A joint memorial service and side-by-side burial are being planned for mother-and-daughter Hollywood stars Debbie Reynolds and Carrie Fisher, who died a day apart earlier this week in Los Angeles, the family said on Friday.
Todd Fisher, son of Reynolds and younger brother to Carrie, said a glimpse he caught of hummingbirds at a cemetery site at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in the Hollywood Hills convinced him it was the ideal spot for their final resting place.
"That's the way it was meant to be," Todd Fisher, 58, told Reuters, recalling that his mother, the Oscar-nominated singer and actress, had a special fondness for hummingbirds, which were regular visitors to the grounds of her Beverly Hills home.
Fisher said he and other relatives were gathering this weekend to firm up funeral arrangements, including dates.
He said the family was planning two private events - a joint memorial celebration and a burial of his mother and sister next to one another at Forest Lawn - to be followed by some form of public commemoration of the two women.
Reynolds, who sang and danced her way into the hearts of moviegoers in such Hollywood musicals as "Singin' in the Rain," suffered a stroke and died on Wednesday at the age of 84.
Her daughter, Carrie Fisher, best known as Princess Leia in the "Star Wars" films, died a day earlier on Tuesday, four days after suffering a heart attack on a flight from England, where she had been shooting the third season of a British television comedy. She was 60.
Carrie and Todd Fisher were both born to Reynolds and the late singer Eddie Fisher, whose marriage ended in scandal in 1959 after the crooner began an affair with actress Elizabeth Taylor.
In an interview to be broadcast Friday on the ABC News program "20/20," Todd Fisher elaborated on his mother's final hours, insisting "she didn't die of a broken heart" but rather "just left to be with Carrie."
"It wasn't that was sitting around inconsolable, not at all," her son recounted in excerpts from the interview published by ABC. "She simply said that she didn't get to see Carrie come back from London. She expressed how much she loved my sister.
"She then said she really wanted to be with Carrie," he added. "In those precise words, and within 15 minutes from that conversation she faded out, and within 30 minutes, she technically was gone."
Reuters
Sat Dec 31 2016
Actress Debbie Reynolds poses with her daughter actress Carrie Fisher backstage after accepting her Lifetime Achievement award at the 21st annual Screen Actors Guild Awards in Los Angeles, California January 25, 2015. - Reuters
Tak tinggal sebumbung, Nora Danish akui rumah tangga bergolak
Nora mengakui rumah tangga yang dibina tujuh tahun lalu goyah, namun mereka berdua sedang berusaha untuk menangani kemelut tersebut.
Penolong pegawai perubatan didenda RM3,000 terima rasuah urus jenazah
Seorang penolong pegawai perubatan di Hospital Sultan Haji Ahmad Shah Temerloh didenda RM3,000 kerana menerima rasuah berkaitan kerja pengurusan jenazah.
KBS laksana kajian impak penganjuran Sukan SEA 2027
Mesyuarat mengenai perkara itu masih berjalan dengan penglibatan pelbagai pihak bagi mengenal pasti kelebihan dan kekurangan.
19 individu ditahan dipercayai terbabit sindiket pelaburan palsu
Mereka terdiri daripada lapan lelaki dan tujuh wanita tempatan serta empat lelaki warga asing berusia antara 16 hingga 38 tahun.
[TERKINI] Selamatkan Gaza: Dialog dua Perdana Menteri di Mesyuarat Khas WEF Arab Saudi
Tiga PM iaitu PM Palestin, Jordan dan Mesir serta wakil PBB di Gaza duduk sepentas berdialog secara langsung mencari formula menyelamatkan Gaza yang menjadi pusat graviti kepada kestabilan rantau Asia Barat.
OCC: Masih banyak usaha perlu dibuat dalam isu hak kanak-kanak - Azalina
Malaysia masih ketinggalan berbanding negara lain dalam menangani isu penderaan dan masalah sosial melibatkan kanak-kanak.
Piala Asia B-23: Indonesia tekad roboh benteng kebal Uzbekistan
Bintang skuad Garuda Muda, Witan Sulaeman, teruja dengan peluang untuk melakar lebih banyak sejarah ketika membuat persiapan menghadapi aksi separuh akhir PIala Asia B-23 malam ini.
Airbus RACER helikopter terpantas dunia?
Ketika masih dikenali sebagai pesawat eksperimen X3, ia memegang rekod sebagai helikopter terpantas dengan kelajuan mencecah 472 km/j.
AWANI Ringkas: Letupan bom di Thailand | Hadapi dua pertuduhan
Ikuti rangkuman berita utama yang menjadi tumpuan sepanjang hari di Astro AWANI menerusi AWANI Ringkas.
Mesyuarat Khas WEF: Tekanan politik dalaman punca Israel ‘menggila’ - PM Jordan, Mesir
Kedua-dua perdana menteri negara Asia Barat itu setuju serangan ketenteraan di Rafah hanya akan memburukkan keadaan yang sudah sedia meruncing.