May The Force Be With Her – Carrie Fisher Dies at 60

When the news of Carrie Fisher’s recent illness was announced a few days ago, there was a great deal of support for the much-loved Hollywood actress.  Then yesterday when we heard that she was in a stable condition, fans hopes were bolstered.  Although today, I’m sad to announce that she has passed away at the age of 60.  Her first break into acting was with her celebrity mother Debbie Reynolds in the TV Movie ‘Debbie Reynolds and the Sound of Children’.  She was born into celebrity with both parents being popular actors, her father being the popular actor Eddie Fisher.  Although they were known as Hollywood Sweethearts, her parents would later divorce due to Eddie’s affair with Elizabeth Taylor who he would later go on to marry.

This Gorgeous Smile

Fisher will always be remembered for her role as Princess Leia Organa in the Star Wars movies, delivering some of the best lines and creating memorable moments with her co-star Harrison Ford:

“Mark was 24, I was 19 and Harrison was 33.  He was like the big man on campus.  You looked at him and you said to yourself, ‘He’s going to be a star’”

She had a few thoughts on her own character too,

Leia is not a real character. She is more of a caricature, and is somewhat one-dimensional. It’s not really possible to write out a list of Princess Leia’s likes and dislikes. I do know her favourite colour, though, it’s white. She wears white all the time. But that doesn’t help me much.”

There are many of Fisher’s performances that stand out for me, but top of the list would have to be the gun-toting, building demolishing jilted ex of John Belushi in Blues Brothers, although in real life she would later be engaged to the other ‘Brother’ Dan Aykroyd.Not limiting herself to acting, Carrie was also a very successful rewriter of many Hollywood scripts as well as writing her own novels, including her semi-autobiographical book about a struggling actress in Postcards from the Edge that was later made into an Oscar-nominated movie.  She had a tough relationship with drugs, alcohol and mental illness and is quoted as saying:

“I think of my body as a side effect of my mind.”

She would then take more of a back seat in supporting roles playing friends and advisors to the lead roles as small cameos until her triumphant return in The Force Awakens.  Her lineage will continue with her daughter Billie Lourd who she starred alongside in the force awakens. Her role as Leia continues over to the next episode in the franchise, Episode VIII which she had wrapped in July and it’s believed that she would have appeared in Episode IX too. It’s uncertain what the outcome may be for that film.

Her closest friends and co-stars have made statements of her passing. you can read them below

Her scruffy looking smuggler boyfriend, Han Solo (Harrison Ford) had this to say

“Carrie was one-of-a-kind… brilliant, original. Funny and emotionally fearless. 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,”

 


Star Wars Director, George Lucas said

“Carrie and I have been friends most of our adult lives. She was extremely smart; a talented actress, writer, and comedienne with a very colorful personality that everyone loved,”

Force Awakens Director, JJ Abrams left another one of his notes

Without trivializing the loss of an actress who will be missed for years to come… I think we can all agree 2016 can Fuck off

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