Credit: Dangerous Minds / MUBI

Carrie Fisher may have played General Leia Organa, yet she was still a bigger badass in real life than she ever was on screen.

Which, in a strange way, was never the intention.

She was born to Hollywood royalty, the daughter of singer and actor Eddie Fisher and Singin’ In The Rain legend Debbie Reynolds, and the idea was that she would follow in their footsteps. Appearing in her first professional show at 16 in the 1973 Broadway revival Irene in a production that, while ostensibly starring her mother, was more or less cobbled together as a way of introducing her to stardom.

Yet, Carrie Fisher started as she meant to go on, as someone eternally out of step with what everyone was asking of her. While her world was pushing her into performing from a very early age, Fisher was a self-described bookworm, reading classic literature and writing poetry with the intention of turning her talent with a pen into her future career.

However, when one is offered the chance to star in a Broadway show at 16, who amongst us would turn it down?

This lead to an on-screen career that, despite all the jokes, was actually a lot more successful than some would have you think. There was obviously her breakout role, the one that made her a megastar, the one we all know her for, Ringo Starr’s love interest Marquine in The Beatles drummer’s 1978 TV special Ringo. Oh yeah, and Star Wars, I guess, if you’re a nerd. Then you’ve got The Blues Brothers, Hannah and Her Sisters, and a phenomenal supporting turn in When Harry Met Sally.

She also managed to pay off all those early years spent writing by becoming a published author herself. Her debut effort Postcards From the Edge becoming a best-seller that was later adapted into a hit motion picture. Behind the scenes, she spent a decade and a half stint as the most in-demand script doctor in Hollywood, along with lots of work in TV, both in front of and behind the camera. As wonderful an actor as she was, she was always best suited to this kind of work.

Why did Carrie Fisher threaten a Hollywood producer?

When you’re an actor, you’re constantly embodying someone else and pushing your own personality down. With her writing, Carrie Fisher was best served because she could be her own, wonderful self. It’s telling that from a generation of actors filled with skeletons in their closet, all the stories about Carrie Fisher paint a picture of someone empathetic, funny and eager to stand up for anyone being victimised.

The best example of this came from a story told by a friend of hers, Heather Ross, shortly after Fisher’s death in 2016. Ross was sexually harassed by a film producer when she was in her early 20s and confided this experience to Carrie Fisher shortly afterwards.

Not content to accept this vile action as “just part of the way things are in Hollywood”, Fisher took matters into her own hands and made a quick trip to the Butcher’s.

During an interview with the US radio station 94.9 MixFM, Ross said, “About two weeks later, she sent me a message online and said, ‘I just saw [the producer] 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.

“I asked her what was inside and she said, ‘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!'”

Truly, Carrie Fisher was an absolute hero, the likes of wish we will sorely miss. One can only hope that the trail she blazed will be one followed by many others in time.