The world says a heartbroken goodbye
Deaths of Debbie Reynolds and Carrie Fisher leave their family — and the rest of us — reeling
The funeral arrangements for Carrie Fisher may be delayed as her stunned family now has to plan a possible double funeral to include her movie-star mother, Debbie Reynolds, who died Wednesday at age 84 of an apparent stroke just a day after her daughter’s death at age 60.
Here’s the latest:
THE ARRANGEMENTS: The planning that had started Wednesday for Fisher’s funeral was interrupted when Reynolds suffered a stroke at her son Todd Fisher’s Beverly Hills home.
Now it seems likely it will be a double funeral; Fisher and her mother were so close, especially in recent years, that they lived next door to each other.
What is unclear: Will it be a grand Hollywood production or small and private? The number of Hollywood notables — from the vintage era represented by Reynolds to the Boomer era represented by Fisher — who will want to pay respects has now multiplied.
On Thursday, Todd Fisher tweeted a touching message and drawing of his mother and sister from the back, arm in arm, Reynolds in a raincoat and carrying an umbrella, Fisher in her Star Wars costume and her Princess Leia side buns. “This is a beautiful love story to witness in my 58 years. I miss them both so much. Love is everlasting,” his message said. WHAT CAUSED REYNOLDS’ DEATH? As with Fisher, there is as yet no official cause of death, and it’s not clear whether autopsies will be done by the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner’s office.
Todd Fisher said his mother was grief-stricken by his sister’s death Tuesday, four days after she had a heart-related medical emer- gency on a flight from London to Los Angeles International Airport.
“She wanted to be with Carrie,” Todd Fisher said.
CarREYNOLDS’ HEALTH FAILING? rie and Todd Fisher had said Reynolds had suffered strokes in the recent past. Carrie Fisher acknowledged that her mother had suffered health setbacks in an interview in November on NPR when she was promoting her latest book, The Princess Diarist. She also talked about how much she admired her mother.
“There’s very few women from her generation who worked like that, who just kept a career going all her life, and raised children, and had horrible relationships, and lost all her money, and got it back again,” Fisher said. “She’s had an amazing life, and she’s someone to admire.”
In an interview with People in May, while discussing her upcoming HBO documentary, Bright
Lights: Starring Carrie Fisher and
Debbie Reynolds, Fisher also talked about her mother’s health. “It’s a lot of times terrifying, but watching my mother, who’s incredibly resilient, coping with certain health issues that she’s had,” she said. “We were really lucky we got really what probably could be her last ( big project).”
Reynolds was due to accept a humanitarian award at the Oscars this year but could not attend because of her health. Her granddaughter, Billie Lourd, accepted it on her behalf.
“We’re very proud of her. She’s handling this with amazing strength,” he said. “Obviously, we are all heartbroken. Everybody is doing their best to pull together, but it’s just a shock.”
It was SINGIN’ IN THE RAIN SOARS: the 1952 movie classic ranked by the American Film Institute as the greatest movie musical of all time, and it made Reynolds a star. She danced her toes off, flanked by Gene Kelly and Donald O’Connor, on the Good Morning sequence, jumping on an ottoman, leaping onto a bench, skipping down stairs and, most impressively, keeping up the tapping alongside two of the greatest and most athletic dancers of their time. On Thursday, Singin’ in the Rain was No. 1 on Amazon’s best-sellers list for movies and TV.
Meanwhile, as sales of Carrie Fisher’s books soar since her death (on Thursday, three of the top 10 books on Amazon’s “Movers and Shakers” list, which tracks upward movement in sales over 24 hours, were by Fisher, including The Princess Diarist at No. 1), HBO will present an encore of her Wishful Drinking stage production, based on her memoir of the same name.
The encore will be Sunday (9-10:20 p.m. ET/PT) on the main HBO channel. Debuting in 2010, this feature-length adaptation of the book has Fisher telling the complicated tale of her life, featuring her raucous one-woman stage performance, interviews with family and friends and archival footage. The special received two Emmy nominations.
And cable network Logo TV announced it will dedicate Friday and Saturday programming to Reynolds, including a seven-hour
Will & Grace marathon (Reynolds played Grace’s mother); her episode as a guest judge on RuPaul’s
Drag Race; an episode of Roseanne featuring Reynolds (and written by Carrie Fisher); and episodes of Golden Girls featuring Reynolds.