"Star Wars" has lost its most beloved princess.

Carrie Fisher, best known for her portrayal of the plucky Princess Leia in George Lucas' epic intergalactic movie series, died Tuesday, days after suffering a heart attack on a plane. She was 60 years old.



"It is with a very deep sadness that Billie Lourd confirms that her beloved mother Carrie Fisher passed away at 855 this morning," Simon Halls, a representative for Fisher's daughter, said in a statement to NBC News. "She was loved by the world and she will be missed profoundly."



Fisher, who had recently wrapped the filming of "Star Wars: Episode VIII," the second of three new "Star Wars" films, was in the midst of a tour to promote her eighth book, an autobiography called "The Princess Diarist," when she suffered the medical emergency.



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During a Nov. 21 appearance on TODAY, Fisher showed no sign of being ill while she bantered with the hosts and dished about her affair with co-star Harrison Ford.

"It was a three-month one-night stand," she said.



But on a flight from London back home to Los Angeles last Friday, Fisher went into cardiac arrest. Sources said members of the United flight crew, joined by a doctor and a nurse on board, performed emergency measures on her.



@AnnaAkana: So many thanks to the United flight crew who jumped into action, and the awesome doctor and nurse passengers who helped

Born October 21, 1956, Fisher was Hollywood royalty before she became a member of the fictional Organa royal family in the "Star Wars" movies.

The daughter of singer Eddie Fisher and actress Debbie Reynolds, Fisher was just two when her parents divorced and she went to live briefly with starlet Elizabeth Taylor.