a time step? I said, oh, oh, yes, I 0:11:29.440 --> 0:11:32.280 learned that a girl scout cap. So he said to 0:11:32.440 --> 0:11:35.480 do time step. So I did a little awful time step. 0:11:35.800 --> 0:11:38.640 Then he said, can you do a MAXI Ford, and 0:11:38.880 --> 0:11:42.559 I said I don't have a car. Well, obviously that 0:11:42.720 --> 0:11:45.760 was the wrong answer. He looked at Mr Mayor and 0:11:45.800 --> 0:11:49.719 he said, you're kidding me, boss, and Mr Mayer said, no, 0:11:49.760 --> 0:11:52.679 I'm not getting you meeting you. This is this is 0:11:52.720 --> 0:11:55.200 the leading lady. And that was it. He was stuck 0:11:55.280 --> 0:11:58.719 with me, poor thing. Can you imagine Jane Kelly and 0:11:58.920 --> 0:12:01.079 these guys were assuming me, like like many of the 0:12:01.160 --> 0:12:04.120 actors I know today, they're pretty no nonsense people when 0:12:04.160 --> 0:12:06.079 it comes to the quality of their their product, and 0:12:06.160 --> 0:12:08.400 they're very hard. But Gene Kelly, of course the most 0:12:08.480 --> 0:12:12.199 brilliant dancer. Jean said, all right, I'll take her. I 0:12:12.320 --> 0:12:14.120 can I can fix her. I can fix it up 0:12:14.600 --> 0:12:17.480 because she's right for the part. The acting bar but 0:12:17.600 --> 0:12:21.000 a Stare taught you too. He helped me. I was 0:12:21.640 --> 0:12:25.160 trying to learn everything, like with Donald run up the 0:12:25.240 --> 0:12:27.679 wall and flip backwards. I mean, I knew I was 0:12:27.760 --> 0:12:29.760 a flip, but you know, I had to learn how. 0:12:30.200 --> 0:12:33.360 I wanted to learn everything, and then I'd be crying 0:12:33.559 --> 0:12:36.439 under the piano. One day a pair of legs go 0:12:36.640 --> 0:12:39.960 by and I'm some crying away and the legs say, 0:12:40.679 --> 0:12:43.599 who is that under the piano? Who is crying. So 0:12:43.720 --> 0:12:46.720 I said, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. It's just me, Debbie. 0:12:47.320 --> 0:12:51.200 So it was fred is stare. He said, Debbie, get out, 0:12:51.240 --> 0:12:53.640 get out from underneath. They pulled me out and he said, 0:12:53.679 --> 0:12:56.120 now you come and watch me with hers. I never 0:12:56.320 --> 0:13:01.120 allow anybody. He always had a guard at the security guard. 0:13:01.400 --> 0:13:04.040 No one was ever allowed. But he let me watch 0:13:04.600 --> 0:13:07.800 and for maybe over forty minutes, and his face turned 0:13:07.840 --> 0:13:11.520 already just used a cane and a drum after about 0:13:11.559 --> 0:13:14.160 half an hour, and his face turning red. And he's 0:13:14.240 --> 0:13:17.320 doing brilliant work. Of course, he looked over at me, says, now, 0:13:17.600 --> 0:13:20.680 Debbie wants you to go back in there, stop crying 0:13:21.600 --> 0:13:24.319 and be great. In order to be a great dancer, 0:13:24.600 --> 0:13:27.599 you have to practically kill yourself. This is what it 0:13:27.679 --> 0:13:30.679 takes to be a great dancer. Now running there, just 0:13:30.840 --> 0:13:34.520 running there, Shut up and do what help you? Oh? Yes, 0:13:35.400 --> 0:13:38.120 I just felt like I was a big sissy, and 0:13:38.200 --> 0:13:40.280 I don't like to be a big sissy. In those 0:13:40.400 --> 0:13:43.440 days or any other day. When you you finished the movie, 0:13:44.320 --> 0:13:45.880 when it was done, how did you feel when it 0:13:46.040 --> 0:13:49.320 was over? I think you you've learned a great deal. 0:13:49.840 --> 0:13:53.120 Either that or you already quit because in order to 0:13:53.280 --> 0:13:57.280 keep up with these great talents, you had to devote 0:13:57.320 --> 0:13:59.520 yourself totally. I didn't go home. I slept in my 0:13:59.640 --> 0:14:02.480 dress room. We didn't have a Saturday off, we only 0:14:02.520 --> 0:14:06.120 had Sunday off. And that practice all the time. And 0:14:06.400 --> 0:14:09.080 I don't think I changed at all. I just learned 0:14:09.120 --> 0:14:12.319 how to apply myself. And what about people's perception of you? 0:14:12.480 --> 0:14:14.360 That must have changed. The picture came out what year, 0:14:15.400 --> 0:14:19.480 I don't remember what year, in ninety two, something like that, 0:14:20.000 --> 0:14:23.600 you're a movie star now, correct, Well I was popular. 0:14:24.040 --> 0:14:28.720 They couldn't believe a young girl had gotten that far 0:14:29.360 --> 0:14:35.160 and no talent, no no experience. So I was newsworthy. 0:14:35.520 --> 0:14:38.560 But in those days we had movie magazines and they'd 0:14:38.640 --> 0:14:41.600 write all kinds of stories for free. You know, the 0:14:41.760 --> 0:14:45.600 studios would give It was the golden era. So what 0:14:45.720 --> 0:14:47.280 kind of story did they write about you? Then? When 0:14:47.280 --> 0:14:49.560 you're only seventeen eighteen years old? What do they make 0:14:49.600 --> 0:14:52.960 it up? You know, they'd give a little party. They'd 0:14:53.000 --> 0:14:55.520 give a party. They had Rock Hudson going out with 0:14:55.560 --> 0:14:57.880 his secretary. You know, Rock didn't want to go out 0:14:57.920 --> 0:15:02.080 with this secretary. It was Paul. Yes, that's John, Sam 0:15:02.240 --> 0:15:04.480 and Joe. What's the next picture you did. After Singing 0:15:04.480 --> 0:15:08.480 in the Ring, After Singing in the Rain, I did 0:15:08.600 --> 0:15:12.360 How the West was One with every star you've ever 0:15:12.600 --> 0:15:14.440 heard about. The first movie I ever saw in the 0:15:14.520 --> 0:15:18.000 movie theater, My Life Ever was a wonderful picture. Spencer 0:15:18.080 --> 0:15:21.840 Tracy narrated the whole thing starting You'll Never See Again, 0:15:22.640 --> 0:15:26.640 and John Wayne was in that everybody. It took two 0:15:26.760 --> 0:15:29.720 years to make that picture. I started out playing a 0:15:29.800 --> 0:15:32.200 sixteen year old and ended up a ninety year old, 0:15:32.640 --> 0:15:39.600 so it felt like my life. I worked very hard 0:15:39.720 --> 0:15:42.640 on that picture, and Henry Hathaway was the director, and 0:15:42.720 --> 0:15:46.960 he was really tough and very hard on everybody. You know, 0:15:47.160 --> 0:15:50.600 it's not very kind of actors, but we were all 0:15:50.840 --> 0:15:55.840 a little bit stupid and employees slow. He thought it 0:15:55.960 --> 0:15:59.520 was slow. So he I had heard this about him. 0:15:59.640 --> 0:16:02.160 You know, he was a very tough director. So when 0:16:02.200 --> 0:16:04.600 he came over to Fox Studio where I was making 0:16:04.600 --> 0:16:08.440 another film with Andy Griffith, I said to him, he 0:16:08.560 --> 0:16:10.720 wanted me to do it the first part of it, 0:16:10.920 --> 0:16:13.600 How the West Was On. I said, well, sir, the 0:16:13.760 --> 0:16:16.680 truth of it is that I've heard really such bad 0:16:16.760 --> 0:16:19.440 things about you. I don't want to work with you. 0:16:20.320 --> 0:16:22.920 So I just stared at me, said, what the is that? What? 0:16:23.560 --> 0:16:26.600 He's cussed like crazy? Oh? Yeah, cuss, he said, you 0:16:26.720 --> 0:16:31.600 little snot nose it little? Oh yes, he attacked you aggressive. 0:16:31.640 --> 0:16:33.960 He bawled me out. He just said, you have no 0:16:34.120 --> 0:16:37.080 right to say that I'm boss here, that I cuss 0:16:37.120 --> 0:16:39.160 and all that. I said, well, what are you doing now? 0:16:39.320 --> 0:16:41.400 For goodness sake, what do you think You're yelling at me? 0:16:41.520 --> 0:16:45.880 For the commissary there are people staring at everything. I said, 0:16:46.200 --> 0:16:48.160 this is why I would never work for you, because 0:16:48.200 --> 0:16:50.960 I don't want to be miserable. So I turned it down. 0:16:51.160 --> 0:16:53.720 And then he wouldn't let me turn it down. He said, no, 0:16:54.000 --> 0:16:55.760 you're going to do it, and he talked to the 0:16:56.080 --> 0:17:00.160 president of Fox and MGM, which owned my contract. They 0:17:00.240 --> 0:17:01.960 said I had to do it, So I had to 0:17:02.080 --> 0:17:10.680 do it. There's a one missing where I'll build you 0:17:10.920 --> 0:17:18.040 a home in the mid So back then, you signed 0:17:18.080 --> 0:17:23.560 those contracts and people, I think the the distance that 0:17:23.680 --> 0:17:26.440 the studio system has now, which we seated so far 0:17:27.400 --> 0:17:30.840 for audiences today, they don't understand that notion that you 0:17:30.920 --> 0:17:33.480 signed a contract and you didn't get to pick the films. 0:17:33.520 --> 0:17:37.480 You were in your own It's like a bondage is 0:17:37.640 --> 0:17:41.280 indentured servitude. That's exactly. How did the picture go with him? Was? 0:17:41.320 --> 0:17:43.040 He was? He was? He? Well, I went on. I 0:17:43.320 --> 0:17:46.080 did the first section is the one that I was 0:17:46.160 --> 0:17:49.719 signed for, and went on location and he said, all right, 0:17:49.880 --> 0:17:52.880 walk over there. I said, where am I walking? To sir? 0:17:53.440 --> 0:17:55.920 You just walk where, I said, pointing to I said, 0:17:55.960 --> 0:17:58.040 I have to understand where Why am I walking? What 0:17:58.160 --> 0:18:00.359 am I saying? He said, no, you're Oh, you just 0:18:00.440 --> 0:18:02.440 do what I say. I said, this is what I 0:18:02.640 --> 0:18:04.639 told you that day we had the lunch that you 0:18:04.720 --> 0:18:07.239 were going to be rude and terrible to work with then. 0:18:07.359 --> 0:18:10.560 So I'm going to go lie down to rest. He said, no, 0:18:10.640 --> 0:18:12.840 you're not. You're going to walk over there and you're 0:18:12.840 --> 0:18:15.320 going to shut up. I said, no, I'm not. I'm 0:18:15.359 --> 0:18:18.480 going to faint because you've upset me too much. So 0:18:18.600 --> 0:18:22.359 I fainted, and what happened. I love this. I'm gonna 0:18:22.440 --> 0:18:23.800 do that one. I'm going to do that now. You 0:18:23.880 --> 0:18:25.760 just pass out when I need a director like I'm 0:18:25.760 --> 0:18:29.000 gonna faint. Oh my god, you've upset me some boom 0:18:29.200 --> 0:18:31.639 boom fall. Just fall down. Just let him kick you. 0:18:31.720 --> 0:18:33.960 It doesn't matter. So laid down so if you're lame dude, 0:18:33.960 --> 0:18:35.320 half awake, come up and kick you did he kind 0:18:35.320 --> 0:18:38.520 of poke you with his boot. He poked me. He 0:18:38.680 --> 0:18:42.200 poked me with a boot. Seriously, No, you know this foot. 0:18:42.320 --> 0:18:44.480 You know he poked me because you wake up your 0:18:44.480 --> 0:18:48.280 silly some what you cussing kidding me? I wouldn't open 0:18:48.320 --> 0:18:50.720 my eyes at all because I was just in my mind. 0:18:50.760 --> 0:18:53.280 I said, just stay here all day, just say they 0:18:53.320 --> 0:18:55.639 can't wake make you wake up. So they put some 0:18:56.040 --> 0:19:01.040 that chlora what's that stuff under ether under your nose. Yeah, 0:19:01.080 --> 0:19:03.960 well I didn't still wake up. I just breathed really 0:19:04.040 --> 0:19:07.480 deeply like yoga. You know, no, I was doing this 0:19:07.640 --> 0:19:11.560 iron vading breathing of smelling souls. That's how obstinate you were. 0:19:11.720 --> 0:19:14.360 I was not going to wake up. He couldn't get 0:19:14.400 --> 0:19:16.879 me up. Was the conclusion with this what happened, I'm 0:19:16.920 --> 0:19:19.120 assuming because you're here, you eventually got up. He walked 0:19:19.160 --> 0:19:21.320 away from it, and he said, she's faking. I know 0:19:21.480 --> 0:19:24.320 she's faking, and I'm gonna kill a little kid. And 0:19:24.960 --> 0:19:28.560 then he became amused by it because he thought he 0:19:29.040 --> 0:19:31.639 knew I was faking, but I wasn't going to wake up, 0:19:31.680 --> 0:19:33.600 and he kind of respected you a little bit. I 0:19:33.720 --> 0:19:36.240 wasn't going awake. He knew I wouldn't do it. I 0:19:36.440 --> 0:19:39.520 was a lot like Hathaway say, so you really aren't 0:19:39.560 --> 0:19:44.600 this wholesome that Nazarine from Burnbank. You're with me, you 0:19:44.680 --> 0:19:47.800 can feel like trouble day trouble, but no, I just 0:19:47.920 --> 0:19:53.920 get very wilful. I'm aries, I'm born April Fool's Day. 0:19:54.640 --> 0:19:58.680 Who's a director that you loved? I really loved all 0:19:58.800 --> 0:20:03.359 the directors. I loved Hathaway too. I became very dear 0:20:03.440 --> 0:20:09.840 friends and visited together areas are you're in areas and 0:20:10.160 --> 0:20:12.520 I'm not big on astrology, but people who are areas there, 0:20:12.560 --> 0:20:14.280 we say they love to bury the hatchet and have 0:20:14.440 --> 0:20:17.040 people get along. And even though you can have a 0:20:17.080 --> 0:20:19.040 bad temper and you can have grudges against people, they 0:20:19.040 --> 0:20:21.320 don't laugh. You just speak up right. You're kind of 0:20:21.440 --> 0:20:23.920 rigorously honest if we if you will, but for you, 0:20:24.480 --> 0:20:26.840 you buried the hatchet with Hathaway and he became a friend. 0:20:27.280 --> 0:20:29.600 You're someone that doesn't like the hold of grudge with people. No, 0:20:29.800 --> 0:20:32.440 I don't, but I'm rather like an elephant. I I 0:20:32.640 --> 0:20:39.080 remember everything. And Debbie Reynolds has had her share of 0:20:39.240 --> 0:20:43.000 hatchets to Bury. In nineteen fifty five, she married singer 0:20:43.160 --> 0:20:46.160 Eddie Fisher. It was the show business wedding of the year. 0:20:46.760 --> 0:20:50.280 Four years later, Fisher famously left Reynolds for her best friend, 0:20:50.600 --> 0:20:54.600 Elizabeth Taylor, whose husband had recently died in an airplane accident, 0:20:55.160 --> 0:20:57.399 but she patched things up with Elizabeth the years later. 0:20:57.720 --> 0:21:00.159 They had known each other since they were kids. You know, 0:21:00.200 --> 0:21:01.680 when a man wants to go, he wants to go, 0:21:01.840 --> 0:21:05.720 he goes. I've learned that that certainly, So of course 0:21:05.800 --> 0:21:08.959 I forgave her years after that, because she she forgave her. 0:21:09.040 --> 0:21:13.040 So Marriages two and three were less public, but no 0:21:13.200 --> 0:21:17.120 less painful for Reynolds. Now she's sworn off that institution. 0:21:17.760 --> 0:21:20.120 In a minute, she'll talk about her relationship with her daughter, 0:21:20.400 --> 0:21:26.240 actress Carrie Fisher. I'm Alec Baldwin, and here's the thing. 0:21:26.760 --> 0:21:30.520 Take a listen to our archive more in depth conversations 0:21:30.600 --> 0:21:35.440 with artists, policymakers and directors like Judd Apatow. I need 0:21:35.760 --> 0:21:39.800 constant approval of my writing as I'm doing it, so 0:21:40.040 --> 0:21:46.720 I will show people the first scene, the first ten pages. Anybody, 0:21:48.080 --> 0:21:51.240 listen to more of my conversation with judd apataw at, 0:21:51.320 --> 0:21:59.639 here's the thing, dot Org. This is Alec Baldwin. My 0:22:00.240 --> 0:22:04.400 is Debbie Reynolds. In six she played Albert Brooks mother 0:22:04.600 --> 0:22:08.120 in his film Mother. It was her first starring role 0:22:08.480 --> 0:22:14.399 in over twenty five years. The other one is he 0:22:14.520 --> 0:22:17.320 staying with me for a while. In real life, Debbie 0:22:17.440 --> 0:22:20.639 is mother to Carry Fisher, who introduced Debbie to her 0:22:20.720 --> 0:22:24.320 friend Albert Brooks. Carrie Fisher is of course a star 0:22:24.480 --> 0:22:28.399 in her own right. Her solo show Wishful Drinking discusses 0:22:28.440 --> 0:22:32.159 her battles with drugs, alcohol, manic depression, and being the 0:22:32.320 --> 0:22:37.919 child of Hollywood royalty. It's poignant and hilarious. Having waited 0:22:38.080 --> 0:22:41.320 my entire life to get an award for something, you know, anything, 0:22:41.400 --> 0:22:44.240 I don't care. All right, fine, not acting, but what 0:22:44.400 --> 0:22:47.880 about like a tiny one for writing? I now get 0:22:47.960 --> 0:22:52.480 awards all the time for being mentally ill. I am 0:22:52.560 --> 0:22:55.600 apparently very good at it, and I get honored for 0:22:55.720 --> 0:23:00.400 it regularly. So she is so funny. Oh, yes, she's idiot. 0:23:01.080 --> 0:23:04.280 She's a brilliant. The children were really little. I was 0:23:04.440 --> 0:23:06.880 very worried about my health. I was on the road 0:23:07.000 --> 0:23:10.240 and I was just working like mad in Vaudeville, and 0:23:10.680 --> 0:23:14.560 I was concerned and the children were very small, and 0:23:14.840 --> 0:23:17.960