Carrie Fisher obituary: Writer and actress surrounded by fame before Star Wars stardom

Jamie Bullen27 December 2016
The Weekender

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Carrie Fisher was no stranger to the entertainment industry before she found fame through her role as Princess Leia in the Star Wars franchise.

She was born in Beverley Hills in October 1956 to actress Debbie Reynolds, who made her name starring opposite Gene Kelly in 1952 film Singin' In The Rain, and singer Eddie Fisher.

Her parents split when her father left her mother to marry Hollywood star Elizabeth Taylor.

In 1975, Ms Fisher made her film debut in Shampoo in which she portrayed Lorna Karpf alongside Warren Beatty and Goldie Hawn.

Actress Carrie Fisher attends the World Premiere of Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Getty Images for Disney

But her big break came two years later when she landed the role of Princess Leia in the first instalment of the Star Wars Trilogy, Episode IV: A New Hope in 1977.

The move went on to become considered one of the greatest of all time as her stock rose to the same as her mother.

She went on to appear in the 1980 hit The Blues Brothers and in the same year graced the cover of Rolling Stone magazine alongside her Star Wars co-stars as they promoted the next instalment, The Empire Strikes Back.

Carrie Fisher - In pictures

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She was also a successful writer

In 1987 she published Postcards From The Edge, which was later turned into a Hollywood blockbuster starring Meryl Streep, Shirley MacLaine and Dennis Quaid.

Most of Ms Fisher's novels, including Postcards From The Edge, have been New York Times bestsellers, while her one-woman confessional stage show, Wishful Drinking, was published in book form in 2008, to rave reviews.

The stage show saw her talk frankly about failed marriages to Paul Simon and Hollywood agent Bryan Lourd, with whom she had a daughter, Billie.

The actress also lifted the lid on other colourful events from her life including the death of a gay Republican lobbyist in her California mansion in 2005 from an overdose of painkillers.

Her 2011 memoirs, Shockaholic, documented her time spent with the late singer Michael Jackson and her stepmother Elizabeth Taylor, who married her father when she was just two. Ms Taylor would later leave Eddie Fisher and marry actor Richard Burton.

Ms Fisher spoke openly about her battles with drug and alcohol addiction, and her periods of depression.

Her father died in 2010, following complications after hip surgery.

Most recently, Ms Fisher made headlines with her book The Princess Diarist, in which she claimed she had an "intense" affair with co-star Harrison Ford during the making of Star Wars.

She said she had a three-month romance with Mr Ford - a married father-of-two at the time - which she kept secret for 40 years.

She told People magazine: "It was so intense. It was Han and Leia during the week, and Carrie and Harrison during the weekend."

Ms Fisher was 19 at the time, 14 years younger than Mr Ford.

Appearing on the Graham Norton show earlier this month, she said she thought her revelation had "bugged" Ford.

"I had no idea it would cause such a sensation - 400,000 news sites picked up on it and it became a little embarrassing," she said.

"They made a lot of things up which I now have to talk about - I never said he was bad in bed."

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