Actress/author Carrie Fisher

Before 1977, Carrie Fisher was known best - if known at all - as the daughter of Eddie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds. A little sci-fi movie released that year changed all that. Some silly ol' outer-space war flick called Star Wars - maybe you've heard of it! :-D

Her character, Leia Organa, was a princess captured by villains (the Galactic Empire) and rescued by heroes (Luke Skywalker and Han Solo). A cliché out of many a fairy tale, this one came with a twist - Leia was capable of rescuing herself. She would rescue her rescuers on many an occasion in the Star Wars trilogy, most notably in the original movie, when Luke Skywalker frees her but then realizes too late that he forgot about an exit strategy.

As a result, Carrie Fisher became a sex symbol to geeks everywhere. Many sci-fi nerds growing up in the late seventies and early eighties would admit to having a crush on her.

Since then she's appeared in movies such as Hannah and Her Sisters and When Harry Met Sally. Sadly, her personal life became something of a show as she openly discussed her battles with drugs and bipolar disorder, which led to movie success in a different way; her novel based on her own life, "Postcards From the Edge," was made into a movie starring Meryl Streep. (Four novels followed.)