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Carrie Fisher Dead At 60: The Amazing Career Of The ‘Star Wars’ Princess Leia

By Georgia Makitalo
Published on: 07:34 PST, Dec 27, 2016

Star Wars fans all over the world are mourning the death of Carrie Fisher, the actress who played the iconic role of Princess Leia Organa. Dead at the age of 60 from a severe heart attack, Fisher spent over 40 years in Hollywood. Working as an actress and as a writer, Carrie Fisher built a solid career in a variety of roles, including her pivotal role in Star Wars. What were Carrie Fisher’s career highlights over the years?

The daughter of actress Debbie Reynolds and singer Eddie Fisher, performing was a natural career choice for Carrie. Her first role was in the Broadway musical Irene. This was at the age of 16, which according to the New York Daily News, meant that she had to quit school due to scheduling conflicts. Not looking back, her first movie was Shampoo, the Warren Beatty, Julie Christie, and Goldie Hawn hit.

Fisher was ready to return to school, but then she got the role that would change her life forever: Princess Leia in Star Wars: A New Hope. This became the highest grossing film of all time until Titanic overtook it 20 years later. Here, Fisher played the original kick-butt heroine: smart, fearless and in charge Princess Leia. In a time where most women on screen were ornamental background candy, Carrie Fisher brought a new type of woman to the big screen and soon, every little girl wanted to grow up to be like Princess Leia.

Three years later, she was in two hits, Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back and The Blues Brothers. Both movies not only filled theaters, but The Empire Strikes Back solidified the franchise and brought a little romance to the series. This is the movie that finally brought Leia and Han together, and then apart, not before Leia declared her love for the renegade before he was frozen in carbon.

Before the final movie in the Star Wars trilogy came out, Fisher starred alongside popular comedian Chevy Chase in Under The Rainbow.

Then, Fisher starred in Star Wars: The Return Of The Jedi. Here, she wore a memorable gold bikini that became every geeky boy’s fantasy. This meme has continued in pop culture. In Friends, Ross asked Rachel to dress up like Princess Leia, and that show confirmed that Princess Leia in the gold bikini is every man’s fantasy.

After the Star Wars trilogy had completed filming, Carrie Fisher worked in several other popular and acclaimed movies including the Academy Award winning, Woody Allen-directed movie Hannah And Her Sisters and the Rob Reiner romantic comedy When Harry Met Sally. She continued acting in a cornucopia of comedies such as Soapdish and Austin Powers.

Carrie returned to the Star Wars franchise to reprise her role as Leia in the 2015 blockbuster, The Force Awakens. She recently completed filming the eighth episode of the Star Wars series, again, portraying General Leia Organa. This will be a posthumous release, one year after her death and fittingly, this will be her final role in a movie.

In addition to acting, the multi-talented Fisher wrote Postcards From The Edge, which was her “semi-autobiographical” novel that chronicled her chemical addictions. This became a hit movie with Meryl Streep starring in the lead.

Encouraged by the success of her first novel, Fisher spent the 90s mostly as a writer. She wrote Delusions of Grandma and Surrender The Pink. According to People, Fisher wrote on scripts for Hook, Sister Act and The Wedding singer, yet she was not given credit for her work.

Most recently, she wrote The Princess Diarist, a memoir that revealed that she had a three-month affair with her Star Wars‘ co-star Harrison Ford, shocking fans and Ford alike. She has recently been touring her book with her beloved dog Gary, by her side.

Also, Fisher and her mother Debbie Reynolds were filmed for a documentary entitled Bright Lights: Starring Carrie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds. This will be shown on HBO sometime in the coming year.

What is your favorite Carrie Fisher role? Do you have a favorite character that she played?

[Featured Image by Daniel Boczarski/Getty Images for Wizard World]

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