Billie Lourd shared a touching tribute to her late grandmother Debbie Reynolds on what would’ve been her 94th birthday on Wednesday.
The 33-year-old nepo baby – who boasts 1.3 million Instagram followers – captioned a clip of the legendary screen star singing I Ain’t Down Yet in Charles Walters’ 1964 musical The Unsinkable Molly Brown: ‘Happy birthday, Abadaba!’
Reynolds frequently said portraying the real-life tomboy-turned-Titanic survivor was her favorite role of her nearly seven-decade career, and she was even nominated for an Academy Award but lost to Mary Poppins star Julie Andrews.
The Texan-born triple threat went on to quote that song while accepting her lifetime achievement award at the 2015 Actor Awards: ‘In that movie I got to sing a wonderful song I Ain’t Down Yet. Well, I ain’t! Thank you all very much for this wonderful award.’
Reynolds is also fondly remembered for her roles in Three Little Words (1950), Singin’ in the Rain (1952), Bundle of Joy (1956), The Catered Affair (1956), Tammy and the Bachelor (1957), The Mating Game (1959), How the West Was Won (1962), Mother (1996) and In & Out (1997).
The five-time Golden Globe nominee – whose later years involved cabaret crooning and memorabilia collecting – also scored a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1997 and the Academy honored her with a Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award in 2016.
Billie Lourd shared a touching tribute to her late grandmother Debbie Reynolds on what would’ve been her 94th birthday on Wednesday (pictured in 2015)
Reynolds’ final onscreen acting performance was portraying Liberace’s mother Frances in HBO’s critically-acclaimed 2013 biopic Behind the Candelabra starring Michael Douglas and Matt Damon.
It’s been nearly a decade since Miss Burbank 1948 passed away, at age 84, from a hemorrhagic stroke on December 28, 2016 – one day after her famous daughter Carrie Fisher died, at age 60, in 2016 from sleep apnea and drug use.
A portion of the Star Wars icon-turned-writer’s ashes remain with Reynolds in their shared crypt at the Hollywood Hills section of Forest Lawn Memorial Park in LA.
Lourd inherited her family’s $18 million Beverly Hills compound and she’s now a mother to two children – son Kingston, five, and daughter Jackson, three – from her four-year marriage to husband Austen Rydell.
The Adulthood actress and the 33-year-old nepo-grandson of director Mark Rydell are co-producing Josh Plasse’s upcoming PTSD dramedy The Pirate King as well as Kent Jones’ upcoming poetry drama Late Fame.
On December 27, Lourd shared a post about grief and gushed over how much joy she gets watching her father Bryan Lourd interact with his grandchildren.
‘The kind of joy that makes your face hurt because you can’t stop smiling, the kind of joy that makes you feel like your life is a movie you thought only existed in movies,’ the Very Jonas Christmas Movie star wrote on Instagram.
‘Then I started thinking about how this joy wouldn’t be possible without my mom. This joy only exists because she existed. So even though she is not physically part of this joy, she is part of the reason for it. Even though she is not alive she lives on through this joy.’
Lourd continued: ‘As my mom wisely said, “Nothing is ever really over. Just over there.” My momby’s life isn’t really over. Just over there – in my kids and in this joy I’m able to experience because of her. Thank you momby. I will never stop missing you.’
The 33-year-old nepo baby captioned a clip of the legendary screen star singing I Ain’t Down Yet in Charles Walters’ 1964 musical The Unsinkable Molly Brown: ‘Happy birthday, Abadaba!’
Reynolds frequently said portraying the real-life tomboy-turned-Titanic survivor was her favorite role of her nearly seven-decade career, and she was even nominated for an Academy Award but lost to Mary Poppins star Julie Andrews
The Texan-born triple threat went on to quote that song while accepting her lifetime achievement award at the 2015 Actor Awards: ‘In that movie I got to sing a wonderful song I Ain’t Down Yet. Well, I ain’t! Thank you all very much for this wonderful award’
Reynolds is also fondly remembered for her roles in Three Little Words, Singin’ in the Rain, Bundle of Joy, The Catered Affair, Tammy and the Bachelor, The Mating Game, How the West Was Won, Mother and In & Out (pictured in 1955)
It’s been nearly a decade since the honorary Oscar winner passed away, at age 84, from a hemorrhagic stroke on December 28, 2016 – one day after her famous daughter Carrie Fisher (R) died, at age 60, in 2016 from sleep apnea and drug use
A portion of the Star Wars icon-turned-writer’s ashes remain with Reynolds in their shared crypt at the Hollywood Hills section of Forest Lawn Memorial Park in LA (pictured in 2018)
Lourd inherited her family’s $18 million Beverly Hills compound and she’s now a mother to two children – son Kingston, five, and daughter Jackson, three – from her four-year marriage to husband Austen Rydell (pictured January 3)
Lourd’s father – CAA co-chairman Bryan Lourd – helped broker her $3 million book deal with Penguin Press she signed last month to write a larger-than-life story about her singular upbringing (pictured December 27)
It was the 65-year-old CAA co-chairman who helped broker his daughter’s $3 million book deal with Penguin Press she signed last month to write a larger-than-life story about her singular upbringing – according to Page Six Hollywood.
Lourd will next appear in the Coven-themed 13th season of FX’s American Horror Story alongside Evan Peters, Sarah Paulson, Emma Roberts, Kathy Bates, Angela Bassett, Leslie Grossman, Jessica Lange, Gabourey Sidibe and Ariana Grande.
The Ryan Murphy regular – whose godmother is Meryl Streep – will also portray Lizzie Borden’s (Ella Beatty) older sister Emma in the next chapter of Netflix anthology series Monster centering on the notorious 19th century axe murderer.
Lourd’s other upcoming acting roles include Luca Guadagnino’s OpenAI-themed comedy Artificial, Joey Power’s rom-com Love Language and Matt Sukkar’s crime thriller The Deputy.
