Debbie Reynolds

Initially signed at age sixteen by Warner Bros., Reynolds' career got off to a slow start. When her contract was not renewed, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) gave her a small but significant part in the film Three Little Words (1950) starring Fred Astaire and Red Skelton, then signed her to a seven-year contract. In her next film, Two Weeks with Love (1950), she had a hit with the song "Aba Daba Honeymoon". However, it was her first leading role, in Singin' in the Rain (1952) with Gene Kelly and Donald O'Connor, that set her on the path to fame. By the mid-1950s, she was a major star.