Carrie Fisher, the storied film actor best known as Princess Leia in the Star Wars franchise, died December 27 after suffering a massive heart attack December 23 during a flight from London to Los Angeles. Fisher was 60 years old.
The news of Fisher’s death was confirmed by her publicist Simon Halls, who released a statement to People on behalf of Fisher’s daughter, Billie Lourde.
“It is with a very deep sadness that Billie Lourd confirms that her beloved mother Carrie Fisher passed away at 8:55 this morning. She was loved by the world and she will be missed profoundly. Our entire family thanks you for your thoughts and prayers.”
Fisher made her Broadway debut as Debutante in Irene, which opened in 1973 starring her mother, Debbie Reynolds. She also originated the role of Iris in Censored Scenes from King Kong. In 1982, she replaced Amanda Plummer as the title role in Broadway’s Agnes of God.
She returned to the Main Stem in 2009 with her solo show Wishful Drinking, for which she earned a Drama Desk nomination for Outstanding Solo Performance and won the Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Solo Performance. She went on to reprise the show as an HBO special in 2010. The TV movie earned a Primetime Emmy nomination in 2011 for Outstanding Variety, Music or Comedy Special.
“I was street smart,” Fisher told Playbill.com in 2009, “but unfortunately the street was Rodeo Drive. … So many people want to be famous, like that’s going to solve everything,” says the gal who’s done that, been there and got the T-shirt. I try to find the ordinary part of extraordinary. I know people know that celebrities aren’t just a bunch of happy people skipping around, but I also think a lot of people don’t believe that. Even though they know they don’t, they think they do on some level. But, for me, I’m just trying to make peace with things you normally can’t make peace with. It’s the best alchemy you can do--to take unhappy situations and turn them into funny gold. They say, ‘The truth’ll set you free,’ but, once it sets you free, it rarely makes you laugh. It should set you free and make you laugh. That’s a better deal.”
She is the daughter of Hollywood notables Debbie Reynolds and Eddie Fisher.
