Margie Duncan, a ‘60s dancer and actress who was also a stand-in for her pal Debbie Reynolds, has died. She was 92.
Duncan’s son, Mark Rich, confirmed the matriarch’s passing to Fox News Digital on Wednesday. She died on Jan. 3 after a brief illness in her Los Angeles, California, home, her family told The Hollywood Reporter on Wednesday.
Duncan was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on Sept. 4, 1930. She was the older of two daughters. Duncan performed in her hometown and at the Academy of Music, where she became an accomplished tap dancer. According to the outlet, one of her contemporaries was Eddie Fisher, a singer who later married Reynolds from 1955 until 1959.
According to the outlet, Duncan moved to New York City after graduating from Callihan’s Catholic School. While she was performing at the Versailles nightclub, Fisher brought along Reynolds, his fiancée at the time, to see her show. They were formally introduced afterward during a late supper. Duncan later recalled that she and Reynolds were wearing the same outfit and looked like sisters.
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From left: Eddie Fisher, Debbie Reynolds, Bernie Rich and Margie Duncan at the Stork Club in New York City, circa 1954. The meeting led to a decades-long friendship between the women.
(Courtesy of Mark Rich)
Duncan married Fisher’s best friend from high school, Bernie Rich, the same year Fisher and Reynolds said, “I do.” Duncan and Rich welcomed their firstborn, a son named Michael, in 1956. He was born one day before Reynolds and Fisher had their first child, daughter Carrie Fisher. The outlet noted that the women were pregnant at the same time again in 1958 and had their second kids within a three-week span.
Duncan and Rich divorced in 1968. She had a brief second marriage to Sheldon Kaufman.
As a stand-in for Reynolds, Duncan worked closely with choreographers on set and then taught the routines to her friend. She served as a stand-in for 1961’s “The Second Time Around,” 1964’s “The Unsinkable Molly Brown” and 1966’s “The Singing Nun,” which all starred Reynolds.
The women collaborated in other ways. The outlet shared that during the late 1970s, Reynolds called upon Duncan when she wanted to create a space for professional dancers to rehearse. Duncan transformed a building in North Hollywood into a studio while Reynolds was on the road.
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Margie Duncan and Debbie Reynolds remained close friends until Reynolds’ death in 2016.
(Courtesy of Mark Rich)
Duncan ran DR Studios, where Michael Jackson famously rehearsed “Thriller.” For more than three decades, stars like Madonna, Bette Midler and Ann-Margret visited the studio to work on their routines.
Reynolds passed away in 2016, one day after her daughter Carrie. She was 84. It was then that Duncan retired from DR Studios. According to the outlet, she spent her final years going ballroom dancing every week.
Margie Duncan stayed active by taking exercise classes and going ballroom dancing.
(Courtesy of Mark Rich)
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Duncan is survived by her sons Michael and Mark, a daughter named Elisa, a sister named Joan, as well as her grandchildren Evelyn, Tony and Gina.