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Iconic Star Wars Actress Carrie Fisher Dies at 60 (people.com)
Carrie Fisher, the actress, author and screenwriter who brought a rare combination of nerve, grit and hopefulness to her most indelible role, as Princess Leia in the "Star Wars" film franchise, died on Tuesday morning at the age of 60. From a report: "It is with a very deep sadness that Billie Lourd confirms that her beloved mother Carrie Fisher passed away at 8:55 this morning," reads the statement. Fisher was flying from London to Los Angeles on Friday, Dec. 23, when she went into cardiac arrest. Paramedics removed her from the flight and rushed her to a nearby hospital, where she was treated for a heart attack. She later died in the hospital. The daughter of renowned entertainers Debbie Reynolds and Eddie Fisher, Fisher was brought up in the sometimes tumultuous world of film, theater and television. Escaping Hollywood in 1973, the star enrolled in the Central School of Speech and Drama in London, where she spent over a year studying acting. Just two years later, though, the bright lights of Hollywood drew her back, and Fisher made her film debut in the Warren Beatty-led Shampoo. Her role in Star Wars would follow in 1977 -- and she detailed the experience, including her on-set affair with costar Harrison Ford, in her latest memoir, The Princess Diarist. She was only 19 when the first installment of the beloved sci-fi franchise was filmed. Fisher's fans, family, and colleagues have paid their tribute to the actress The Guardian has published an intense tribute to Fisher in an article titled "The loss of Carrie Fisher is felt by all who love Hollywood, warmth and wit".
From BBC's obituary of Fisher: She was a self-confessed bookworm as a child reading poetry and classical literature. Her high school education was disrupted by the lure of the stage when she appeared in the musical Irene alongside her mother, and she never graduated. She moved to London where she enrolled in the Central School of Speech and Drama before returning to the US and attending the Sarah Lawrence arts college near New York. Having managed to kick drugs and alcohol, she was rushed to hospital in 1985 after accidentally taking an overdose of sleeping pills and prescription drugs. The episode formed the basis for her first novel, the semi-autobiographical Postcards from the Edge, in which she satirised her own dependence on drugs and the sometimes difficult relationship she had with her mother. Three years later Fisher adapted it into a screenplay, and it was made into a film starring Meryl Streep, Shirley MacLaine, and Dennis Quaid. Fisher -- who had bipolar disorder -- also wrote and frequently talked in public about her years of drug addiction and mental illness. Carrie Fisher's fame as an actress rested on just one role, but it was a role in one of the best known and most successful film franchises in cinema history. She was remarkably frank about the personal difficulties she had fought and overcome. "There's a part of me that gets surprised when people think I am brave to talk about what I've gone through," she once said. "I was brave to last through it." The world is poorer without you, Fisher. Rest in peace.
From BBC's obituary of Fisher: She was a self-confessed bookworm as a child reading poetry and classical literature. Her high school education was disrupted by the lure of the stage when she appeared in the musical Irene alongside her mother, and she never graduated. She moved to London where she enrolled in the Central School of Speech and Drama before returning to the US and attending the Sarah Lawrence arts college near New York. Having managed to kick drugs and alcohol, she was rushed to hospital in 1985 after accidentally taking an overdose of sleeping pills and prescription drugs. The episode formed the basis for her first novel, the semi-autobiographical Postcards from the Edge, in which she satirised her own dependence on drugs and the sometimes difficult relationship she had with her mother. Three years later Fisher adapted it into a screenplay, and it was made into a film starring Meryl Streep, Shirley MacLaine, and Dennis Quaid. Fisher -- who had bipolar disorder -- also wrote and frequently talked in public about her years of drug addiction and mental illness. Carrie Fisher's fame as an actress rested on just one role, but it was a role in one of the best known and most successful film franchises in cinema history. She was remarkably frank about the personal difficulties she had fought and overcome. "There's a part of me that gets surprised when people think I am brave to talk about what I've gone through," she once said. "I was brave to last through it." The world is poorer without you, Fisher. Rest in peace.
I felt a great disturbance in the force, as if millions of voices suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced. I fear something terrible has happned
As Leia, she was a blaster-toting Rebel leader. Off screen, she battled with mental illness and came forward about it - enabling many other people to feel like they were not alone. She was the toughest Princess ever. RIP Carrie.
My sci-fi novel, Ghost Thief, is now available from Amazon.com.
Just as a new generation of Star Wars fans were getting to know her, she suddenly passed away. May the Force be with her.
I had a boyhood crush on her in the days of the original trilogy. We lost a lot of celebrities this year, but the cast of the first three have always been special to me.
May she rest in peace.
As we all collectively say "You'll be missed", she's somewhere looking at us and saying "I know".
She was a very complex person, and before people start beating her up because she "let herself go" (which, by the way, she readily admitted)... You weren't her, you didn't have her problems and her life. Could she have done things differently? Of course. But, it is what it is. An early death is generally the price paid for drug abuse and not taking care of yourself.
She was witty A.F. and an excellent writer. I was 13 when I saw her for the first time on the silver screen. And *wow*. Over the years, I've appreciated what she has done - which is why people that knew her loved her deeply. Leia was just the start.
at the current rate, we're in for 1 or 2 celebs death until NY.
A lot celebrities died this year. But some folks I know — and what I read by other people on various comment boards — are claiming that 2016 sucked because these people died. Not with a passing sadness but a lingering depression, as if they personally known these people in person. That is weird.
i thought everyone from your generation was dead already, this for the young 50ish crowd.
let's face it, this http://rebellioustimes.com/wp-... was the only reason Carry Fisher became a legend.
Thank you. And I'll take this opportunity to clarify further that it's not a "generational thing:" Angelina Jolie: Iconic. Sylvester Stallone: Iconic. Arnold Schwarzenegger: Iconic. Sigourney Weaver: Iconic. Patrick Stewart: Iconic. Carrie Fisher: Talented, a lovely person I am sure, cute as a button at age 19, but not an "iconic actress." Not meant as a dis, just as a point that words mean something...
"She drowned in moonlight, strangled by her own bra."
The Digital Sorceress
Cocaine damages the heart. Cocaine use finally caught up to Carrie Fisher. In an era where people are calling for legalization of drugs, you might want to consider that people had motives for banning drugs in the first place.
High velocity lead is bad for you too. Legalizing drugs takes organized crime out of the equation, and reduces the incentives to run around murdering people for large amounts of cash, drugs, and turf. People will always do dangerous drugs, why not just legalize them so that people who don't want anything to do with drugs can walk down the street without getting shot?
Banning drugs is just providing price supports for organized crime. If you are pro-drug laws, you are pro-Organized crime, it is as simple as that.
HA! I just wasted some of your bandwidth with a frivolous sig!
"Death is a natural part of life. Rejoice for those around you who transform into the Force. Mourn them do not. Miss them do not."
I think the part the original three actors played in Star Wars is underappreciated. Carrie Fisher, Harrison Ford, and Mark Hamill each played their parts well, and could fix up George Lucas' bad dialogue. It turns out that adult Mark Hamill is naturally a villain. Maybe George Lucas should have made sequels with the original cast instead of the prequels. Have Luke turn to the dark side, and kill Han Solo.
To the credit of the Force Awakens, Finn, and the woman also seem to have good chemistry and personality.
The woman was literally a 1-hit wonder
You only need one thing to be iconic.
never went on to do anything else that was worthy of note.
When the one thing is big enough, none of that matters.
Any number of actresses could have played the part
Like who exactly? Who would have been as perfect in that role as Carrie Fisher was?
Yes she was in the right place at the right time, but it's also true that she was the RIGHT PERSON in the right place at the right time. Any other actress would have mangled the part. Her actual person including her background growing up was perfect for that role in a way I'm not sure anyone else was.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
"marijuana users will lead to early onset dementia, and low IQs."
Any studies showing a connection?... I'll wait...
Sweetheart, the motive for banning the drugs was to turn drug users into criminals, not to help anyone.
A successful API design takes a mixture of software design and pedagogy.
Lemmy died a year ago tomorrow so if we treat him as the first then tonight's New Years Eve.
I wonder if a generation of marijuana users will lead to early onset dementia, and low IQs.
We just had an election for President of the United States that pitted Hillary Clinton against Donald Trump, so here's your answer: it's more than just one generation that got addled.
Is there a list of people who died this year who actually deserved to die and whose deaths actually left us better off? You know, fascist or communist dictators, serial killers, people who talk loudly on their cellphones in restaurants? That kind of thing?
Right now the only one I can think of is Castro.
(Well, if you'd ever sat in the same restaurant as him you'd know why.)
You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
Angelina Jolie is iconic? What movie has she even been in that was iconic?
I liked her best in The Blues Brothers.
It's just symbolic, like Col. Potter's toast in the MASH episode, A War for All Seasons.
"Here's to the New Year; may she be a damned sight better than the old one."
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What movie has she even been in that was iconic?
Tomb Raider
Now Star Wars fans get to experience what Star Trek fans have been feeling for decades... Your favorite performers in your favorite roles are mortal. Sure, your character might get a Genesis resurrection, or turn into a Force Ghost, but eventually, the actors die. Then the copyright holders get to screw with your favorite memories by remaking your favorite films with completely different actors. It's worse than Life Day.
It gets worse. Hopefully Disney dosent own the rights to her likeness of we will see her appear in every subsequent film jar jar binks style. In the future, favorite stars will actually be immortal.
Help us Baby New Year. You're our only hope.
Eloi are stupid, throw morlocks at them!
I crunched the numbers (before the Carrie Fisher news hit) using http://fiftiesweb.com/dead/dead-people-2016/ as my guide. 2016 has killed the most celebrities (140 when you add in Ricky Harris, Carrie Fisher, and Richard Adams) than any year since 2000 (the earliest year that site had listings for). It was 40% more than the next closest year, 2005.
My sci-fi novel, Ghost Thief, is now available from Amazon.com.
Being a star in the biggest movie franchise of the 20th century doesnt make you iconic? A generation or two worth of children grew up running around outside pretending to be characters from the movies and playing with the action figures. Shoot, the combined cultural impact of all of Angelina Jolie's movies doesnt even come close to the first star wars movie.
I ignore Anonymous Coward posts. If you want to discuss something, that's awesome. Log in.
Weren't you the guy who was so awesome at it they fired you?
I was a video game tester from 1997 to 2004. Yes, my boss tried to fire me because I was so awesome. When he got promoted into management and made a big deal out of the fact that I got a 2% raise, I informed him that it was nothing as I had gotten a 50% raise in my first year. It pissed him off that I made more money than him for five years. Somehow he got this misinformed idea that being the manager meant he was the best tester in the department. He wasn't. He was very good at lying about his numbers — and rode the company into bankruptcy. I was the third of a dozen senior testers who headed for the exits.
And then you couldnt get another job for a long time [...]
I was out of work for two years (2009-10), underemployed for six months (working 20 hours per month), and filed for chapter seven bankruptcy in 2011. For the next two years I worked seven days a week on multiple contract assignments.
[...] and then you got hired to go government IT because they hire anyone?
The government IT position that I got hired for in 2014 required 10+ years of IT experience and a security clearance. My contracting agency gave me an extra month of pay as a Christmas bonus because I'm so awesome. ;)
In Monaco perhaps. Rich American women marrying into European royalty is hardly anything new. Likely a few female members of nobility have come over here and become Naturalized Citizens too. But we don't recognize such titles here in the USA.
Carrie Fisher was different in that WE gave her that title.
Most people can instantly recognize a picture of Princess Leia. Far fewer could recognize a photo of Lara Croft, and even fewer would recognize Mrs Smith.
The main reason that Carrie had little success beyond Star Wars is because she was too busy snorting cocaine up her nose, and she has openly acknowledged the negative effect of drugs on both her health and career.
In 1977 I fell in love with Princess Leia, and there is still a warm place in my heart whenever I think of her. Carrie, wherever you are out there among the stars, may the force be with you.
It gets worse. Hopefully Disney dosent own the rights to her likeness of we will see her appear in every subsequent film jar jar binks style. In the future, favorite stars will actually be immortal.
Tarkin in Rogue One indicates that the future is now.
The cesspool just got a check and balance.
On Christmas day (Isaac Newton's birthday), one of the people who studied galaxies far, far away and the dark side of matter passed away. Vera Rubin
Debbie Reynolds iconic? Without question.
Not to mention a certain closing scene ... that is somehow all the more poignantly sweet now.
This space for rent. All reasonable inquiries will be entertained at proprietors discretion.
Calling out a racist doesnt make it bigotry. Bigotry is unreasonable and irrational prejudice. Disliking racists is rational, just like disliking rapists and murderers.
The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
My guess, since she was "flat line" for 10-15 minutes at least, is she was pretty much gone before arriving to the hospital. Keeping her on a ventilator, "technically" kept her alive until she could make it past Christmas. Who the hell would want to remember your wife, daughter, mother "dying" on Christmas. Another thing that may or may not show up if there is an autopsy, made public, is considering her youthful lifestyle, "sex, drugs and rock & roll", her system was probably weakened. Then on top of that, she was told to lose a bunch of weight for the star wars movie, which she did. Who knows how she lost it. Training or drugs? Couple that, with the extended book tour she's been on, requiring a lot of traveling inside a pressurized aluminum tube (airplane), can cause a weakened heart to go out, not to mention any DVT clots that may have broken loose. Just a little warning for the youth, from someone who is close to her age, TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF in your youth...you can't wreck your body that much in your 20's and 30's and expect it to behave in your late 50's and higher.
I crunched the numbers (before the Carrie Fisher news hit) using http://fiftiesweb.com/dead/dea... as my guide. 2016 has killed the most celebrities (140 when you add in Ricky Harris, Carrie Fisher, and Richard Adams) than any year since 2000 (the earliest year that site had listings for). It was 40% more than the next closest year, 2005.
The baby boomers are now in their 60s and 70s. The thing that gets me is the overwhelming emotion seems to be surprise, as if never in history before have actors ever died of old age and natural causes.
There's going to be a big uptick in deaths the next decade or so, then quiets down until maybe the 2050s or 2060s. Then that generation will be upset that all of the great people of the millennial generation (which is another boom, bigger than that baby boomers actually) died in the same year of 2056 or whatever. It's actuary work. Probability and statistics.
Certainly, it is sad to lose people, especially those that have inspired others. But unless the death rate percentage of population has changed significantly, there's nothing to worry about. Everyone needs to relax. 2016 isn't cursed or anything. It's just statistics.
Sissy Spacek, Cindy Williams, Glenn Close, Jessica Lange, Meryl Streep, Sigourney Weaver, Cybill Shepherd, Anjelica Huston, Kim Basinger, Kathleen Turner.
BWA HA HA HAH AHAHAH!
Most of them are 7-10 years older for one thing. Of the ones that aren't, they are totally different types and simply were nowhere near as fiery as Carrie was.
Everyone of these names are better actresses
I don't think you quite understand. Carrie Fisher was not really a great actress. She was a perfect Princess Leia.
All of those names listed COULD have done the role, but the movie would have been worse for it, in many cases disastrously so.
Maybe that counterexample from the original response to my post was Natalie Portman, a great actress also but nearly unwatchable in the Star Wars prequels... though like I said that's a pretty different situation and not really compatible. Star Wars was good source material, the prequel scripts unsalvageable by any actor.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley