FEATURE
In her novel Postcards from the Edge, now a movie starring Meryl Streep and Shirley MacLaine, film star CARRIE FISHER relived a familiar nightmare cycle of fame, addiction and painful rehabilitation. Paul W. Hullah examines the rise, decline and final
4.4.»- Arguably the lirst olthe \ ‘Hollywood casualties’.
Olive Thomas (right) was the brightest star lnthe Selmiclr studio-slogan ‘Selzniclt Pictures Create Happy Homes'. Hersudden death in September1920 shocked an America still gripped by Victorian morality, especially when the details emerged at her involvement with cocaine and heroin dealers. ‘Olive Thomas, Dope Fiendl’ screamed the headlines, beginning a story thatwould run and run. . . all theway through to Carrie Fisher (Ieit). writer at Postcards From the Edge, starring Meryl Streep and Shirley MacLalne.
'It struck me today that the peOple that have made an impact on me are the people who didn't make it. Marilyn Monroe, Judy Garland, Montgomery Clift, Lenny Bruce, Janis Joplin, John Belushi... In our culture these people are heroes.’ (Postcards from the Edge)
14The List 8— 21 February 1991