Harrison Ford “Shocked And Saddened” Over Carrie Fisher’s Heart Attack
5th update, Saturday AM: Carrie Fisher remains at UCLA Medical this morning, where she was taken yesterday following a major heart attack suffered while flying from London to Los Angeles. Since then, her Star Wars co-stars have been weighing in, with Mark Hamill and Peter Mayhew expressing their well-wishes yesterday on Twitter. And this morning, Harrison Ford did the same in a statement.
“I’m shocked and saddened to hear the news about my dear friend,” Ford said to The Hollywood Reporter. “Our thoughts are with Carrie, her family and friends.”
Fisher’s Brother, Todd Fisher, told the Associated Press yesterday that Fisher has been moved out of emergency and is in the intensive care unit. No further update on her condition has been provided.
4th UPDATE, 6:58 PM: Carrie Fisher’s brother, Todd Fisher, has since clarified his statements, telling the Associated Press that she is intensive care after being taken out of Emergency and is receiving “excellent care,” but is unable to state her condition. He previously said she was stable.
3rd UPDATE with statement on condition, 4:14 PM: Star Wars original Carrie Fisher suffered a heart attack on a plane en route to Los Angeles from London today. A source tells Deadline she was taken to Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center and is on assisted breathing. Her brother, Todd Fisher, told the Associated Press this afternoon that she is in stable condition and “out of emergency.”
Police at LAX confirmed that a female passenger in her early 60s — later confirmed to be Fisher — was taken off United Airlines Flight 935 from the UK today after suffering “what seems to be a heart attack.”
With most of the town now off for the holidays, reps for Fisher have not responded to Deadline’s request for comment.
The flight crew and some passengers worked on her before the plane landed, and the LAFD said they responded to a call at 12:11 PM that a patient was in cardiac arrest on an inbound flight. Paramedics who were standing by for the plane’s arrival at Gate 74 provided life support and aggressively treated and transported her to the hospital.
A woman who said she was aboard the United Airlines jet tweeted this:
Don't know how else to process this but Carrie Fisher stopped breathing on the flight home. Hope she's gonna be OK
— Anna Akana (@AnnaAkana) December 23, 2016
So many thanks to the United flight crew who jumped into action, and the awesome doctor and nurse passengers who helped
— Anna Akana (@AnnaAkana) December 23, 2016
That woman’s companion on the flight tweeted this:
I'm in complete shock. @AnnaAkana and I sat in front of Carrie Fisher on our flight from London and she was just taken off the plane by EMTs
— Brad Gage (@bradgage) December 23, 2016
Fisher, 60, shot to stardom in 1977 as Princess Leia in the first Star Wars film. She has been in the UK on a book tour for The Princess Diarist, a memoir about the behind-the-scenes goings-on on the set of Star Wars and its first sequels. She reprised the role in 1980’s The Empire Strikes Back and 1983’s Return of the Jedi before appearing in last year’s Star Wars: The Force Awakens. She also is set to appear in Star Wars: Episode VIII, which Disney will release in December 2017.
The daughter of Hollywood legends Eddie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds, she recurs on Amazon’s Catastrophe, which films in the UK, and Fox toon Family Guy and has appeared in such films as Shampoo and When Harry Met Sally. She also has played herself on TV shows including The Big Bang Theory and Sex and the City and in the 2014 feature Maps to the Stars.
Fisher also has authored two other memoirs and — Shockaholic and Wishful Drinking — and four novels.
Deadline is reaching out to authorities for details about the incident. Meanwhile, her Star Wars colleagues Mark Hamill and Peter Mayhew — the actor who played Chewbacca in multiple films — tweeted their thoughts:
as if 2016 couldn't get any worse… sending all our love to @carrieffisher
— Mark Hamill (@HamillHimself) December 23, 2016
Thoughts and prayers for our friend and everyone's favorite princess right now.. @carrieffisher
— Peter Mayhew (@TheWookieeRoars) December 23, 2016
Anita Busch contributed to this report.
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