close call, Carrie... we hope

Having only recently posted about Carrie Fisher, the actress who became known worldwide for her role as Princess Leia in the original Star Wars trilogy (1977, 1980, 1983), I'm sad to report that Fisher, now 60, just suffered what the papers are describing as a "massive" heart attack while on a flight from London to Los Angeles. One fellow passenger tweeted that Fisher didn't breathe for around ten minutes; the flight crew, meanwhile, responded to the crisis immediately, performing first aid and casting about the plane for any medical professionals who might be on board. Fisher is now at UCLA Medical Center and on a ventilator; she's still struggling but is currently in more or less stable condition.*

Fisher has long contended with drug addiction (mostly cocaine and prescription meds). She is also the author of eight books and, in my opinion, a very funny writer with a wryly cynical take on the world. I should also confess that she was one of my first-ever childhood crushes.

A CGI-rejuvenated Fisher makes an appearance in "Rogue One." This fact wasn't aggressively advertised, so when early audiences saw a 1977-era Princess Leia appear on screen, there was apparently a great deal of collective gasping.

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*Carrie Fisher's brother, Todd Fisher, is saying his sister is not in stable condition, and that we shouldn't believe the news. (NB: corrected from earlier, when I'd mistakenly written that it was Fisher's son who'd said this. Fisher has one daughter: Billie Lourd.)