Arab News

Tears, laughter for Debbie Reynolds, Carrie Fisher

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LOS ANGELES: Friends, family and hundreds of wellwisher­s gathered in the Hollywood Hills on Saturday to celebrate the lives of beloved celebrity mother and daughter Debbie Reynolds and Carrie Fisher.

Comedy actor Dan Aykroyd and singer James Blunt were among the stars who made their way to the Forest Lawn cemetery, where the pair are interred side by side following their deaths just one day apart in December.

Fisher, who catapulted to worldwide stardom as rebel warrior Princess Leia in the original “Star Wars” trilogy, died in Los Angeles after suffering a heart attack. She was 60.

Reynolds, 84, who won moviegoers’ hearts as a star of “Singin’ in the Rain,” suffered a brain hemorrhage the following day at the Beverly Hills estate the pair shared as she was making funeral arrangemen­ts.

Blunt, a close friend of Fisher, debuted a tribute song entitled “I’m Here to Let You Go.”

The attendees were treated to montages of photos from the women’s careers and intimate family snaps — accompanie­d by the music of “Star Wars” composer John Williams — as well as footage of Reynolds’s last performanc­e, with Fisher and her daughter Billie Lourd.

Students of the Debbie Reynolds Dance Studio also performed during the 90-minute public ceremony at the cemetery’s packed 1,200seat Freedom Theater.

Fans had lined up for several hours before the ceremony wearing wristbands that bore the legend: “Debbie and Carrie forever in our hearts.”

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