Some very sad news for you this evening, as it has been announced that the beloved actress Carrie Fisher has passed away aged 60, after suffering a heart attack on board a flight from London to Los Angeles this past Friday. She was 60 years old.
“It is with a very deep sadness that Billie Lourd confirms that her beloved mother Carrie Fisher passed away at 8:55 this morning,” reads a statement from the family’s spokesman Simon Halls. “She was loved by the world and she will be missed profoundly. Our entire family thanks you for your thoughts and prayers.”
The daughter of singer Eddie Fisher and actress Debbie Reynolds, Carrie Fisher was of course best known for portraying Princess Leia in the Star Wars saga, appearing in the Original Trilogy alongside Mark Hamill and Harrison Ford, as well as reprising her iconic role for last year’s Star Wars: The Force Awakens. She had also recently completed production on Star Wars: Episode VIII, which is set for release in December 2017.
In addition to the Star Wars saga, Fisher’s other screen credits included Shampoo, The Blues Brothers, Hannah and Her Sisters, The ‘Burbs and When Harry Met Sally…. She was also an accomplished author, penning such books as Postcards from the Edge and her new memoir The Princess Diarist, as well being one of Hollywood’s top script doctors, providing uncredited rewrites on a host of projects between 1991 and 2005 including Hook, Sister Act, Last Action Hero, The Wedding Singer and the Star Wars Prequel Trilogy.