Actress Fisher dies at age 60

Carrie Fisher at the European premiere of Star Wars, The Force Awakens in London in 2015. [Photo/Agencies]

Carrie Fisher－a daughter of Hollywood royalty who gained fame as Princess Leia in the original Star Wars and turned her struggles with addiction and mental illness into wickedly funny books, a hit film and a one-woman stage show－died on Tuesday after falling ill aboard a flight last week. She was 60.

"Carrie was one of a kind ... brilliant, original. Funny and emotionally fearless. She lived her life, bravely," Star Wars co-star Harrison Ford says in a statement.

Fisher, the daughter of actress Debbie Reynolds and singer Eddie Fisher, had been hospitalized since Friday, when paramedics responded to a report of a patient in distress at Los Angeles airport. Her family gave no details on the emergency, but media reports say she had suffered a heart attack.

Fisher made her feature film debut opposite Warren Beatty in the 1975 hit Shampoo. She also appeared in Austin Powers, The Blues Brothers, Charlie's Angels, Hannah and Her Sisters, Scream 3 and When Harry Met Sally.

But Fisher is best remembered as the headstrong Princess Leia in the original Star Wars in 1977, her hair styled in futuristic braided buns.

She reprised the role in Episode VII of the series, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, in 2015, and her digitally rendered image appears in the newest installment, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.

"In Star Wars she was our great and powerful princess－feisty, wise and full of hope in a role that was more difficult than most people might think," Star Wars creator George Lucas says in a statement.