Almost three months after Debbie Reynolds and Carrie Fisher were laid to rest, the mother and daughter were honoured in a public memorial service in LA (or “show”, as Reynolds’ son and Fishers’ brother Todd Fisher explained, “because my mother didn’t like memorials and funerals”).
The service was attended by Dan Aykroyd (Fisher’s longtime friend and brief fiancé), James Blunt, hundreds of fans and dogs Gary and Dwight, who each had their own reserved seat.
#debbieReynolds dog Dwight is here at Debbie Reynolds memorial pic.twitter.com/Evy5y4SyuO
— Bryan Alexander (@BryAlexand) March 25, 2017
Todd, who organised the event, shared a touching memory of his mother’s last day on earth.
“When Carrie died, my mother decided to change her plans a bit,” he said. “My mother always said to me, ‘I never want to go to my daughter’s funeral service. I would like to be buried with Carrie’.
“I didn’t know she was going to leave us that very next day and when she looked at me to ask permission to leave, she said she wanted to be with Carrie, and she closed her eyes and went to sleep. It was a very peaceful exit that only my mother could’ve orchestrated.
“She was trained in Hollywood where they teach you to make a great entrance and exit… A beautiful exit.”
The service included a montage of Carrie Fisher photos set to James Blunt’s ‘You’re Beautiful‘. The two are lifelong friends (Carrie was godmother to Blunt’s son), and he apparently wrote his hit in the bathroom of her Hollywood home. “On the piano in her bathroom, like we all have,” Todd joked afterwards.
On Twitter, Mark Hamill tweeted that Carrie once promised him that if he went first, she’d heckle his funeral.
Then there was the time she promised if I went 1st-she’d heckle my funeral. Fiercely funny-I know she would also like us all to laugh today. pic.twitter.com/K2iQtA57W4
— Mark Hamill (@HamillHimself) March 25, 2017
The service also featured a piece of fan art by Ricky LaChance, showing Fisher and Reynolds in their iconic ‘Star Wars‘ and ‘Singin’ in the Rain‘ roles, walking off arm in arm
BRB, sobbing forever.
Photo: Jason LaVeris; Kevin Winter / Getty.
