2016 took far more than its fair share of entertainment icons, and we’re still reeling from the late-December twin deaths of Carrie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds. Though the women’s dual departure was devastating, it was hardly shocking to anyone familiar with their powerful entwinement; the two Hollywood royals even lived on the same compound at the time of their deaths. In their wake, they leave an extraordinary body of work – not just on celluloid but in print. (Fisher’s The Princess Diarist, an account of her portrayal of Princess Leia in the original “Star Wars” movie, was published only a week before she died.) Here’s a rundown of their three best tomes.
Unsinkable-Debbie Reynolds
Published in 2013, this memoir picks up where Reynolds’s first memoir, Debbie: My Life, leaves off. I’m a fan of that 1988 book; in it, she dishes hard about how ex-husband, crooner Eddie Fisher, famously left her with two young kids for Elizabeth Taylor after the death of Taylor’s husband Mike Todd, also Fisher’s best friend. (The two couples were so close that Carrie’s brother Todd is named after the late movie producer.) But Unsinkable is even juicier, and, given that it achieves the same breathless candor as its predecessor (which was co-written with David P. Columbia), I suspect Debbie merely relied on ghostwriters to organize her thoughts. Continue Reading →
