ANOTHER entertainment icon has died. According to reports, Carrie Fisher, who played Princess Leia in the Star Wars series, died on Tuesday. She was 60. Apparently, Fisher had suffered a massive heart attack last week on board a flight bound for Los Angeles.
Reports indicate a medic on the flight performed CPR on the iconic actress until paramedics arrived to take her to the UCLA Medical Centre where medical staff placed her on a ventilator. Her daughter, Billie Lourd confirmed today that her mother had passed away at 8.55am this morning.
Fisher was the daughter of acclaimed actress Debbie Reynolds and singer, Eddie Fisher. She debuted on broadway as a teenager in Irene, alongside her mother. She made her movie screen debut in 1975 in Shampoo. She landed the role of Princess Leia in George Lucas’s space cult epic, Star Wars in 1977, and dropped out of college as a result.
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Fisher suffered with mental illness having been diagnosed with bipolar disorder, a fact that she openly discussed. It was known that she abused drugs and admitted that she had taken cocaine throughout the filming of The Empire Strikes Back. Her one-woman play and memoir Wishful Drinking also tackled her battle with addiction.
In addition to playing Leia in the Star Wars trilogy and in Star Wars: The force Awakens in 2015, she also starred in The Blues Brothers, When Harry Met Sally, Woody Allen’s Hannah and Her Sisters and The ‘Burbs.
carrie fisher was royalty. stay safe in that galaxy far, far away. pic.twitter.com/BWJI9h99nM
— Ryan Simpkins (@ryan_the_ryan) December 27, 2016
Oh my gosh… Not her, too. :'( #RIPCarrie Thank you for bringing a confident, badass princess to the big screen and to our hearts. <3
— Sara Letourneau ✍📖📚 (@Sara_HeartStory) December 27, 2016
Carrie Fisher. Princess. Outspoken mental health advocate. Author. Script Doctor. Feminist. Complete and utter badass. Thank you. #RIPCarrie
— ✨aly✨ (@alyms26) December 27, 2016
Inspiring, entertaining & a real cultural icon. Rest in peace Carrie Fisher – a true talent who will be much missed. pic.twitter.com/J7USO1uDe2
— Sadiq Khan (@SadiqKhan) December 27, 2016
In 1990, Fisher turned her semi-autobiographical memoir Postcards From the Edge, which centred around her addiction and rehab experiences as well as her relationship with her mother, into a film starring Meryl Streep. She received a BAFTA nomination for Best Screenplay for the film, and Streep earned a Best Actress Academy Award nomination for playing Fisher’s alter ego “Suzanne” in the film.
Fisher penned four novels and was briefly married to singer-songwriter Paul Simon. The couple were married for a year in 1983. She leaves her only daughter, Billie Lourd the product of her longterm relationship with talent agent Bryan Lourd.
