Eddie Fisher, 1928–2010
The singer who loved and lost Liz Taylor
With his velvet voice and boyish good looks, Eddie Fisher was a teenage heartthrob in the 1950s who sold millions of records with hits like “Wish You Were Here” and “I’m Yours.” But his real life romantic dramas, along with a tailspin into drugs, alcohol, and gambling, eclipsed his songs and ultimately buried his career. A few weeks before his death, Fisher’s daughter actress Carrie Fisher said, “My dad, he’s not the sort of bastion of good judgment, but he’s really fun.”
The son of an immigrant Jewish grocer, Fisher grew up in Philadelphia and won a radio singing contest at 13. After moving to New York, the teenager performed in Catskills hotels and was taken under the wing of comedian Eddie Cantor, who developed what Fisher later called his “golden sound.” In 1950, he recorded his first hit, “Thinking of You,” said the Los Angeles Times. In 1955, following a two-year stint in the Army, he married actress Debbie Reynolds, but “it didn’t take long for their celebrated union to fall apart.” He set off “one of the century’s biggest scandals” when he jilted Reynolds for Elizabeth Taylor, a move that would eventually “torpedo Fisher’s career and launch Taylor toward superstardom.”
That marriage lasted five years. The pair appeared together in 1960’s Butterfield 8, for which Taylor won an Oscar. But the film ended Fisher’s film career. Taylor soon left him for Richard Burton. A broken Fisher suffered a nervous breakdown and descended into gambling and drugs. Though Fisher continued to perform in Las Vegas, said Variety, “his crooner style was considered passé.”
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Fisher married and divorced actress Connie Stevens, who was followed at the altar by a 21-year-old beauty queen, Terry Richard, to whom Fisher was married just 10 months. His fifth marriage, to Betty Lin, a Chinese-born businesswoman, was his longest. In 1983, he attempted a comeback tour, but he had lost his hold on his aging fans. In two memoirs—Eddie: My Life, My Loves and Been Here, Done That—Fisher said he had abandoned his career to take care of Elizabeth Taylor’s needs and had married Reynolds only because she was pregnant and it was “the proper thing.”
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
'Self-segregation by political affiliation is spreading'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
7 places across the country to experience the best of summer drinking
The Week Recommends Stops include a Basque-inspired spot and a bar where the menu overhauls twice a year
-
Amazon's robotaxi looks to be Waymo's biggest competitor
In the Spotlight The company recently opened a new robotaxi production plant in California
-
Sly Stone: The funk-rock visionary who became an addict and recluse
Feature Stone, an eccentric whose songs of uplift were tempered by darker themes of struggle and disillusionment, had a fall as steep as his rise
-
Mario Vargas Llosa: The novelist who lectured Latin America
Feature The Peruvian novelist wove tales of political corruption and moral compromise
-
Dame Maggie Smith: an intensely private national treasure
In the Spotlight Her mother told her she didn't have the looks to be an actor, but Smith went on to win awards and capture hearts
-
James Earl Jones: classically trained actor who gave a voice to Darth Vader
In the Spotlight One of the most respected actors of his generation, Jones overcame a childhood stutter to become a 'towering' presence on stage and screen
-
Michael Mosley obituary: television doctor whose work changed thousands of lives
In the Spotlight TV doctor was known for his popularisation of the 5:2 diet and his cheerful willingness to use himself as a guinea pig
-
Morgan Spurlock: the filmmaker who shone a spotlight on McDonald's
In the Spotlight Spurlock rose to fame for his controversial documentary Super Size Me
-
Benjamin Zephaniah: trailblazing writer who 'took poetry everywhere'
In the Spotlight Remembering the 'radical' wordsmith's 'wit and sense of mischief'
-
Shane MacGowan: the unruly former punk with a literary soul
In the Spotlight The Pogues frontman died aged 65