Fisher, Carrie Frances
, 1956-2016, American actress and author, b. Burbank, Ca.
Fisher’s parents were singer Eddie Fisher and actress/dancer Debbie
Reynolds, who
divorced when she was two years old. She made her acting debut appearing
with her mother on Broadway in the revival of the musical
Irene (1973). She had a memorable cameo in Warren
Beatty’s
comedy Shampoo (1975), and then became a major film star
portraying Princess Leia in George Lucas’s Star Wars
franchise, appearing in the first three released films (1977;
The Empire Strikes Back, 1980, and Return of
the Jedi, 1983). In the ‘80s, she gained recognition for
her sardonic character parts in films like Hannah and Her
Sisters (1986) and When Harry Met
Sally… (1989). Her 1987 roman a clef, Postcards
from the Edge, was a best seller, and subsequently was made
into a film (1990). Her one-woman show, Wishful Drinking,
premiered in 2006 in Los Angeles and subsequently she took the show around
the country, including a run at New York’s Studio 54 (2009-10). Her
novel, Surrender the Pink, was published in 2012. She
returned to the Star Wars franchise, appearing in
The Force Awakens (2015), The Last Jedi
(2017), and, using previously shot footage, after her passing in
The Rise of Skywalker. Her memoir, The Princess
Diarist, was published in 2016, which tells the story of her
participation in the first three Star Wars films. She
suffered from bipolar disorder and periods of alcohol and drug abuse.
See biography by S. Weller (2019); Bright Lights: Starring Carrie Fisher
and Debbie Reynolds (2016, doc. film).
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