50 facts about Carrie Fisher: best known for her portrayal of Princess Leia Organa in the original Star Wars trilogy

Carrie Fisher's 50 things.

1. Carrie Fisher an actress, novelist, screenwriter, and performance artist.

2. Her middle name is Frances.

3. She is best known for her portrayal of Princess Leia Organa in the original Star Wars trilogy.

4. Will reprise the character in Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

5. She is also known for her bestselling novel Postcards from the Edge and screenplay for the film of the same name.

6. She is also known for her autobiographical one-woman play and the nonfiction book Wishful Drinking based on the show.

7. Besides her work in the Star Wars original trilogy, she has had roles in films such as The Blues Brothers, Hannah and Her Sisters, The 'Burbs, When Harry Met Sally... and Shampoo.

8. Fisher was born in Beverly Hills, California.

9. Her father is singer Eddie Fisher.

10. Her mother is actress Debbie Reynolds.

11. Her father was Jewish, the son of immigrants from Russia.

12. Her mother was raised a Nazarene, and is of Scots-Irish and English ancestry.

13. Her younger brother is producer and actor Todd Fisher.

14. Her half-sisters are actresses Joely Fisher and Tricia Leigh Fisher, whose mother is the singer and actress Connie Stevens.

15. When Fisher was two, her parents divorced after her father left Reynolds for her best friend, actress Elizabeth Taylor, the widow of her father's best friend Mike Todd.

16. Her mother married shoe store chain owner Harry Karl.

17. Fisher attended Beverly Hills High School, but she left to join her mother on the road.

18. She appeared as a debutante and singer in the hit Broadway revival Irene (1973), which starred her mother.

19. In 1973, Fisher enrolled at London's Central School of Speech and Drama, which she attended for 18 months.

20. She made her film debut in the Columbia comedy Shampoo tarring Warren Beatty, Julie Christie and Goldie Hawn, with Lee Grant and Jack Warden as her character's parents.

21. In 1977, Fisher starred as Princess Leia in George Lucas's science-fiction film Star Wars (later retitled Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope) opposite Mark Hamill and Harrison Ford. At the time, she believed the script for Star Wars was fantastic, but did not expect many people to agree with her, and though her fellow actors were not close at the time, they bonded after the commercial success of the film.

22. The huge success of Star Wars made her internationally famous and the character of Princess Leia became a merchandising triumph.

23. Small plastic action figures of the Princess she portrayed were in toy stores throughout the Western world.

24. In April 1978, she appeared as the love interest in Ringo Starr's 1978 TV special Ringo.

25. She appeared alongside John Ritter in the ABC-TV film Leave Yesterday Behind, as a horse trainer who helps Ritter's character after an accident leaves him a paraplegic.

26. Fisher appeared with Laurence Olivier and Joanne Woodward in the anthology series Laurence Olivier Presents in a television version of the William Inge play Come Back, Little Sheba.

27. She also appeared as Princess Leia in the 1978 made-for-TV film, Star Wars Holiday Special, and showed off her singing talent in the last scene.

28. Fisher dated musician Paul Simon from 1977 until 1983.

29. In 1980 she was briefly engaged to Canadian actor and comedian Dan Aykroyd.

30. Dan Aykroyd proposed on the set of their film The Blues Brothers. She said: "We had rings, we got blood tests, the whole shot. But then I got back together with Paul Simon."

31. Fisher was married to Simon from August 1983 to July 1984.

32. Fisher and Simon dated again for a time after their divorce.

33. During their marriage, she appeared in Simon's music video for the song "Rene and Georgette Magritte with Their Dog after the War".

34. Simon's song "Hearts and Bones" is about their relationship.

35. Subsequently, she had a relationship with Creative Artists Agency principal and casting agent Bryan Lourd.

36. Fisher and Bryan Lourd had one child together, Billie Catherine Lourd.

37. The couple's relationship ended when Lourd left to be in a relationship with another man.

38. Though Fisher has described Lourd as her second husband in interviews, according to a 2004 profile of the actress and writer, she and Lourd were never legally married.

39. Fisher also had a close relationship with James Blunt.

40. While working on his album Back to Bedlam in 2003, Blunt spent much of his time at Fisher's residence. When Vanity Fair's George Wayne asked Fisher if their relationship was sexual, she replied: "Absolutely not, but I did become his therapist. He was a soldier. This boy has seen awful stuff. Every time James hears fireworks or anything like that, his heart beats faster, and he gets 'fight or flight.' You know, he comes from a long line of soldiers dating back to the 10th century. He would tell me these horrible stories. He was a captain, a reconnaissance soldier. I became James's therapist. So it would have been unethical to sleep with my patient."

41. Fisher has described herself as an "enthusiastic agnostic who would be happy to be shown that there is a God".

42. She was raised Protestant, but often attends Jewish services, the faith of her father, with Orthodox friends.

43. She was a spokesperson for Jenny Craig, Inc. television ads that aired in January 2011.

44. Fisher has publicly discussed her problems with drugs, her struggle with bipolar disorder, and her overcoming an addiction to prescription medication, most notably on ABC's 20/20 and The Secret Life of the Manic Depressive with Stephen Fry for the BBC.

45. She discussed her 2008 memoir Wishful Drinking and various topics in it with Matt Lauer on NBC's Today on December 10, 2008, and also revealed that she would have turned down the role of Princess Leia had she realized it would give her the celebrity status that made her parents' lives difficult.

46. While she was in Sydney, Australia, Fisher revealed in another interview that she had a cocaine addiction during the filming of The Empire Strikes Back, and also survived an overdose. "Slowly, I realized I was doing a bit more drugs than other people and losing my choice in the matter", she said in an interview.

47. In 1990, Columbia Pictures released a film version of Postcards from the Edge, adapted for the screen by Fisher and starring Meryl Streep, Shirley MacLaine, and Dennis Quaid.

48. Fisher appeared in the fantasy comedy film Drop Dead Fred in 1991, and played a therapist in Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery.

49. In 2005, Women in Film & Video - DC recognized Fisher with the Women of Vision Award.

50. Fisher also voices Peter Griffin's boss, Angela, on the animated sitcom Family Guy and appeared in a book of photographs titled Hollywood Moms for which she wrote the introduction.