Pop singer Fisher dies

September 25, 2010 at 12:00a.m.

LOS ANGELES

Eddie Fisher, whose huge fame as a pop singer was overshadowed by scandals ending his marriages to Debbie Reynolds and Elizabeth Taylor, has died. He was 82. His daughter, Tricia Leigh Fisher of Los Angeles, told The Associated Press that Fisher died Wednesday night at his home in Berkeley of complications from hip surgery.

Fisher’s clear, dramatic singing voice brought him a devoted following of teenage girls in the early 1950s. He sold millions of records with 32 hit songs including “Oh, My Pa-pa,” “Lady of Spain” and “Count Your Blessings.”

His fame was enhanced by his 1955 marriage to movie darling Debbie Reynolds and the birth of two children.

Their daughter Carrie Fisher became a film star herself in the first three “Star Wars” films as Princess Leia, and later as a best-selling author of “Postcards From the Edge” and other books.

When Eddie Fisher’s best friend, producer Mike Todd, was killed in a 1958 plane crash, Fisher comforted the widow, Elizabeth Taylor. Amid sensationalist headlines, Fisher divorced Reynolds and married Taylor in 1959. The Fisher-Taylor marriage lasted only five years. She fell in love with co-star Richard Burton during the Rome filming of “Cleopatra,” divorced Fisher and married Burton.

Fisher’s career never recovered from the notoriety. He married actress Connie Stevens, and they had two daughters. Another divorce followed. He married twice more.

Lohan’s bail set

LOS ANGELES

A judge says Lindsay Lohan can be released on $300,000 bail after the actress appealed a judge’s decision to send her to jail for nearly a month. Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Patricia Schnegg set the amount Friday evening. Lohan was whisked from a Beverly Hills court Friday morning after Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Elden S. Fox said she should be held without bail until an Oct. 22 hearing.

Lohan failed a court-ordered drug test after being released from rehab last month.