Debbie Reynolds, part of Hollywood’s golden era and mother of the late Star Wars actress Carrie Fisher, has passed away at the age of 84.

The veteran star’s death was confirmed last night after she had suffered a stroke. Tragically this came just one day after her daughter Carrie had died from a heart attack on Tuesday.

The devastating losses mark the end of one of Hollywood’s famous mother-daughter links with both actresses achieving great success throughout their careers.

While Carrie’s big break came through one of the biggest franchises in cinematic history, Debbie’s own screen career began through her accomplishment as a teen beauty which landed her a contract at Warner Bros.

In 1951, her talent as a singer and actress helped her land the role of charismatic chorus girl Kathy Selden in the musical classic Singin’ in the Rain. Though the film only managed to score two Oscar nominations, it has been widely regarded as one of the greatest pictures of all time.

Throughout the 1950s Debbie would achieve solid success with her lead role in the rom-com Tammy and the Bachelor (1957) for which she also sang the film’s title song. She would also star in the likes of The Tender Trap (1955), Bundle of Joy (1956), This Hard Feeling (1958), The Mating Game (1959) and The Gazebo (1959).

During that period, she would marry crooner Eddie Fisher and become a mother to two children, Carrie and her filmmaker-actor brother Todd. However the marriage notoriously when Eddie left his wife for Hollywood superstar Elizabeth Taylor in what was seen as one of Hollywood’s early cheating scandals.

Into the 60s, Debbie continued to do well with hit films including How the West was Won (1962), The Singing Nun (1966) and Divorce American Style (1967).

She also received her only (!) Oscar nomination for her lead role as Molly Brown, a poor and uneducated girl seeking a wealthy husband in the real-life bio-musical The Unsinkable Molly Brown (1964). A little known fact for many readers is that Brown would go on to become one of the Titanic Disaster’s most famous survivors.

After headlining her own series The Debbie Reynolds Show (1969-70), Debbie stayed out of the limelight throughout the 70s although she did contribute her voice to the role of kind-hearted spider Charlotte in the Roald Dahl animation Charlotte’s Web (1973).

Following another quiet period in the 1980s, Debbie’s combative relationship with daughter Carrie would become the subject of an auto-biographical novel-turned-film Postcards from the Edge (1990) which would star Meryl Streep and Shirley Maclaine.

In her later years, Debbie would make a cameo as herself in The Bodyguard (1992) and also receive her fifth Golden Globe nomination for playing Albert Brooks’s clingy mum in the dark comedy Mother (1996). She also played the mum of Kevin Kline in the homosexual-themed comedy In & Out (1997) and make ten guest appearances as Bobbi Adler in the hit US sitcom Will & Grace (1999-2006).

She then lent her voice to the role of Tommy Pickles’s grandmother in the animated series Rugrats (2000-02) as well as providing her vocals for Kim Possible (2003-07) and Family Guy.

Her last major screen appearance came when she played the old mother of controversial musician Liberace in the Emmy-award winning biopic Behind the Candelebra (2013).

Debbie and Carrie are survived by Todd Fisher and granddaughter / daughter Billie Lourd.