Fisher made her big screen debut in the film Shampoo (1975), alongside Goldie Hawn, Warren Beatty and Julie Christie, but it would be another two years until she got her big break in Star Wars.

She told the Daily Mail in 2011 that when she got the part in a "little science-fiction film", she just thought of it as a bit of fun. "But then Star Wars, this goofy, little three-month hang-out with robots did something unexpected," she said.

"It exploded across the firmament of pop culture, taking all of us along with it. It tricked me into becoming a star all on my own."

While proud of her work on Star Wars, Fisher was a woman of many talents. In 1987, she published her first novel, the bestselling Postcards from the Edge, a semi-autobiographical story about a woman raising a daughter while working in show business.

Writing became a lifelong passion for Fisher. She helped adapt Postcards into a film starring Streep in 1990, and made a career of revising Hollywood scripts, including Sister Act (1992), Outbreak (1995) and The Wedding Singer (1998).

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As Canada finds it increasingly difficult to maintain the walled-garden of Canadian content, the commercial business model – whereby U.S. shows, often simulcast, underwrite a smattering of Canadian drama and comedy – is at risk. The moment may come when the commercial networks will have to be cut loose from both their Canadian-content obligations and market protections: Leave them to figure out how to make money as a local broadcaster selling U.S. content to Canadians when Netflix knows no national boundaries.

In that environment, a distinctively Canadian and commercial-free alternative would stand out like a beacon. Critics of CBC sometimes argue that globalized media make the Canadian public broadcaster obsolete. On the contrary, the plethora of foreign choices makes it more relevant than ever.

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