The remarkable performer, Gene Kelly, who passed away on February 2, 1996, became a colossal figure during Hollywood’s golden era through films such as An American in Paris, Cover Girl, and Brigadoon.
However, the 1952 film Singin’ in the Rain secured an enduring place in movie history. Behind the cameras, tensions ran high between Kelly and his co-star Debbie Reynolds.
Reynolds, at that time, was a fresh, emerging talent who had recently won a Golden Globe for her role in 1951’s Three Little Words.
Yet Kelly, who was an enormously celebrated performer and internationally acclaimed dancer, opposed having the young 19-year-old join such an ambitious project.
Due to this resistance, he pushed her to her absolute limits. Reynolds later described him as a “taskmaster” during filming.
In her 2013 autobiography, Unsinkable, she documented, “I was crying under the piano on one of my breaks. My feet were killing me, and my back was like it was broken.”
Additionally, the teenager was assigned some provocative scenes with the 39-year-old performer. She was uncomfortable performing those sequences.
Reynolds remembered: “In Singin’ In the Rain, Gene and I play two people falling in love. [During] one of the film’s many famous scenes, the camera comes down from an overhead crane as we kiss and ‘You Are My Lucky Star’ swells on the soundtrack.”
When the moment arrived for their romantic scene, she experienced far more than expected.
“The camera closed in,” Reynolds continued. “Gene took me tightly in his arms… and shoved his tongue down my throat.”
She shrieked: “Eww, what was that? !” before pulling away from Kelly and spitting on the floor.
Reynolds continued: “I ran around frantic, yelling for some Coca-Cola to cleanse my mouth. It was the early 1950s, and I was an innocent kid who had never been French-kissed.”
She revealed that “it felt like an assault”. She went on: “I was stunned that this 39-year-old man would do this to me.” Regrettably, the scene required completion. Production had progressed too far to make alterations at that stage.
They shot the kiss once more, and it appeared in the final film. Reynolds wasn’t alone in her criticism of Kelly’s on-set conduct.
Esther Williams also branded the actor as “a jerk” during filming of Take Me Out to the Ball Game.
She declared that collaborating with him was “pure misery”. Lana Turner perhaps had the worst experience.
In a choreographed fight scene, she insisted that Kelly throw her down “harder”.
Reflecting on the incident, he later admitted: “Like a fool, I broke her elbow.”
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.the-express.com ’
