Remembering Carrie Fisher

Carrie Fisher was the rarest kind of Hollywood icon: someone who radiated incredible onscreen presence at every moment while remaining completely self-aware. The actress, writer, and comedian was a pioneer in every respect. A lasting symbol of female heroism in cinema, Fisher was also unafraid to discuss her own fragility and struggles with addiction and mental illness. Cast, at the age of 19, as Princess Leia in the Star Wars franchise, she could have been swallowed whole by a role that has endured in the public imagination like few others.

But Fisher— at age 60 after complications or her bipolar disorder. In recent years, she had resurrected Leia for a new series of films without skipping a beat, while throwing herself into its publicity tour with typically acidic humor.