Random Things We Learned About Carrie Fisher (15 items)

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  (#1) She Didn't Meet James Earl Jones Until 2014

  Carrie Fisher and James Earl Jones have worked on five films together, but the two never met on set while working on Star Wars. On the one hand, that makes sense, because Jones's work was done in a sound booth while Fisher's was done on set, but it's still surprising. After all, they had been technically working together since 1977, but their actual meeting didn't come until 2014.

  When they finally did meet, it was when the two appeared in the same episode of The Big Bang Theory. The series' showrunner, Steven Molaro, said at San Diego Comic-Con that, despite the fact the two actors had never met, when Fisher saw Jones, she ran up to him with her arms raised out and called out, "Dad!"
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  (#2) She Was A Prominent Script Doctor

  Carrie Fisher wrote eight books, two plays, and two screenplays, but she was also a prominent script doctor, which is pretty much what it sounds like. A script doctor joins a project to rewrite and polish an existing script by adding structure, fixing the pacing, fleshing out characters, and repairing other elements.

  Fisher was often called on to help with a script, and because the role of a script doctor is uncredited as a writer, most people never knew. She worked on Sister Act, Last Action Hero, Anastasia, Hook, Lethal Weapon 3, The Wedding Singer, and all three of the Star Wars prequel films. She was lauded as "one of the most sought-after doctors in town" by Entertainment Weekly.
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  (#3) Her Preferred Obituary Stemmed From George Lucas's Dislike Of Bras In 'Star Wars'

  Carrie Fisher once toured the country doing a one-woman show based on her memoir Wishful Drinking in which she talked about not wearing a bra under her white dress in Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope. George Lucas attended a performance in San Francisco and afterward told Fisher why he didn't want her to wear a bra in the film. Fisher shared the details later at a Television Critics Association press tour:

  [Lucas has] seen the show a couple times, and he actually came over and explained, because [I told the story] of him saying that there was no underwear in space. He explained that in space, you get weightless, and so your flesh expands. What? But your bra doesn't, so you get strangled by your bra. That's why I couldn't wear a bra in the first Star Wars. George actually came backstage when I did the show in San Francisco and told me that.

  She took what he said and added it into her show, saying, "Now I think that this would make a fantastic obit - so I tell my younger friends that no matter how I go, I want it reported that I drowned in moonlight, strangled by my own bra."
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  (#4) Dan Aykroyd Saved Her Life

  Carrie Fisher appeared in The Blues Brothers as "mystery woman," and while she was in Chicago filming the movie, she nearly perished - while choking on a Brussels sprout.

  Dan Aykroyd rushed to her rescue to perform the Heimlich maneuver. Fisher said the actor saved her life.

  At the time of the incident, Fisher and Aykroyd were engaged, and he explained what happened at her memorial service:

  I once saved her life, applying the Heimlich [maneuver] to dislodge a Brussels sprout from her throat. If I'd been with our beloved showboat, I might have been able to save her again.
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  (#5) She Wrote That She Should Have Had An Affair With Mark Hamill (Instead Of Harrison Ford)

  In 2016, not long before she passed, Carrie Fisher released a memoir, The Princess Diarist, that includes entries from a journal she made while making the first Star Wars film. Among other revelations in the book, she admits to an affair with Harrison Ford. At the time they got together, Fisher was 19, while Ford was in his 30s and married with children.

  Fisher said she became somewhat "obsessed" with the older man, but he wasn't looking for anything serious, which left her with a "familiar feeling of hopelessness." She wrote that because the relationship was so one-sided between her and Ford, she was sorry her affair wasn't with Mark Hamill instead:

  I’m sorry it’s not Mark. It could’ve been. It should’ve been. It might’ve meant something. Maybe not much, but certainly more.

  Hamill and Fisher were attracted to one another, and according to Hamill in an interview with The Guardian, they made out once to get it "out of their system," then "became like real siblings." Hamill explained why their attraction didn't go beyond that makeout session:

  Carrie and I were attracted to one another, but I knew from previous jobs that it would have been a bad idea... [I]f I’d had a relationship with her, it would have been like a full-time activity because she was too much for me in every regard: She was too creative, she was too smart. She was just the best.
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  (#6) She Once Sent A Cow Tongue To A Producer

  Plenty of people eat cow tongue as deli meat, but when Carrie Fisher sent one to a producer, it wasn't meant for lunch - it was a message. According to her friend Heather Ross, after Ross told Fisher she was violated by a predatory film producer, Fisher decided to send him a cow tongue.

  Ross said she placed the tongue in a Tiffany box and personally delivered it to the man when she knew he would be in his office. According to Ross, Fisher explained what she did in an online message:

  I just saw [blank] at Sony Studios. I knew he would probably be there, so I went to his office and personally delivered a Tiffany box wrapped with a white bow... It was a cow tongue from Jerry's Famous Deli in Westwood with a note that said, "If you ever touch my darling Heather or any other woman again, the next delivery will be something of yours in a much smaller box!"
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  (#7) She And Harrison Ford Were High In Another Way During The Scene Where Leia And Han Arrive In Cloud City

  Carrie Fisher had a history of substance problems, which she talked about extensively later in life. Given what is now known about the actor, it's not surprising to learn that she was under the influence on the set of The Empire Strikes Back.

  Fisher and Harrison Ford were apparently both high while filming the scene where Han Solo, Princess Leia, Chewbacca, and the droids arrive at Cloud City. The two actors were reportedly out partying the night before - and well into the morning - with Eric Idle and the Rolling Stones. Idle confirmed the partying in a 2018 interview with The New York Times:

  We were having too much fun. Carrie Fisher had rented my house, and she was staying there. We went to bed, and they went to work. It turns out when they filmed the scene, they were still a little high.
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  (#8) She Played A Joke On Harrison Ford While He Was Filming 'Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom'

  While filming a whipping scene in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, Steven Spielberg and the crew decided to have a little fun with the movie's star. Poor-quality footage of the practical joke from Spielberg's private collection was later released online. In the video, while Harrison Ford is chained to a large stone, Barbra Streisand appears and proceeds to whip him while wearing a leather dominatrix outfit.

  As Streisand is doling out punishment, she says, "That's for Hanover Street, the worst movie I ever saw!" (Ford starred in the 1979 film.) She continues whipping him while mentioning Star Wars, and says, "This is for making all of that money!"

  Before she can land another blow, Carrie Fisher throws herself in front of Ford to protect him. He asks, "Who's that?" and she plants a big kiss on him. 
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  (#9) She Used To Show The 'Star Wars Holiday Special' To Close Out Parties

  Ask any fan what they think is the worst thing to come out of the Star Wars franchise, and they'll be happy to tell you about the Star Wars Holiday Special. The 98-minute television special, which aired on CBS in 1978, is arguably one of the worst things ever produced.

  If you've never seen it, you should take everyone at their word and never press the play button. Carrie Fisher didn't heed that advice, and often played a copy to close out a party.

  She got the copy from Lucas in exchange for recording commentary on the Star Wars trilogy so she would "have something for parties... when [she] wanted everyone to leave." She was one of only a handful of people who owned an official copy of the Holiday Special, as it hasn't been commercially released or rebroadcast... for obvious reasons.
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  (#10) Her Ashes Were Placed In An Urn That Was A Giant Prozac Pill

  Carrie Fisher suffered from mental illness throughout her life, and was an outspoken advocate for others who had similar problems. Her family recognized her struggles in the urn they chose to place her ashes in: a giant novelty Prozac pill.

  Fisher's brother, Todd Fisher, was seen carrying the special urn in Twitter photos that were posted following the private memorial service held for his mother, Debbie Reynolds, who passed a day after her daughter. He spoke about the urn in an interview with Entertainment Tonight:

  Carrie's favorite possession was a giant Prozac pill that she bought many years ago. A big pill. She loved it, and it was in her house, and [her daughter] Billie [Lourd] and I felt it was where she'd want to be. We couldn't find anything appropriate. Carrie would like that. It was her favorite thing, and so that's how you do it.
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  (#11) Her Mom Embarrassed Her Over A Flight Accommodation

  According to both women, Carrie Fisher and her mother, Debbie Reynolds, were as close as a mother and daughter could possibly be. Fisher once told a story of her mother's involvement with her flight accommodations while traveling to the United Kingdom from the US to film Star Wars.

  Fisher flew coach, mainly because the production didn't have a great deal of cash. When Reynolds got wind of her daughter's status in economy rather than first class, she called George Lucas to complain about it.

  Fisher was nearby when the call was placed, so she reached over and snatched the phone from Lucas. She then said, "Mother, I want to fly coach, will you f*ck off?!"
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  (#12) She Taped Down Her Breasts In 'Star Wars'

  George Lucas may not have wanted Carrie Fisher to wear a bra while filming Star Wars because "there was no underwear in space," but that wasn't his only note regarding her chest. 

  In Brian Jay Jones's biography George Lucas: A Life, he wrote, "Lucas didn't want her looking too aggressively feminine, using gaffer's tape to hold down her breasts." He quoted Fisher in the book as saying, "No breasts bounce in space, no jiggling in the Empire. (Producer) Gary Kurtz had to tell me that. George didn't have the nerve."

  Lucas's opinions on Fisher's sexuality must have taken a U-turn by the third film, based on that gold bikini she wore in Return of the Jedi.
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  (#13) She Once Dated A US Senator

  Fisher's sixth book, Shockaholic, was filled with interesting revelations, but the one that few could have suspected was her relationship with Sen. Christopher J. Dodd of Connecticut. She wrote that he was "not a handsome man, but he was far from unattractive."

  The couple was set up on a blind date, where they were joined by Ted Kennedy, his date, and an unnamed couple. They went on a few more dates, and the relationship fizzled out. When Dodd ran for president, he described their relationship as a "courtship."

  From that comment, Fisher wrote, "Is that what they call sleeping together a few times?" When Dodd was later asked about their relationship, he simply remarked, "It was a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away."
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  (#14) She Left Dan Aykroyd For Paul Simon

  Carrie Fisher and Dan Aykroyd really hit it off, and the two were engaged on the set of The Blues Brothers. Unfortunately, the couple had a lingering problem, according to Fisher: 

  We had rings, we got blood tests, the whole shot. But then I got back together with Paul Simon.

  Fisher previously dated the musician beginning in 1977, and the two were on-and-off until 1983. Aykroyd and Fisher got engaged in 1980, but when Simon came back into the picture, that was it.

  Simon and Fisher wed in August 1983, but the marriage ended in July 1984, although they dated for a little while after. Paul Simon's song "Hearts and Bones" is about their relationship.
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  (#15) She Was Supposed To Play Miss Scarlet In 'Clue'

  Carrie Fisher was set to portray Miss Scarlet in the movie Clue. But when the film came out, Lesley Ann Warren played the role. Filmmakers made the casting change at the last minute.

  Fisher had checked into an outpatient rehabilitation clinic 10 days before filming began, and the film's insurance company refused to cover her. She was replaced, and the film continued production.

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