According to our sister station KTLA, actress Carrie Fisher, best known for her role as Princess Leia in the “Star Wars” movies, has died at age 60, a family spokesman confirmed. KTLA reports the information was first shared with People Magazine Tuesday morning.
“It is with a very deep sadness that Billie Lourd confirms that her beloved mother Carrie Fisher passed away at 8:55 this morning,” Simon Halls said in a statement released on behalf of Fisher’s daughter, Billie Lourd.
Fisher suffered a “cardiac episode” on a flight that was bound for Los Angeles International Airport on Friday. L.A. firefighters responded and, after the flight landed, rushed Fisher to UCLA Medical Center.
An actress who was seated near Fisher on the United Airlines flight said the plane’s crew responded to the medical emergency, including doctors and nurses who were on board.
Fisher was not breathing for about 10 minutes, according to the actress, Anna Akana.
Fisher’s breakout role was in the 1977 film “Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope.” She was 20 when the film was released.
Fisher grew up in Beverly Hills. Her parents were performers Debbie Reynolds and Eddie Fisher, who divorced when she was a young child.
Fisher’s newest memoir, “The Princess Diarist,” was published in late November. It is based around diaries she kept at the time the first “Star Wars” movie was made.
“What would I be if I weren’t princess Leia? A great big nothing without one piece of fan mail to call my own,” she writes in the book.
In addition to her roles in the original trilogy, Fisher reprised the role as an aged princess in last year’s “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” and in next year’s forthcoming “Star Wars: Episode VIII.”
Check back for updates on this developing story.
