Carrie Fisher, a daughter of classic Hollywood who rose to stardom as Princess Leia in the original “Star Wars” trilogy, died Tuesday at UCLA Medical Center. She was 60.
Fisher’s death came four days after she suffered a massive heart attack on a flight from London to Los Angeles International Airport on Friday.
As news of her death spread, Fisher’s mother and former co-workers shared touching tributes to the iconic actress.
“Thank you to everyone who has embraced the gifts and talents of my beloved and amazing daughter,” her mother, Debbie Reynolds, shared on Facebook along with a family photo. “I am grateful for your thoughts and prayers that are now guiding her to her next stop.”
Former “Star Wars” co-star Harrison Ford called Fisher an “original” talent unlike any other.
“Carrie was one-of-a-kind. Funny and emotionally fearless,” Ford said in a statement. “She lived her life, bravely. My thoughts are with her daughter Billie, her mother Debbie, her brother Todd, and her many friends. We will all miss her.”
Born in Beverly Hills to musical comedy superstar Reynolds and singing sensation Eddie Fisher, Carrie became an acclaimed writer and world class wit. Her unfiltered revelations about her struggles with fame, addiction and mental health issues drew praise and earned her a Harvard cultural humanism award earlier this year.
• PHOTOS: Actress, author Carrie Fisher dies at 60
It was, however, her portrayal of rebel leader Princess Leia Organa in George Lucas’ first “Star Wars” movie, now called “Episode IV — A New Hope” (1977) and its sequels, “The Empire Strikes Back” (1980) and “Return of the Jedi” (1983), that made her an eternal movie icon.
Unafraid to sport Leia’s signature round sidebuns on screen or that revealing metal slave bikini, Fisher played Leia as an equally courageous warrior well before strong women were common in American movies.
“In ‘Star Wars’ she was our great and powerful princess — feisty, wise and full of hope in a role that was more difficult than most people might think,” Lucas said in a statement Tuesday. “She will be missed by all.”
Fisher returned to the role, this time as an older, disillusioned but still committed Gen. Leia Organa in last year’s hit Disney revival of the “Star Wars” franchise, “The Force Awakens.”
A digitally rejuvenated Fisher appears as Leia originally did at the end of the current film that’s now in theaters — “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.”
TMZ reported Tuesday that Fisher’s role in next year’s “Star Wars: Episode VIII” was completed before her death. Neither Lucasfilm nor Disney would confirm that report by the time of this writing.
“She had an indomitable spirit, incredible wit and a loving heart,” Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy acknowledged in a statement. “Carrie also defined the female hero of our age over a generation ago. Her groundbreaking role as Princess Leia served as an inspiration of power and confidence for young girls everywhere. We will miss her dearly.”
That spirit, subversive humor and fearlessness were evident from the start of Fisher’s professional career. Her first movie role was as a teenager aggressively hot for Warren Beatty’s hairdresser in one of the smartest films of the 1970s, “Shampoo.” Though she would forever become associated with Leia, Fisher built a respectable filmography with parts in “The Blues Brothers” (1980), Woody Allen’s “Hannah and Her Sisters” (1986), “The ’Burbs” and “When Harry Met Sally” (both 1989), “Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery” (1997) and many others. She made her mark in television, too, with memorable turns on “Frasier,” “Sex and the City,” “30 Rock,” “Entourage” and “The Big Bang Theory.” She also was the voice of Angela on the animated “Family Guy.”
• RELATED STORY: Fans pay tribute to Carrie Fisher on Hollywood Boulevard
Fisher was returning from taping her recurring role for the upcoming season of the Netflix series “Catastrophe” — which is shot in London — when she suffered the heart attack.
It was through her writing, however, that Fisher arguably became as famous as Princess Leia.
Her first novel in 1987, “Postcards from the Edge,” was a fictionalized account of a very Carrie-like actress named Suzanne’s struggle to rebuild her career following a drug overdose. Although the mother figure isn’t prominent in the book, she is in the screenplay that Fisher wrote for Mike Nichols’ 1990 movie adaptation that starred Meryl Streep as Suzanne and Shirley MacLaine as her difficult actress mom, whom many presumed was based on Reynolds.
Fisher’s other novels included “Surrender the Pink,” “Delusions of Grandma” and “The Best Awful There Is.” Her first memoir, “Wishful Drinking” (2008), was based on her successful, one-woman stage show. It recounted, in self-deprecating and sometimes excruciating detail, such lowlights in Fisher’s life as her father dumping her mother for Elizabeth Taylor, her on-and-off relationship with Paul Simon (their brief marriage is chronicled in his song “Hearts and Bones”), the later relationship with talent agent Bryan Lourd, which produced her daughter Billie Catherine Lourd before he left Fisher for a man, and the death of lobbyist Greg Stevens at her home, which she believed his ghost subsequently haunted.
The 2011 “Shockaholic” featured more such musings, with emphasis on her alcohol and drug addictions and shock therapy for her bipolar condition. Her latest memoir, last month’s “The Princess Diarist,” caused gossip shock waves because of Fisher’s claim that she and the then-married Ford had an affair while filming “Star Wars.”
Fisher also wrote the script for the 2001 TV movie “These Old Broads,” which starred Reynolds, Taylor and MacLaine. She was a successful Hollywood script doctor, who had a hand in polishing the dialogue for “Hook,” “Sister Act,” “Lethal Weapon 3” and “The Wedding Singer.”
Beside her actress daughter and mother — she lived next door to Reynolds in Beverly Hills — Fisher is survived by a brother, Todd, and half sisters Joely and Tricia Leigh Fisher, all also show business professionals.
The 2015 documentary “Bright Lights: Starring Carrie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds,” a look at both women’s careers and their complex relationship, is scheduled to screen at the Palm Springs International Film Festival next month.
