Star Wars actress Fisher fights for life after heart attack
60-year-old Star Wars actress was preparing to land in Los Angeles when she went into cardiac arrest
LOS ANGELES (AFP) - Hollywood star Carrie Fisher was fighting for her life Saturday, one day after suffering a massive heart attack near the end of a transatlantic flight.
The 60-year-old "Star Wars" actress was preparing to land in Los Angeles when she went into cardiac arrest, and was given cardiopulmonary resuscitation by an emergency responder on board.
Fisher s collapse on Friday came 15 minutes before the plane, from London, landed at LAX around midday Pacific time (2000 GMT). She was rushed to UCLA Medical Center on a ventilator.
Her brother, Todd Fisher, told The Hollywood Reporter that Fisher was "out of emergency" but he later denied media reports that she was in stable condition.
He told Variety magazine his sister had been moved from the emergency room to the Intensive Care Unit, adding on ABC7 s Eyewitness News that she was "getting the best care she can receive."
"She s obviously a very tough girl who s survived many things," he added. "I encourage everyone to pray for her."
TMZ, citing witnesses, said the actress s eyes were closed and she appeared unconscious as she was rushed through the terminal, where paramedics worked for 15 minutes before they could get a pulse.
The Los Angeles Times said her condition was initially reported as critical, quoting an unnamed source who said the actress was "in a lot of distress on the flight."
The Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD) and United Airlines did not refer to the actress by name but both confirmed paramedics had raced to help her as soon as she touched down, just after midday.
Hollywood excess
News reports Saturday said Fisher had just finished filming the third season of her latest screen project, the Amazon comedy television series Catastrophe which is set in London.
She was catapulted to worldwide stardom as the rebel warrior Princess Leia in the original "Star Wars" trilogy, which has been a cultural phenomenon since the release of the films from 1977 to 1983.
Steeped in Hollywood excess from an early age, she was the product of the four-year marriage of movie star Debbie Reynolds, best-known for her role in "Singin In The Rain," and singer Eddie Fisher.
The relationship, and the happy home in Beverly Hills, came to an end when Fisher left Reynolds for her close friend, the actress Elizabeth Taylor.
Fisher s co-stars led tributes as Hollywood reacted with shock to news of her collapse.
The American actress has talked and written frequently about her years of drug addiction and mental illness.
Fisher is known for her searingly honest semi-autobiographical novels, including her best-selling debut "Postcards from the Edge" which she turned into a film of the same name in 1990.
