Gene Kelly’s widow takes a close look at Debbie Reynolds’ dancing skills

Seventy years later “Singing in the Rain” The MGM musical that debuted on screens is still as memorable as ever.

Patricia Ward Kelly, widow of movie star and director Gene Kelly, busted a few myths from the cult 1952 film, including the oft-told fable about co-star Debbie Reynolds. dancing skills.

“The real story is pretty magical — I don’t think it needs to be embellished,” Patricia said Yahoo! entertainment recently. “The fact is they’ve done this remarkable thing and everyone is at their game. The real story is a good story.”

The famous choreographer, who died in 1996, married Patricia in 1990.

Kelly’s widow first joked, “It would be nice if we could get some of that [the myths] stopped. A lot of the myths are printed in books and written down as fact, and they just aren’t.”

Reynolds was cast in the romantic comedy as aspiring actress Kathy Selden, who falls in love with Kelly’s aging silent film star, Don Lockwood. One rumor that plagued the film decades after its release was how she clashed with Kelly over her lack of dancing skills.

even she said the Sunday Express in 2013 how her “feet were bleeding from all the dancing” during filming. “If I didn’t smile, Gene would yell at me to smile more. During filming, I thought my cheeks would burst from all the smiles,” she recalled.

However, Patricia didn’t have it and told Yahoo! “Most of what [Debbie] said it was made up and would change over the years,” she noted.

She continued, “Gene said he didn’t see blood all over the floor like it was described.” She also pushed back Reynolds’ stories of doctors healing her because her feet were busted from late-night rehearsals .

“Even if you look at the production notes, you know exactly when she checked in and out and when she ate lunch. And when doctors are called to the set, it’s always noted. They just weren’t,’ Patricia clapped back.

She also shared her thoughts on how the “Anchors Aweigh” actor — whom she first met in 1985 when she was 26 and he was 73 — “chosen” Reynolds for the lead role. “Gene thought she was the perfect naïve,” she said, noting that he felt confident enough to teach her choreography and “make an inexperienced person look good on screen.”

“Gene always said they never imagined people would see the movie 70 years later,” she said, adding that Kelly thought his last musical would be 1951’s An American in Paris.