Eddie Fisher, 82, singer with rocky love life, dies

Published 5:00 am Saturday, September 25, 2010

Eddie Fisher, whose matinee-idol looks and big baritone voice made him one of the most popular singers of the 1950s, and whose busy love life stole headlines in 1959 when he divorced Debbie Reynolds to marry Elizabeth Taylor, died on Wednesday at his home in Berkeley, Calif. He was 82.

The cause was complications of hip surgery, his daughter Tricia Leigh Fisher told The Associated Press.

Fisher’s pulsing romantic delivery and boyish looks made him a lethal heartthrob for a generation of teenage girls, who thrilled to chart-topping hits like “Wish You Were Here,” “I’m Walking Behind You,” “Oh! My Pa-Pa” and “I Need You Now.”

In his heyday, Fisher was romantically linked with some of Hollywood’s most glamorous women, including Kim Novak, Marlene Dietrich and Angie Dickinson.

He had Tricia Leigh Fisher and actress Joely Fisher, also of Los Angeles, with actress Connie Stevens, the third of his five wives. He is also survived by two children from his marriage to Reynolds, actress-writer Carrie Fisher and Todd Fisher; and six grandchildren.