The Carrie Fisher You May Not Have Known
Carrie Fisher's legacy goes beyond playing Princess Leia in "Star Wars."
— -- Actress and writer Carrie Fisher died at the age of 60 on Tuesday after going into cardiac arrest on Friday during a flight from London to Los Angeles.
Although Fisher is known for playing Princess Leia, she was just as famous for her wit and dry humor as she was for her iconic role in "Star Wars."
This is the Carrie Fisher you may not have known:
Carrie Fisher the Script Doctor
Fisher's work behind the scenes helped perfect other Hollywood blockbusters.
She was asked to rewrite the 1991 Peter Pan adventure film "Hook" after she wrote "Postcards from the Edge," she told the Phoenix New Times in 2008.
"They told me they wanted me to rewrite Tinkerbell’s part, but if Tinkerbell interacts, you’re writing scenes," Fisher said.
After "Hook," Fisher also worked on "Sister Act" and "Lethal Weapon 3," and she would rewrite dialogue in parts she played as well.
"It is easier as an actor to go into rewriting because you know what would fit into your mouth dialogue-wise," she told the New Times.
Carrie Fisher the Broadway Star
Fisher made her Broadway debut in 1973 revival of "Irene," which starred her mother, Debbie Reynolds. Fisher also starred in "Censored Scenes from King Kong," which opened in March 1980, and 1982's "Agnes of God," according to Broadway.com.
Fisher was last seen on Broadway from 2009 to 2010, starring in the critically acclaimed one-woman tell-all "Wishful Drinking," based on her autobiographical book of the same name.
Carrie Fisher the Cameo Queen
On top of doctoring a number of screenplays and starring on Broadway, Fisher also made a handful of notable cameo appearances.
In “Hook,” Fisher and “Star Wars” creator George Lucas made a cameo as a kissing couple on a bridge.
In 2000, Fisher starred as herself in an episode of “Sex and the City,” in which she finds character Carrie Bradshaw in bed with her “housesitter,” played by Vince Vaughn.
That same year, Fisher made a cameo in “Scream 3,” in which she played Bianca, a Carrie Fisher lookalike who claimed she had also been up for the role of Princess Leia in “Star Wars” but lost to a woman who "sleeps with George Lucas."
In 2007, Fisher guest-starred in an episode of “30 Rock,” in which she played Rosemary Howard, the childhood idol of the show’s main character, Liz Lemon (Tina Fey). Fisher earned her first Emmy nomination for her guest role on the show, in which she delivered a spoof of one of Princess Leia's famous lines, saying, “Help me, Liz Lemon, you’re my only hope!”
Fisher also voiced Angela on “Family Guy.” Angela was the head of the shipping department at the Pawtucket Brewery and Peter Griffin’s supervisor.
Carrie Fisher: Hollywood Royalty
Many have described Fisher as a child of Hollywood royalty.
She was the daughter of “Singin’ in the Rain” actress Debbie Reynolds and singer Eddie Fisher, one of the most successful and popular artists in the '50s.
Following in her famous parents’ footsteps, Carrie Fisher made her Broadway debut at the age of 15 alongside her mother in “Irene.”
In 1975, Fisher made her movie debut in the Warren Beatty film “Shampoo.”
Fisher became a household name just two years later in 1977 when she starred as Princess Leia in the first-ever “Star Wars” film.
Carrie Fisher the Mental Health Advocate
Fisher, a longtime advocate for mental health awareness, opened up about her own battle with bipolar disorder just a few weeks before her death in an advice column she penned for The Guardian.
In the column dated Nov. 30, 2016, Fisher wrote, “I was told that I was bipolar when I was 24 but was unable to accept that diagnosis until I was 28 when I overdosed and finally got sober.”
Fisher then said that it was important to join communities with other bipolar people “to share experiences and find comfort in the similarities.”
"Initially I didn't like the groups,” she wrote. “I felt like I had been banished to sit with a group of other misfits like myself to sit still for an hour. But then someone said, 'You don’t have to like these meetings, you just have to go, go until you like them.' That took me by surprise.”
Fisher added, “My comfort wasn’t the most important thing -- my getting through to the other side of difficult feelings was.”
Carrie Fisher: A Life in Pictures
In September, Fisher spoke to CBC's "Radio Active," saying that speaking out about her mental illness has been “freeing.”
“Shame is not something I aspire to,” she said, noting that "a lot of people are bipolar."
Fisher added that since speaking up, she had gotten “a lot of people coming up to me and thanking me for that.”
ABC News' Andrea Dresdale and Emily Shapiro contributed to this report.
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