Debbie Reynolds accepted the Screen Actors Guild's lifetime achievement award from her daughter Sunday night, and promptly embarrassed Carrie Fisher with a story.
The 82-year-old entertainer recalled having "a big, ugly bun" in her best-known movie, Singin' in the Rain.
"I warned my daughter Carrie, be careful of any weird hairdo," Ms Reynolds said she advised Ms Fisher before playing Princess Leia in George Lucas' Star Wars.
Luckily, George gave her two buns," she said.
Ms Reynolds initially told the audience at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles that her favorite movie was Singin' in the Rain, her first major co-starring role in 1952 with Gene Kelly.
But later she also called The Unsinkable Molly Brown her favorite. She received her only Oscar nomination for the 1964 film.
"I got to sing a song called I Ain't Down Yet," she said. "Well, I ain't."
The acerbic Ms Fisher lovingly and bitingly celebrated her mother before turning over the mic.
"She has been more than a mother to me, not much, but definitely more," Ms Fisher said, noting her mother's advice on interior decorating and her personal life.
Ms Fisher narrated a video tribute to Reynolds, who has been in show business for 66 years. Her career began when she was signed by Warner Bros. after being crowned Miss Burbank at 16.
"Admittedly, I found it difficult to share my mother with her adoring fans who treated her like a member of their family," Ms Fisher said.
Ms Reynolds did not appear backstage to speak with the reporters.
Her most recent role came two years ago when she played Liberace's mother in HBO's Behind the Candelabra.
"I had the best teachers," Ms Reynolds said in recalling her career. "God gave us talent, so we're so fortunate."
