Actor Carrie Fisher, who portrayed Princess Leia in the Star Wars films, has died aged 60.

The news came days after she suffered an apparent heart attack on a flight from London to Los Angeles on her way back from a promotional tour for her latest book, The Princess Diarist.

Her daughter Billie Lourd's publicist released a statement saying: "It is with a very deep sadness that Billie Lourd confirms that her beloved mother Carrie Fisher passed away at 8.55 this morning. She was loved by the world and she will be missed profoundly. Our entire family thanks you for your thoughts and prayers."

Fisher was the daughter of Debbie Reynolds and the singer Eddie Fisher, and shot to stardom on the release of Star Wars in 1977. She was also a writer who mined her personal struggles for material, particularly in her screenplay for Postcards from the Edge, which starred Meryl Streep and dealt with issues of mental health and addiction.

She recently revealed that she and Harrison Ford had had a brief relationship during the filming of Star Wars.

A digital replica of Carrie Fisher appears in the latest Star Wars episode, a prequel to the one that made her famous.