A life in pictures: Wife, mother and Hollywood legend Debbie Reynolds is remembered in iconic images taken before her death 

Hollywood legend Debbie Reynolds, who sang and danced her way into the hearts of millions of moviegoers around the world in musicals like 'Singin' in the Rain,' (above in 1952) died on Wednesday at age 84

Debbie Reynolds' first leading role was as Kathy Selden in Singin' in the Rain, in 1952, aged 19 -  the role that set her on the path to fame 

 Reynolds could not dance before she was signed by MGM and trained by the studio. She would later describe Kelly as a 'taskmaster' who 'worked her toenails to the ground' when they made the film (above) in 1952

By the mid-1950s, Reynolds was a major star and world renowned beauty. Above, the dainty actress hangs her legs over a swimming pool in 1954

In 1955, Reynolds married her first husband Eddie Fisher (pictured cutting their wedding cake together). The wedding was Hollywood's hottest ticket with both Reynolds and her groom carrying serious celebrity pedigree 

As a huge Hollywood A-lister, Reynolds flew out to entertain the troop at the 8th Army headquarters in Seoul, South Korea in May 1955

Renold's fame grew with leading roles in 'Susan Slept Here' with Dick Powell, 'The Tender Trap' with Frank Sinatra, and 'Tammy' (pictured) with Leslie Nielson. Reynolds' song 'Tammy' from her 1957 movie 'Tammy and the Bachelor' hit No. 1 on the singles charts. That year, she became a regular on 'The Eddie Fisher Show' broadcast by NBC

The actress had two children, Carrie and Todd Fisher, with her first husband, singer Eddie Fisher (pictured holding a three-month-old Carrie in January 1957)

Reynolds, pictured with her first husband Eddie Fisher in 1957, was good friends with fellow film star Liz Taylor, also pictured with her husband Mike Todd

But Reynolds' first marriage fell apart after her husband had an affair with Elizabeth Taylor, following the death of her husband in 1958 (pictured together in a Vegas hotel in 1958) 

Shocked by the betrayal, Reynolds told reporters at her Los Angeles home that she still loved Fisher despite the betrayal. He demanded a divorce and married Taylor within hours of receiving it

Reynolds had another child, Todd, with Eddie Fisher in 1958 before the couple divorced in 1959 (The actress is pictured with her children Carrie, 2, and Todd, 1, in 1959, while working long hours on the set of Say One For Me)

Despite losing her first husband in bitter public humiliation and later suffering two other failed marriages, Reynolds never relented in her love of motherhood. She described Carrie and her brother Todd as the 'lights of her life' until her death. Above, she is seen (left) as a new mother to Carrie in 1956 and (right) greeting her daughter after an afternoon nap in 1959

Reynolds married shoe magnate Harry Karl in 1959 (above together in 1962) The pair were together for 13 years until she left him, outraged he had squandered her fortune through gambling 

The Hollywood actress and mother-of-two went onto star across from Fred Astaire in The Pleasure of His Company (1961) 

And starred with the likes Henry Fonda, Gregory Peck and John Wayne in How The West Was Won in 1962 (above) 

 In 1964, she starred alongside Harve Presnell in The Unsinkable Molly Brown, a biographical film about socialite Molly Brown who survived the sinking of the Titanic.  Her titular performance earned her a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress

Debbie was such a household name by the mid-1960s, she was invited to leave her mark on the street outside Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood

Reynolds appeared in 1966 movie The Singing Nun, alongside Agnes Moorehead and Greer Garson 

In 1968, she showed off her figure in the comedy How Sweet It Is with James Garner

1970 film 'What's the Matter with Helen?' (pictured) turned out to be the last big screen acting role she would have for some 20 years. 'I didn't stop making movies. They stopped making me,' Reynolds told The New York Times in 1996

Reynolds went onto perform on cruise ships and in nightclubs and took to the stage in New York and London in the 1970s (pictured).

In 1972, Reynolds and her then 17-year-old daughter Carrie Fisher were photographed in matching fur for a school benefit at New York City's Town Hall 

Her second marriage, to shoe businessman Harry Karl, (pictured together in 1972) ended in 1973 after he gambled away most of her money. Financial reasons compelled her to keep working

Reynolds took to the stage in New York and London after she stopped starring in movies. Reynolds' theatrical performances took her to the West Coast, then in 1981, she returned to Broadway to take over the lead in 'Woman of the Year' (pictured) 

In 1984 she married her third husband, real estate developer Richard Hamlett, and they bought a Las Vegas hotel and casino, where she also performed (pictured at her hotel)

By 1983, Reynolds had a recurring role in the TV series 'Jennifer Slept Here, starring Ann Jillian, and the next year she created and starred in an exercise video, 'Do It Debbie's Way'. In 1987,  Reynolds starred in her first TV movie, 'Sadie and Son'

Reynolds starred as Sadie, while Brian McNamara player her son in the TV movie. The following year brought her written memoir, 'Debbie: My Life'

Reynolds married her third and final husband, real estate developer Richard Hamlett, in 1984 and their marriage lasted until 1996. Pictured above: Actress Ruta Lee and husband Webster Lowe, Jr. and Reynolds and husband Richard Hamlett together in 1991

Fisher and her mother reconciled in the 1990s. Reynolds would go on to describe it took her daughter '30 years to be happy with her' 

Actress Debbie Reynolds (C) and son, filmmaker Todd Fisher, and daughter, actress and screenwriter Carrie Fisher, arrive at a luncheon hosted by the American Film Institute September 17, 1998 

Debbie Reynolds and Joan Collins made a glamorous pair as they attended the 'Debbie Reynolds Alive and Fabulous' press night at the Apollo Theatre, London, in 2010

Debbie Reynolds announced her Alive and Fabulous tour in 2010 - a show based on her life where she exhibited her incredible wit

Both mother and daughter (pictured together at the 2011 Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards in Los Angeles, 2011) both shared long Hollywood careers, and an irreverant sense of humor

Reynolds (with her daughter actress Carrie Fisher after accepting her Lifetime Achievement award at the 21st annual Screen Actors Guild Awards in Los Angeles in 2015) passed away on Wednesday December 28, following a stroke, just one day after her Carrie died