Harry Karl was married to actress/singer Debbie Reynolds. He was President of the Karl Shoe chain.

Businessman. In 1952, Karl took over as president of Karl's Shoe Stores, which at that time was the nation's largest privately held retail shoe chain. Between 1947 and 1958, he was married twice to actress Marie McDonald. In 1954, she was charged with driving under the influence of drugs and hit-and-run and he was charged with felonious assault when he tried to run down two cameramen with his car outside the courthouse. In late 1959, he was married for less than a month to actress Joan Perry Cohn, who was the widow of motion-picture pioneer Harry Cohn. The following year he married Debbie Reynolds after her divorce from Eddie Fisher. Their marriage lasted 13 years. Reynolds later found herself in financial difficulty because of Karl's gambling and bad investments. He died at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center one day after open-heart surgery.