Carrie Fisher was Hollywood royalty – on-screen and off. She passed away today after her sudden cardiac arrest over Christmas…
UPDATED 28th December – 7:00pm PST:
To compile the tragic news of Carrie Fisher’s death, we now learn her mother, Debbie Reynolds – a Hollywood star and veteran in her own right – was taken to hospital earlier today with breathing problems and she too has passed away, a mere day after her daughter. Two generations of a Hollywood dynasty lost within a week. Reynolds was 84.
Though sad, the news of Carrie Fisher’s passing was perhaps expected after the devastating cardiac arrest she suffered on a plane bound from the UK into LAX over the Christmas holiday, but fans and well-wishers found a new hope in the fact that the aircraft’s medical-personnel and fellow pilots had reportedly worked tirelessly to keep Fisher alive in the fifteen or so minutes between the condition appearing and the plane arriving at its destination. It was not known how those pivotal minutes would have ultimately affected her health had she managed to pull through, but the extra few days it gave the actress and her family is arguably beyond the counting.
As a performer, Carrie Frances Fisher made her first real debut in 1975’s Shampoo, but she was, of course, known to many generations as the Star Wars saga’s Princess/General Leia, one of cinema’s finest cosmic heroines and one of the first actresses to be no mere damsel-in-distress. She often gave Harrison Ford’s Han Solo a piece of her mind as well as her on-screen heart and the news – first mentioned in Fisher’s recent memoir The Princess Diarist – that the actors had had am off-screen tryst during filming was perhaps an answer to their romantic but never obstacle-free on-screen chemistry.
Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy was one of many paying tribute to Fisher as the news of her passing began to circulate early on Tuesday morning.
“She was Princess Leia to the world but a very special friend to all of us. She had an indomitable spirit, incredible wit, and a loving heart. 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.”
However, less known to casual film-goers was the significant impact she made as a ‘script-doctor’, hired to help finesse or rewrite key screenplays before they began filming. Films to which she put her pen and keyboard included the likes of Hook and then Lethal Weapon 3, Sister Act, The Wedding Singer and Outbreak to name but a few. She also rewrote some of her own dialogue for The Empire Strikes Back as cinematographer Will McCrabb also commented upon, posting a page from such on twitter… Se continued to rewrite scripts until around 2008, though dryly noted that the industry was changing and less willing to pay people like herself for her work without her having to ‘pitch’ those ideas first, despite her strong reputation.
Fisher’s off-screen life wasn’t without drama – she had a short and turbulent marriage to singer Paul Simon – but she channeled her problems with depression and alcohol into creative endeavours and helped turn her own novel Postcards from the Edge, inspired somewhat by her relationship with her own mother actress Debbie Reynolds into the award-winning film starring Meryl Streep and Shirley MacLaine.
Though her character makes a CGI appearance in Rogue One, Fisher herself appeared in the most recent Star Wars film The Force Awakens, reprising her famous role and it was expected Leia would feature in the next chapter of the story. It was speculated that her passing would demonstrably change some of those plans for that as-yet-untitled project but – in fact – she filmed her scenes for ‘Episode VIII‘ earlier this year and it is believed all her scenes, with an increased role, had been completed. However she was apparently due to appear in the following chapter as well – which will film in 2018 – so alterations will now take place for that.
Fisher appeared in the Channel 4 / Amazon series Catastrophe and had been filming scenes in the UK earlier in December and will be seen again in the third series of that show which will be broadcast in 2017. She had voiced Peter Griffin’s boss in several episodes of Family Guy. She had also cameo’d alongside James Earl Jones in an episode of The Big Bang Theory, playing herself.
“Men don’t age better than women, they’re just allowed to age,” she once noted but as she passed away at the age of 60, she and her wit remained timeless She noted in her book Wishful Drinking that she wanted her obituary to be simple: ‘I want it reported that I drowned in moonlight, strangled by my own bra…” a reference to George Lucas’ refusal to let her wear a bra (he said there were no bras in outer-space though later he apparently acknowledged there were gold bikinis…)
She is survived by her daughter Billie Catherine Lourd, from her relationship with talent agent Bryan Lourd and her most faithful companion, her bulldog Gary, a permanent fixture wherever she went. We offer our condolences to family, friends and fellow fans.
UPDATE:
Several key events have been organised to mark Fisher’s passing, including the famous Alamo Drafthouse Cinema.
