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Feature: Debbie Reynolds: 'Unsinkable'

By PAT NASON, UPI Hollywood Reporter
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LOS ANGELES, July 10 (UPI) -- Debbie Reynolds is 70, well past the age when most people would prefer to be settled into retirement, but she shows no sign of slowing down -- in fact, she intends to keep performing until the bitter end.

Reynolds broke into Hollywood in the 1950 musical comedy "The Daughter of Rosie O'Grady" and became a star two years later in the legendary musical comedy "Singin' in the Rain." She went on to star in more than 70 feature films and TV movies, earning an Oscar nomination for "The Unsinkable Molly Brown" (1964) and a Golden Globe nomination for "Mother" (1996).

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She was nominated for a Golden Globe for "The Debbie Reynolds Show," a half-hour comedy that ran for one season on NBC in 1969. More recently, she has appeared frequently in guest-starring roles on such TV series as "Touched by an Angel" and "Will & Grace," earning en Emmy nomination in 2000 for her performance as Bobbi Adler, the mother of Grace Adler (Debra Messing).

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Forty-six weeks each year, Reynolds is touring the United States, performing her live stage show in engagements that can run, as a rule, anywhere from one night to five nights.

"I work on the road like George Burns did," said Reynolds. "My home is on the road. I want to stay on the road until I drop dead, and then I'm going to have myself stuffed, like (the late Roy Rogers' horse) Trigger."

Reynolds said she puts together a new show each year. She acknowledges that all that work -- the travel, the singing, and the dancing -- is reasonably good for her health.

"It keeps you in good shape, but as you go on you have problems," she said.

Reynolds is frank to admit that she is dealing with a health issue that is fairly commonplace in people her age -- bladder control trouble. Like other entertainers of her generation, she has signed on as a spokeswoman for a pharmaceutical company.

The entertainer has launched a program called "Standing Ovations," intended to promote Detrol (tolterodine tartrate), raise awareness about overactive bladder and encourage people to speak with their doctors if they think the have a problem.

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Reynolds said she will remain active in promoting awareness of other health problems as well.

"I have osteoporosis," she said, "which I shall always campaign for."

Reynolds said bladder control problems can be especially tricky for someone in her line of work.

"A regular job where you go to work and you have a very consistent schedule, it's much easier to stay healthier," she said. "When you get on three or four planes a week you realize if you have certain problems you have to deal with them."

Reminded that Hollywood veteran June Allyson took some ribbing when she made TV commercials for incontinence products, Reynolds said that all kidding aside, such products can mean the difference between going out or staying at home full-time for many older people. She said people who are not old yet, but will be soon enough, ought to think ahead.

"Well, everybody is going to need it," she said. "We can make jokes about a lot of things. I don't care if you're in the gym two or three hours a day. I'm a dancer. I'm an athlete -- have been my whole life. I've been very good about looking after my body because I knew I wanted to use it a long time. I'm not embarrassed to talk about any condition that comes to me."

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After all these years in show business, Reynolds said she can't think of anything she likes better than to make an audience laugh.

"There's nothing quite like a big laugh, an enormous yuk," she said. "That's the greatest feeling in the world, when you hear a spontaneous belly laugh."

Reynolds said she is booked through next year, with plans to play Laughlin, Nev. on New Year's Eve and a return engagement on "Will & Grace."

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