Carrie Fisher

Diagnoses

Vocation

Notable

Family

American actress, author, playwright and noted family, the daughter of America's sweethearts, Debbie Reynolds and Eddie Fisher. She barely saw her dad as her folks divorced when she was two. She spent years longing for her distant father, who was involved in his own drug and drink demons. After his memoirs came out in 1999, "Been There, Done That," both Carrie or her brother Todd gave up on dealing with their dad. Her career began with skits at home and her mom put her in mother-daughter nightclub act at age 13, in effect, to keep her nearby when performing in Vegas and Reno. At 15, Fisher was in the chorus of "Irene." In her film debut,1975, she played a nymphet in "Shampoo." She scored a major smash hit as five foot one inch Princess Leia in "Star Wars." She later remarked that it was "the family business," and not what she would have chosen, had it not simply been there. She had a three-month affair with her co-star Harrison Ford during the filming of Star Wars in 1976. By her 20s, Fisher had learned to keep her life in perpetual crisis, a drug abuser from about 22 to 28. She was hanging out with the gang from "Saturday Night Live" who shared her skewed humor and drugs of choice and noted that if she did not have a sense of humor, she would not have survived. By that time she was famed as Leia, and filmed the third Star Wars while struggling with addiction. An overdose forced her into rehab at 28, where she spent five weeks before plumbing into full-time writing. "Postcards from the Edge" was published in 1987 and turned into a major film. When life closed in, Carrie would take off on impulsive travel (India, Nepal, China, the middle-East) or compulsive shopping (a $25,000 lamp on the piano, fur coats for gift items). An actress turned best-selling author, she was hired to write the screenplay for her book. Her other books include "Surrender the Pink" and "Delusions of Grandma," 1974. Writing from the age of 11, she also went into scripts and screenwriting, working on "Hook" and "Sister Act." She was in a drug rehabilitation center for 37 days for addiction after the breakup of her 11-month marriage to singer Paul Simon. They had met in 1978 and married in 1983. Later, they resumed a friendship that had more staying power than their marriage. On 17 July 1992, she had a baby daughter, Billie Catherine, with her then steady beau, talent agent Bryan Lourd, in Los Angeles. They bought a house together in early 1993, but that relationship ended in an ugly breakup later that summer when he left her for another man. She kept the house, a famous Spanish-style ranch house once called home by Edith Head and Bette Davis and now filled with animals, family and activity. In 1997, Fisher had a psychotic break, tied to her long battle with bi-polar disease and a change of med's that threw her into an allergic reaction. After ranting and hallucinating for a week, she spent a half year in outpatient recovery. Lourdes stayed by her and helped with the baby. By 2001, Carrie was better anchored with work and friends; a devoted mother to Billie, but approaching dating with caution. In 2016, she released her autobiography, "The Princess Diarist." On 23 December 2016, Fisher went into cardiac arrest while on a flight from London to Los Angeles; a fellow actor seated near Fisher reported that she had stopped breathing. A passenger performed CPR on Fisher until paramedics arrived. After being taken to Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center by ambulance, she was placed on a ventilator. Fisher died at age 60 on 27 December 2016, at 8:55 AM local time in Los Angeles. At the time of her death, Fisher was survived by her daughter, Billie Lourd, her mother, Debbie Reynolds, her brother, Todd Fisher, and her half-sisters, Joely Fisher and Tricia Leigh Fisher. Link to Wikipedia biography