A pop culture icon, an actress, a writer and a comedienne- Carrie Fisher was a true original. She died on Tuesday at the age of 60, after suffering a massive heart attack on a plane returning to LAX from London and spending three days in the hospital in intensive care. This shocking death was another in a long list of Hollywood icons taken from us in 2016, and one of the most heart wrenching. Carrie was the daughter of Hollywood legend Debbie Reynolds and Eddie Fisher, who grew up in Tinseltown before landing the role she would forever be fused with in 1977 as Princess Leia, the sci-fi heroine for generations of moviegoers to come. The original Star Wars trilogy made her eternally a part of pop culture and movie history, and it was a role she reprised just last year in The Force Awakens (and is set to do in next year's untitled Episode VIII, for which her scenes are already wrapped).
We may all remember her as the fierce and feisty Leia, but she had other performances in her filmography, including parts in Shampoo (see her hold her own against Warren Beatty as a mere teenager), When Harry Met Sally (Jess and Marie forever!), and The Blues Brothers (one of the funniest cameos ever). She made countless guest appearances on television shows over the years, which included her hilarious most recent role as Rob Delaney's mother on Catastrophe, on which she had just returned from filming the upcoming third season (a must-see for everyone). Fisher was also a prolific writer who published several novels, including Postcards From the Edge, for which she wrote the screenplay for the 1991 Meryl Streep starring film, which was based on the real life relationship between her and her mother Debbie Reynolds. Other published works included memoirs like the just released The Princess Diarist, and the play for her one woman show Wishful Drinking. A rare wit and a dear friend to all who worked with and knew her over the years, she will be missed. May the Force be with her.
In 1989's When Harry Met Sally, which I'm sure many will be watching this New Year's Eve:
Her roast of George Lucas at his AFI Lifetime Achievement Award win in 2009:
Carrie's original audition for Star Wars at age 18:
