<P> Singin' in the Rain is a 1952 American musical - romantic comedy film directed and choreographed by Gene Kelly and Stanley Donen, starring Kelly, Donald O'Connor, and Debbie Reynolds . It offers a lighthearted depiction of Hollywood in the late 1920s, with the three stars portraying performers caught up in the transition from silent films to "talkies". </P> <P> The film was only a modest hit when first released . Donald O'Connor won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor--Motion Picture Musical or Comedy, and Betty Comden and Adolph Green won the Writers Guild of America Award for their screenplay, while Jean Hagen was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress . But it has since been accorded legendary status by contemporary critics, and is frequently regarded as the best movie musical ever made, and the best film ever made in the "Freed Unit" at Metro - Goldwyn - Mayer . It topped the AFI's Greatest Movie Musicals list and is ranked as the fifth - greatest American motion picture of all time in its updated list of the greatest American films in 2007 . In 1989, the United States Library of Congress selected the film for preservation in the National Film Registry . In Sight & Sound magazine's 2017 list of the 50 greatest films of all time, Singin' in the Rain placed 20th. . </P> <P> Don Lockwood (Gene Kelly) is a popular silent film star with humble roots as a singer, dancer, and stuntman . Don barely tolerates his vain, cunning, and shallow leading lady, Lina Lamont (Jean Hagen), though their studio, Monumental Pictures, links them romantically to increase their popularity . Lina is convinced they are in love, despite Don's protestations otherwise . </P> <P> At the premiere of his newest film, The Royal Rascal, Don tells the gathered crowd an exaggerated version of his life story, including his motto: "Dignity, always dignity ." His words are humorously contradicted by flashbacks showing him alongside his best friend Cosmo Brown (Donald O'Connor). To escape from his fans after the premiere, Don jumps into a passing car driven by Kathy Selden (Debbie Reynolds). She drops him off, but not before claiming to be a stage actress and sneering at his "undignified" accomplishments as a movie star . </P>

Who played lina lamont in singing in the rain