Boston Fans React To Carrie Fisher's Death
BOSTON (CBS) - Local fans are remembering Carrie Fisher, the actress best known for her iconic role as Princess Leia in Star Wars.
Fisher, 60, died Tuesday morning after suffering a heart attack on a flight last week.
Members of the Alderaan Base of the Rebel Legion, a regional Star Wars fan group, met in Boston to discuss Fisher's passing.
"She's the backbone, she's the boss, she's the brains," Mark Poutenis said of Fisher's role as Leia.
"Princess Leia is not a show that she kind of put on. She just was the person," Joy Lochelt, who dresses as Leia, said. "It gave me permission to not be society's expectation of a woman."
In the Spring, the Alderaan Base joined Fisher when she came to Harvard Square to receive a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Humanist Community at Harvard. She was nominated for her advocacy work related to mental health after battling addiction and Bipolar Disorder.
"She's just a phenomenal person and she's understated and she acts like she's known you forever," said Sarah Chandonnet, Program Director for the Humanist Hub.
In 2008, Fisher performed her one-woman play, "Wishful Drinking," at the Huntington Theatre Company in Boston.
"She was just so honest about everything about her life. The mental illness, the drug use, being a woman and the impact that that had," Lochelt said.