Mark Hamill: Carrie Fisher was like family to me
Mark Hamill felt "honoured" to make Carrie Fisher laugh.
The 65-year-old actor has spoken of the close bond he had with his late ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ co-star, who passed away on December 27.
He shared: "She was so committed to joy and fun and embracing life. She had an Auntie Mame quality to her. I would do crazy things to amuse her on the set. Making her laugh was always a badge of honour. I remember during Empire we were split up storywise; it was a difficult film to shoot and there was a lot of tension on the set. I was off in the swampland with the puppets and robots, but at least Carrie and Harrison got to work with human beings.
"Once at lunchtime she said, ‘You should try on my jumpsuit.’ I said, ‘The one-piece white jumpsuit? You’re what, 5’2"? I’ll never get in!’ She said, ‘Just try.’ I put on that Princess Leia zipper jump suit and it was so tight I looked like a Vegas lounge singer. If that wasn’t ridiculous enough, she had me put on one of those bald cap masks with the Bozo hair and glasses and nose and then she walked me around the back lot."
And Mark – who plays Luke Skywalker in the science fiction franchise – also described Carrie as like family to him.
In a guest column penned for The Hollywood Reporter, he added: "I’m grateful that we stayed friends and got to have this second act with the new movies. I think it was reassuring to her that I was there, the same person, that she could trust me, as critical as we could sometimes be with each other.
"We ran the gamut over the years, where we were in love with each other, where we hated each other’s guts. ‘I’m not speaking to you, you’re such a judgmental, royal brat!’ We went through it all. It’s like we were a family."
