Actress Carrie Fisher is finally getting her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame after her sudden passing in December 2016.
The event was attended by her daughter, Billie Lourd, and “Star Wars” costar Mark Hamill, who both gave emotional speeches as they paid tribute to Carrie’s lasting legacy.
Mark Hamill and Billie Lourd Pay Tribute To Carrie Fisher In Emotional Hollywood Walk Of Fame Ceremony
May The Fourth Be Carrie Frances Fisher Day As She Receives Her Richly-Deserved⭐️ On The Hollywood Walk Of Fame pic.twitter.com/vj9zvxbnEP
— Mark Hamill (@MarkHamill) May 4, 2023
Matt Fritch opened the ceremony and introduced Walk of Famer Ellen K to emcee the dedication. She thanked the fans watching at home via live stream. At the time the event started, over a thousand people were watching from all over the world.
Ellen explained how Carrie is the 2,754th star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and listed only a few of her many acting credits. After starring in “Shampoo” at the age of 16, Carrie went on to appear in “Laverne and Shirley,” “Sex and the City,” and even received an Emmy nomination for “30 Rock.” She was, of course, probably best remembered for portraying Princess Leia in the “Star Wars” franchise.
Ellen then turned the microphone over to Mark Hamill, who is best known as Luke Skywalker. Mark began his speech by saying, “Today… may today be Carrie Frances Fisher Day.”
He began by saying that he was “so happy” to be here with her daughter, Billie Lourd, and so many “Star Wars” colleagues. He explained how he met Carrie when she was only 19. He joked that he was a “worldly” 24 at the time they met.
During their first meeting together, he said that every expectation he had was “obliterated.” He described her as charming, funny, adorable, and brutally frank. On their first meeting, he recalled how she told stories about her family that he questioned if she should be telling him. He also praised her innate sense of wisdom.
“I’m so pleased that we’re here to honor her legacy and accomplishments,” he told the live audience, pulling out a notebook to read something that he wrote down six years ago, shortly after Carrie passed away.
“Carrie was one-of-a-kind who belonged to us all, whether we liked it or not. She was our Princess,” he said, calling her “determined and tough but with a vulnerability that made you want to see her succeed and be happy.” Although he admitted that she could be “a handful,” he said that everything would be “less interesting” if she “hadn’t been the friend that she was.”
“I will never stop missing her but I’m so thankful to have had her for as long as we did,” he went on. “So, thank you, Carrie,” he concluded. “I love you. ” He said that it would have been “perfect” if Carrie was here, but he said that Carrie would “want us to laugh and have fun.”
Billie Lourd Gets Emotional As She Remembers Her Mother’s Legacy
The microphone was then turned over to Steve Nissen to welcome Billie Lourd to the stage. Nissen joked that even though Princess Leia is best known in a galaxy far, far away, Carrie’s star is located right here on Planet Earth.
Councilman Hugo Soto Martinez was then invited to the stage to give out the award; he then handed it to Billie. The two posed for a photograph together while a Stormtrooper, C-3PO, and R2-D2 looked on. Nissen then came back to declare May 4th Carrie Fisher Day in Hollywood.
Billie Lourd then took the stage to thank the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce for this honor. She said her mom would be “excited” and “thankful.” She thanked her “space uncle” Mark Hamill and all of the fans who were standing in the rain. “I adore you; she adored you,” she told the cheering crowd.
“My mom used to say you were never actually famous until they turn you into a PEZ dispenser,” she joked, going on to say that she believes that the real sign of fame is getting a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Billie called it a “double whammy” that her mother has both.
She went on to recall a story about how she didn’t want to watch “Star Wars” when she was a child because she thought it was “too loud” and she was confused that her mother could be the “lady in the TV.” However, in middle school, boys started to tease her about her famous mother. At that point, Billie decided to watch the movie of her own volition and “finally figured out what the fuss was about the lady in the TV.”
Billie said that she didn’t want her mom to be “hot or cool” but she realized that “no one will ever be as hot or as cool as Princess Leia.” Later that year, they went to Comic-Con together and Billie realized how beloved the character was, even after so many years.
She called it “surreal” to see so many people dressed up as her mother. She described how people had tattoos of her, named their children after her, and would wait in line for hours just to meet her. “It was a side of my mom I had never seen before,” Billie recalled.
“No one could have played her like my mother,” she continued, saying that she has only fallen more deeply in love with “Star Wars” since her mother passed away six and a half years ago.
Carrie was on a flight from London to Los Angeles when she suffered a medical emergency fifteen minutes before the plane landed. She was intensive care for four days before she passed away on December 27, 2016. Her mother, Debbie Reynolds, suffered a stroke and passed away the following day.
Now, Billie is determined to carry on her mother’s legacy and her own love of the franchise. She joked that she buys every piece of Leia merch that she “Leia-s her eyes on” and was even wearing a dress with the image of Princess Leia on the front. Billie became emotional near the end of her speech, recalling how so many people were still dressed up like Leia at last year’s Star Wars Celebration, even though she passed away years ago.
Billie went on to say that her mother was an incredible actress from her first role at 16 in “Shampoo” to her last role in “Catastrophe.” “She could sing, she could dance, she could act, and she was an absolutely beyond brilliant writer,” she said, referring to the various books Carrie penned about her mental illness and drug abuse.
“Take your broken heart and make it into art,” was one of Carrie’s most famous quotes, and Billie reminded her fans of this sage advice toward the end of her speech as she thanked her friends and family who came out in the rain to pay tribute to her late mother.
She also thanked Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy and Disney CEO Bob Iger. She wrapped up her speech by saying she can’t wait to bring her own children to visit Carrie’s star when they were old enough to understand the meaning of her mother’s legacy.
“And thank you to the droids,” she concluded. “Never forget the droids.”
After taking photographs with Mark beside the star, Billie then emptied a packet of glitter into her hand and tossed it over Carrie’s star. She then kneeled down in front of the star and placed both hands on the star before taking photographs with the droids as well.
Carrie Fisher’s star is located at 6840 Hollywood Boulevard near the El Capitan Theatre for fans to visit.
