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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