Carrie Fisher, the new co-host of TCM’s “The Essentials,” knows a few things about movies, old and new.
The former Princess Leia and bestselling author of “Postcards from the Edge” has not only starred in and written them, but she lives with her mother, Hollywood legend Debbie Reynolds.
“I was raised on them, they’re in my DNA” said Fisher, who will introduce movies with TCM’s elegant network host Robert Osborne for the show’s seventh season. As co-host, she follows in the footsteps of film critic Molly Haskell,
“I love old moves and TCM is wallpaper for me. So in a way, it will sort of make it weird for me as a viewer.”
Fisher flew to Atlanta to tape the intros, which will start rolling out this week. First up is “Breakfast at Tiffany’s,” the 1962 Blake Edwards romantic comedy classic starring Audrey Hepburn as a free spirited Manhattanite who is constantly accepting $50 from men for trips to the ladies’ room.
“I love this movie, and I knew Carol Matthau, Walter Matthau’s wife, who laid claim to being Truman Capote’s model for Holly Golightly,” Fisher said. “She was a very unique eccentric.”
Fisher also encountered Capote himself once.
“I met him in Steve Rubell’s secret drug dean beneath Studio 54, where he and Tennessee Williams were doing cocaine,” Fisher said.
“I was there with Paul Simon [they were married from 1982-83], I was 21 and no, I wasn’t one of the people passing around mirrors.
” ‘Star Wars’ had just come out, but that didn’t mean anything to that crowd. That didn’t mean they wanted to talk with you.”
Not that she’s going be describing celebrities doing lines at Studio 54 on “The Essentials.”
“No, we don’t do anything that puts people in an unpleasant light,” she said with a laugh.
THE ESSENTIALS
8 p.m. Saturday, TCM.
Sidebar
CARRIE ON:
Get the dish on these Hollywood classics
March 17:
“Hud”
March 24: “It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World”
April 21: “Roman Holiday”
May 5: “The Producers” May 5
May 12: “My Fair Lady” May 12
May 19: “Ball of Fire” May 19
May 26: “King Kong” May 26
June 2: “Take the Money and Run” June 2
June 9: “The African Queen” June 9
June 23: “Lost Weekend” June 23
July 7: “Topper” July 7
July 14: “Sorry, Wrong Number” July 14
July 21: “Pride and Prejudice” July 21
August 4: “The Bridge on the River Kwai” August 4
September 8: “The Importance of Being Earnest” September 8
December 8: “Notorious, December 8