Carrie Fisher is dead at the age of 60. She drowned in moonlight, strangled in her own bra. That’s not remotely true, but it’s what she would have wanted me to say.
To most, she was their Princess, having played Leia in the Star Wars universe. To me, unfamiliar with the Star Wars franchise for most of my life, she was a writer and a funny lady. She penned the semi-autobiographic Postcards From The Edge (and later, its screenplay) about her drug addiction and her relationship with her mother, Debbie Reynolds. She was also a notorious script doctor, doing uncredited polishes on other people’s scripts, including the Star Wars prequels, Hook, Sister Act, Outbreak, The Wedding Singer, Coyote Ugly, and Mr & Mrs Smith.
Then she did a one-woman show called Wishful Drinking, which has been one of my favourites, ever. She had such a great sense of humour about herself, above all else, and a keen eye for the ridiculous. Check it out:
She actually has a new book, The Princess Diarist, out just last month, based on journals she kept while she filmed the original Star Wars trilogy. You may have heard the bomb she dropped: she and Harrison Ford had an affair back in the day.
Of course you know she’d recently returned to her Star Wars roots, playing General Leia (badass warrior princess that she was) for a whole new generation. She could poke fun at her character and her “cinnamon bun” hair style, but she clearly also has respect for the films and their fans. She recently completed work on Episode 8 and was slated to begin filming for Episode 9 this spring. No telling how they’ll treat her death in the films but safe to say it’s a blow for them as it is for us.
You may have heard that George Lucas told her on the set of the first (fourth) film that she couldn’t wear a bra under her iconic white dress. When she demanded to know why not, he famous replied “Because there’s no underwear in space.” When pressed for details, he explained “What happens is you go to space and you become weightless. So far so good, right? But then your body expands. But your bra doesn’t—so you get strangled by your own bra.” Fisher thought it had the makings of a “fanastic obit – so I tell my younger friends that no matter how I go, I want it reported that I drowned in moonlight, strangled by my own bra.”
This was a knife to the gut and really just made me say “no mas”. I grew up on Carrie Fisher through Star Wars and enjoyed everything else she was doing. I love Wishful Drinking as I love the stories she was telling including her ill-fated marriage to Paul Simon and the moment that she realized they were done when he was driving her to the airport for another round of shooting for Postcards on the Edge and they were arguing. Just as she stepped out of the car, she said “you’ll be sorry if the plane crashes” and Simon replies “no I won’t”. That one killed me. I really hope the next Star Wars film do a nice little tribute to her and Kenny Baker who also died this year sadly. The Force will be with you always Carrie and Kenny.
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‘O)
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😕 great tribute Jay.
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That Princess Diarest sounds really awesome and interesting. Miss Fisher I knew was a good actress but I never knew she was a good writer too. Great tribute.
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This one hurts too. I’ve always loved how funny and outspoken she was.
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You know, it makes me feel very old. Funny, but even Lennon’s death didn’t hit me as hard as this one (and Robin Williams…).
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Great tribute. I think I should pick up one of her books and give it a read…she seems like an amazingly relatable writer.
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Wonderful tribute Jay! And I absolutely love that quote!💁🏻
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2016 just keeps taking. Along with Fisher and George Michael, Ricky Harris also died the other day. He’s not nearly on the magnitude of the others, but he has been around as a minor celeb for about a quarter century starting with Def Comedy Jam, Snoop videos, Everybody Hates Chris, and lots of other sitcom and small movie roles. Hopefully 2017 will take it light on us in this regard.
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Such a shock.
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Carrie Fisher – the Original and Best.
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I can’t believe she’s gone! I was still mourning George Michael’s passing 😦 I had the privilege to see her at Wizard World this past Summer and she was a hoot. May she rest in peace.
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Nice post, Jay. Gutted about this one… I grew up on Star Wars. So Carrie was, for such a long time, Leia. The kick ass princess.
Obviously as I got older I learned she was an incredible woman. I actually thought she was gonna be okay. Maybe she was just done fighting.
I just read her mum passed away there. Her son said he had spoken with her and she said “I miss Carrie”.
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This is so sad. I really thought she was out of the woods. And her poor mother couldn’t take it 😦
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I know. But when I heard that she had 30 minutes worth of CPR, I thought it might be for the best that she passed. She would not be “waking up” the same person.
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Carrie Fisher is largely responsible for me becoming obsessed with movies. Her presence and wit are unrivalled.
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Lovely tribute! I just loved her performance in When Harry Met Sally, watched it a couple of days ago as a slight tribute to Carrie ❤
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Wonderful tribute to Carrie Fisher, Jay. The original trilogy of Star Wars films and Superman loom large in my childhood so Miss Fisher was very influential to me in her performance as Princess Leia. Though I must add not in the say that she was for other people who are 10 years older than myself 😉 As an actress she fell into the Hollywood trap of not being valued as much once she went north of 30 but like Leia she flipped the game and beat the odds by unleashing that witty and brave mind to write. In later years a perfect spokesman for mental health issues and fearless in discussing struggles with addiction. A mother, a daughter, an advocate, a grand lady of Hollywood and a Galaxy Far Far Away. We have lost so much in her too young passing.
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