Post by Rob Durkee on Sept 24, 2010 13:17:40 GMT -5
By ROCKIN' ROBIN
Eddie Fisher, who gained more celebrity fame for his five marriages than his hit records, died Wednesday night, September 22, 2010. He was 82. Fisher's daughter, Tricia Leigh Fisher, told the Associated Press that her father died at his Berkeley, California home from complications of hip surgery. He had been wheelchair-bound since about 2008.
From the early to mid-1950's, Eddie Fisher was the favorite singer of thousands of young girls before Elvis Presley came along. His publicist and manager at the time, Milton Blackstone, has confessed that he often hired teenage girls just to show up at his performances and scream their lungs out.
From 1950 to 1956, Eddie Fisher chalked up 23 Cash Box Top 40 hits, including three #1's: "I'm Walking Behind You" in 1953 and two more in 1954: "(Oh My Papa) Oh Mein Papa" and "I Need You Now." The next year, 1955, he married Debbie Reynolds. That led the news media to call the duo "America's Favorite Couple." The Fishers had two children, including Carrie Fisher, who'd star as Princess Leia in the first three "Stars Wars" movies.
In 1958, Fisher's best friend, Mike Todd, died in a car crash. He spent considerable consoling Todd's widow...and wound up marrying her in 1959. Wife #2 was Elizabeth Taylor after Fisher divorced Reynolds. The marriage with Taylor lasted five years. It also ended in divorce, this time in 1964 when Taylor fell in love with and married Richard Burton. Taylor and Burton had co-starred in the movie "Cleopatra."
In 1967, Fisher married Connie Stevens, the actress who also had hit records such as "Sixteen Reasons" in 1960. Tricia Leigh Fisher was one of the couple's two children for that marriage, which also ended in divorce in 1969. In 1975, Fisher, then 47, married a beauty queen named Terry Richard, who was 21 and thus 26 years younger than him. That marriage lasted only 10 months. Finally, Fisher married Betty Lin, a Chinese-born businesswoman in 1993 and that marriage lasted longer than the first four. Lin died in 2001.
Edwin Jack "Eddie" Fisher was born in Philadelphia on August 10, 1928. That date was also the birthdate of two other prominent entertainment related people. Jimmy Dean was born on that day and died last June 13. It was a rare instance where two solo men who had #1 hits were born on the same day. Dean's #1 was "Big Bad John" in 1961. Also born on August 10, 1928 was Don Bustany, who along with Casey Kasem co-founded "American Top 40." Bustany is still very much alive as of this writing.
Eddie Fisher's other prominent hit songs included "Anytime" (#3 in 1952), "Lady Of Spain" (#4, 1952), "Cindy Oh Cindy" (#9, 1956) and the holiday song "You're All I Want For Christmas." According Joel Whitburn's Record Research books, Fisher's career began in the mid-1940's, when he sang on radio stations and at the New York City's Copacabana night club that Barry Manilow would make famous in a 1978 hit record. Fisher's movies included "All About Eve" (1950), "Bundle Of Joy" (1956) and "Butterfield 8" (1960).
According to Wikipedia, Fisher had two TV shows, "Coke Time With Eddie Fisher" from 1953-57 and "The Eddie Fisher Show" from 1957-59. Both shows were on NBC. The controversy surrounding his marriage to Taylor led NBC to cancel the show.
He had two autobiographies with "Eddie: My Life, My Loves" (1984) and "Been There, Done That" (1993). In the first one, Fisher claimed he was bullied into marrying Reynolds, whom he claimed he didn't know that well. In his second book, he labeled Reynolds as, quote, "self-centered, totally driven, insecure, untruthful, phony."
In the first autobiography, Fisher claimed he was reluctant to marry Stevens, but since she was pregnant, he said he "did the right thing." Also in that first book, Fisher said he was forced to be a nursemaid and husband for Taylor. In the second book, Fisher said he had to put his career on hold because he was too busy taking Taylor to hospital emergency rooms and cleaning up after Taylor's pets and children. This tell-all book angered not only Fisher's first two wives, but also Carrie Fisher, who threatened to change her last name to Reynolds.
Fisher is survived by four children: Two with Reynolds (Carrie And Todd) and two with Stevens (Joely and Tricia).
Eddie Fisher, who gained more celebrity fame for his five marriages than his hit records, died Wednesday night, September 22, 2010. He was 82. Fisher's daughter, Tricia Leigh Fisher, told the Associated Press that her father died at his Berkeley, California home from complications of hip surgery. He had been wheelchair-bound since about 2008.
From the early to mid-1950's, Eddie Fisher was the favorite singer of thousands of young girls before Elvis Presley came along. His publicist and manager at the time, Milton Blackstone, has confessed that he often hired teenage girls just to show up at his performances and scream their lungs out.
From 1950 to 1956, Eddie Fisher chalked up 23 Cash Box Top 40 hits, including three #1's: "I'm Walking Behind You" in 1953 and two more in 1954: "(Oh My Papa) Oh Mein Papa" and "I Need You Now." The next year, 1955, he married Debbie Reynolds. That led the news media to call the duo "America's Favorite Couple." The Fishers had two children, including Carrie Fisher, who'd star as Princess Leia in the first three "Stars Wars" movies.
In 1958, Fisher's best friend, Mike Todd, died in a car crash. He spent considerable consoling Todd's widow...and wound up marrying her in 1959. Wife #2 was Elizabeth Taylor after Fisher divorced Reynolds. The marriage with Taylor lasted five years. It also ended in divorce, this time in 1964 when Taylor fell in love with and married Richard Burton. Taylor and Burton had co-starred in the movie "Cleopatra."
In 1967, Fisher married Connie Stevens, the actress who also had hit records such as "Sixteen Reasons" in 1960. Tricia Leigh Fisher was one of the couple's two children for that marriage, which also ended in divorce in 1969. In 1975, Fisher, then 47, married a beauty queen named Terry Richard, who was 21 and thus 26 years younger than him. That marriage lasted only 10 months. Finally, Fisher married Betty Lin, a Chinese-born businesswoman in 1993 and that marriage lasted longer than the first four. Lin died in 2001.
Edwin Jack "Eddie" Fisher was born in Philadelphia on August 10, 1928. That date was also the birthdate of two other prominent entertainment related people. Jimmy Dean was born on that day and died last June 13. It was a rare instance where two solo men who had #1 hits were born on the same day. Dean's #1 was "Big Bad John" in 1961. Also born on August 10, 1928 was Don Bustany, who along with Casey Kasem co-founded "American Top 40." Bustany is still very much alive as of this writing.
Eddie Fisher's other prominent hit songs included "Anytime" (#3 in 1952), "Lady Of Spain" (#4, 1952), "Cindy Oh Cindy" (#9, 1956) and the holiday song "You're All I Want For Christmas." According Joel Whitburn's Record Research books, Fisher's career began in the mid-1940's, when he sang on radio stations and at the New York City's Copacabana night club that Barry Manilow would make famous in a 1978 hit record. Fisher's movies included "All About Eve" (1950), "Bundle Of Joy" (1956) and "Butterfield 8" (1960).
According to Wikipedia, Fisher had two TV shows, "Coke Time With Eddie Fisher" from 1953-57 and "The Eddie Fisher Show" from 1957-59. Both shows were on NBC. The controversy surrounding his marriage to Taylor led NBC to cancel the show.
He had two autobiographies with "Eddie: My Life, My Loves" (1984) and "Been There, Done That" (1993). In the first one, Fisher claimed he was bullied into marrying Reynolds, whom he claimed he didn't know that well. In his second book, he labeled Reynolds as, quote, "self-centered, totally driven, insecure, untruthful, phony."
In the first autobiography, Fisher claimed he was reluctant to marry Stevens, but since she was pregnant, he said he "did the right thing." Also in that first book, Fisher said he was forced to be a nursemaid and husband for Taylor. In the second book, Fisher said he had to put his career on hold because he was too busy taking Taylor to hospital emergency rooms and cleaning up after Taylor's pets and children. This tell-all book angered not only Fisher's first two wives, but also Carrie Fisher, who threatened to change her last name to Reynolds.
Fisher is survived by four children: Two with Reynolds (Carrie And Todd) and two with Stevens (Joely and Tricia).
