The great Carrie Fisher has died aged 60, a family spokesperson confirmed on Tuesday.

"It is with a very deep sadness that Billie Lourd confirms that her beloved mother, Carrie Fisher, passed away at 8.55 this morning," they said.

The actress, author and screenwriter was best known and loved around the world for her role as Princess Leia in the Star Wars franchise.

Fisher establised the character as an anomaly of the 'damsel in distress' trope, in the sense that she often got herself out of said distress, and other characters as well.

The first film, Star Wars, released in 1977, turned Fisher into an overnight, international movie star and a pop culture icon.

Appearing in an interview on ABC in 2015, which also featured a guest appearance from her dog Gary, a very on-form Fisher spoke about her first audition for the role of Princess Leia, and how she came to be cast in the role again for The Force Awakens.

Her audition opposite Harrison Ford, who played Hans Solo, showed a then (incredibly poised, confident) 19-year-old Fisher speaking the line: "When R2 has been safely delivered to my forces, you'll get your reward, you have my guarantee."

There is an immediate chemistry between the two that, as Fisher revealed this year, would develop into an on-set affair that lasted for three months.

Asked how she prepared to come back as Princess Leia in Episode VII of the series, Fisher said: “I got in character and I've never gotten out again.”

“Did you realise the role you were taking on at the time?” the ABC journalist asked.

“I didn't,” Fisher answered.

She was so on-form and brilliantly funny that she had the interviewer in tears of laughter for much of the interview.