Carrie Frances Fisher (October 21, 1956 – December 27, 2016) was an American actress and writer. She played Princess Leia in the original Star Wars films (1977–1983) and reprised the role in Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015), Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017)—a posthumous release that was dedicated to her—and Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (2019), through the use of unreleased footage from The Force Awakens.
Fisher's other film credits include Shampoo (1975), The Blues Brothers (1980), Hannah and Her Sisters (1986), The 'Burbs (1989), When Harry Met Sally... (1989), Soapdish (1991), and The Women (2008). She was nominated twice for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series for her performances in the NBC sitcom 30 Rock (2007) and the Channel 4 series Catastrophe (2017).
Fisher wrote several semi-autobiographical novels, including Postcards from the Edge and an autobiographical one-woman play, and its non-fiction book, Wishful Drinking, based on the play. She wrote the screenplay for the film version of Postcards from the Edge which garnered her a nomination for the BAFTA Award for Best Adapted Screenplay, and her one-woman stage show of Wishful Drinking received a nomination for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Variety, Music or Comedy Special. Fisher worked on other writers' screenplays as a script doctor, including tightening the scripts for Hook (1991), Sister Act (1992), The Wedding Singer (1998), and many of the films from the Star Wars franchise, among others.
Fisher was the daughter of singer Eddie Fisher and actress Debbie Reynolds. She and her mother appear in Bright Lights: Starring Carrie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds, a documentary about their relationship. It premiered at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival. She earned praise for speaking publicly about her experiences with bipolar disorder and drug addiction. Fisher died of a sudden cardiac arrest in December 2016, at age 60, four days after experiencing a medical emergency during a transatlantic flight from London to Los Angeles. She was posthumously made a Disney Legend in 2017, and was awarded a posthumous Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album the following year. In 2023, she posthumously received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Early life
Carrie Frances Fisher was born on October 21, 1956, at Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center in Burbank, California, to actress Debbie Reynolds and singer Eddie Fisher. Fisher's paternal grandparents were Russian-Jewish immigrants, while her mother, who was raised a Nazarene, was of English descent.
Fisher was two years old when her parents divorced in 1959. Her father's third marriage, to actress Connie Stevens, resulted in the births of Fisher's two half-sisters, Joely Fisher and Tricia Leigh Fisher. In 1960, her mother married Harry Karl, owner of a chain of shoe stores. Reynolds and Karl divorced in 1973 when Fisher was 17 years old.
Fisher "hid in books" as a child, becoming known in her family as "the bookworm". She spent her earliest years reading classic literature and writing poetry. She attended Beverly Hills High School until age 16, when she appeared as a debutante and singer in the hit Broadway revival Irene (1973), also starring her mother. Her time on Broadway interfered with her education, resulting in her dropping out of high school. In 1973, she enrolled at London's Central School of Speech and Drama, which she attended for 18 months. Following her time there, she was accepted at Sarah Lawrence College, where she planned to study the arts. She later left without graduating.
Career
1970s
—director George Lucas
Fisher made her film debut in 1975 as the precociously seductive character Lorna Karpf in the Columbia Pictures comedy Shampoo, filmed in mid-1974, when she was age 17. Lee Grant and Jack Warden play the role of her parents in the film. Warren Beatty, Julie Christie and Goldie Hawn also star in the film.[7] In 1977, Fisher starred as Princess Leia in George Lucas' space-fantasy film Star Wars (later retitled Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope) opposite Mark Hamill and Harrison Ford. Though her fellow actors were not close at the time, they bonded after the commercial success of the film.
In April 1978, Fisher appeared as the love interest in Ringo Starr's 1978 TV special Ringo. The next month, she starred alongside John Ritter (who had also appeared in Ringo) in the ABC-TV film Leave Yesterday Behind. At this time, Fisher appeared with Laurence Olivier and Joanne Woodward in the anthology series Laurence Olivier Presents in a television version of the William Inge play Come Back, Little Sheba. That November, she played Princess Leia in the 1978 TV production Star Wars Holiday Special, and sang in the last scene.
Death and legacy
After finishing the European leg of her book tour (her last TV appearance was on an episode of 8 Out of 10 Cats in the United Kingdom, broadcast December 21, 2016), Fisher was on a commercial flight on December 23, 2016, from London to Los Angeles when she had a medical emergency around fifteen minutes before the aircraft landed. A passenger seated near Fisher reported that she had stopped breathing; another passenger performed CPR on Fisher until paramedics arrived at the scene. Emergency services in Los Angeles were contacted when the flight crew reported a passenger unresponsive prior to landing. Fisher was taken by ambulance to the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, where she was placed on a ventilator.
On the morning of December 27, 2016, after being in intensive care for four days, Fisher died at the age of 60 at the UCLA Medical Center. Fisher's daughter, Billie Lourd, confirmed her mother's death in a statement to the press. Many of her co-stars and directors from Star Wars and other works also shared their thoughts on her death.
If you want to read more, go here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carrie_Fisher
- SERVES
- 8
- COOK TIME
- 30 Min
German Potato Salad isn't creamy like some of the traditional American potato salads you may be used to, but that doesn't mean it isn't as delicious! Our German Potato Salad has a sweet vinegary base and includes tasty ingredients like bacon, onion and fresh parsley.
- 4 pounds potatoes, peeled and sliced thin
- 8 slices bacon
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil
- 1/2 cup finely chopped onion
- 1/2 cup white vinegar
- 1/4 cup water
- 1/3 cup sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 3 tablespoons finely chopped fresh parsley
- In a large pot of boiling water, cook potatoes 10 to 15 minutes, or until fork-tender. Drain, place in a large bowl, and set aside.
- In a large skillet over medium heat, cook bacon until browned and crisp, turning as needed. Remove from pan, crumble, and set aside.
- Add oil and onion to bacon grease and cook 4 to 5 minutes, or until onion is soft. Stir in vinegar, water, sugar and salt; bring to a boil. Gently stir in potatoes and parsley.
- Add half of bacon to potato mixture and heat until warmed through, stirring occasionally. Remove to a serving dish, sprinkle remaining bacon over top, and serve warm.
1889 – The first long-distance electric power transmission line in the United States is completed, running 14 miles (23 km) between a generator at Willamette Fallsand downtown Portland, Oregon.
1940 – World War II: The Luftwaffe bombs Paris.
1943 – In Los Angeles, California, white U.S. Navy sailors and Marines clash with Latinoyouths in the Zoot Suit Riots.
1965 – The launch of Gemini 4, the first multi-day space mission by a NASA crew. Ed White, a crew member, performs the first Americanspacewalk.
1968 – Valerie Solanas, the author of SCUM Manifesto, attempts to assassinate Andy Warhol by shooting him three times.
2013 – The trial of United States Army private Chelsea Manning for leaking classified material to WikiLeaks begins in Fort Meade, Maryland.
And births this date include....
1808 – Jefferson Davis, American colonel and politician, President of the Confederate States of America (d. 1889)
1925 – Tony Curtis, American actor and singer (d. 2010)
1967 – Anderson Cooper, American journalist and author
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