Carrie Fisher’s favourite ghost movies
There are some actors who hold such cultural significance that following their passing, their very spirits still seem to occupy a spectral space in the heart of the film industry. That’s why it is fair to say that true cinema icon Carrie Fisher possessed a certain quality to her through which she lives on in the hearts and minds of movie fans across the world.
The Star Wars veteran and script doctor remains one of American cinema’s most enduring icons, and her ghost seems to walk along the pavements and boulevards of Hollywood to this day. With that in mind, it’s worth pointing out that Fisher herself had a soft spot for movies of the most ghostly kind and once named her favourites.
She kicks things off with the 1944 fantasy comedy movie The Canterville Ghost, directed by Jules Dassin and based on the 1887 short story of the same name by Oscar Wilde. Charles Laughton plays a ghost who is fated to haunt an English castle, while Robert Young plays his American relative who is asked to redeem him.
“Charles Laughton is a ghost who’s stuck in a tree because all his descendants are cowards,” Fisher told FilmComment. “Margaret O’Brien turns out to be a distant ancestor, and she allows him to have eternal rest. Finally. I like Margaret O’Brien in this one because she’s going up against her ancestor who’s literally like Henry VIII, and she’s the only one who’s not afraid of him.”
Up next in the 1945 supernatural romance film The Enchanted Cottage, directed by John Cromwell and starring Dorothy McGuire, Robert Young, Herbert Marshall and Mildred Natwick. Based on the 1923 play by Arthur Wing Pinero, Fisher said of the project, “I like movies that deal with amnesia and ghosts. This one I really like. It’s about this cottage that makes ugly people good-looking. Robert Young’s character has been disfigured in a horrible accident, and he goes to this cottage. I love things like this.”
Finally, Fisher’s ghost story favourites list is rounded off by the 1990 classic romance movie Ghost, directed by Jerry Zucker and starring Patrick Swayze, Demi Moore and Whoopi Goldberg. Swayze plays a murdered banker whose apparition tries to save his girlfriend from the person who killed him with the help of a psychic.
“I have to say that I’m not a fan of the ghost-hunting shows that are on now. I had to give them a shot to decide if I’m a fan or not, and I’m not,” Carrie roughly explained why she loves the classic ghost romance movie. “Ghost movies are better because you have to have a real ghost. With ghosts, you need to find somebody. I like there to be someone. Like Patrick Swayze.”
Carrie Fisher’s favourite ghost movies:
- The Canterville Ghost (Jules Dassin, 1944)
- The Enchanted Cottage (John Cromwell, 1945)
- Ghost (Jerry Brucker, 1990)
