Carrie Fisher

As Carrie Fisher explains it early in this brisk, entertaining adaptation of her 2006 one-woman stage show, she had famous parents. Debbie Reynolds was the beloved star of "Singin' in the Rain" who possessed a vast storehouse of clothing in her Beverly Hills closet and could always be relied upon to transform herself into a movie star before her astonished children's eyes.

EARLIER this month, Carrie Fisher went out to New York for the upfronts -- that's when the TV networks trot out their new programs. Unfortunately, she brought along a flu she got from her daughter, 14. She serves as a judge on Fox's reality series "The Lot," a boot camp/competition for aspiring filmmakers. She's also written a number of books, the latest of which, "The Best Awful," will allegedly be an HBO miniseries starring Meg Ryan. What did you learn at the upfronts?

CARRIE FISHER is singing in the shower. Well, not in the shower, exactly; just in the bathroom. The reason? That's where the piano is. That there is an upright piano in Fisher's bathroom is no more peculiar than anything else about her rambling 1930s manse in Beverly Hills, once home to Bette Davis. Decor-wise, the place is a Grimms' fairy tale -- that is, if the Brothers Grimm had moonlighted as Hollywood comedy writers.

By now you've probably heard a good deal about the psychological case study known as Carrie Fisher. To review the basic facts: Hollywood icon parents torn asunder by lavender-eyed Jezebel, early movie stardom marred by laughingstock hairdo, a minor shipwreck on the shoals of Paul Simon, rehab, resurrection via "Postcards From the Edge," rehab again, confession of mental illness to Diane Sawyer, bipolar acclaim, fresh scandal involving dead gay Republican operative in bed, more rehab.

Republican media advisor Robert Gregory Stevens, whose body was found at the home of actress and author Carrie Fisher last month, died from an overdose of cocaine and a painkiller, a county coroner's official said Wednesday. Lt. Fred Corral said the "cause of death was cocaine and oxycodone, but he also had hypertrophic heart disease, that's an enlarged heart, and coronary heart disease." Stevens, 42, was a friend of Fisher and was found Feb. 26 in the guest room of her Coldwater Canyon home.

It would be hard to call Carrie Fisher's new novel fiction and maintain a straight face. She characterizes it as "based on a truant's story," since it chronicles the time when she was absent from reality without permission. Please excuse Carrie. Flash floods, seismic disturbances and electrical storms inside her head made it impossible for her to attend life. Thank you. "It's faction," she says. "I don't want to be coy and say I wrote about someone else's experience in the mental hospital.

Carrie Fisher is very much in the public eye these days thanks to the enormous box-office success of the re-release of the "Star Wars" trilogy. But Fisher's Princess Leia days are far behind her. These days, Fisher, 40, is concentrating more on her writing career. She's penned three funny novels, including the best-selling "Postcards From the Edge" and "Surrender the Pink," as well as the screenplay for the acclaimed 1990 film version of "Postcards."

"Carrie Fisher: The Hollywood Family," premiering Sunday on A&E, is a darkly comic expose of life in Tinseltown from the viewpoint of a denizen who lived and survived many of its extremes. Fisher, an actress-turned-best-selling author ("Postcards From the Edge," "Surrender the Pink"), wrote and is host of the two-hour documentary produced by A&E and the BBC.