THESE TWO WOMEN, both born in October, who shared wit, heart, a preference for privacy, and unrivaled show business pedigree, also shared a friendship that Marshall once observed survived the years of all of their marriages combined. They met on the late 1970s party scene, but it wasn’t a “will you hold my hair” friendship—they got each other. They clicked. Sure, Jack Nicholson, Robin Williams, Anjelica Huston, and Meryl Streep were regulars at the infamous joint birthday bashes. Names like Affleck and Kidman were considered newbies, Bowie and Iman crashers.
Their fondness for their beloved opposite coasts—Marshall’s New York roots recalled her, while Fisher stayed adjacent to her driveway neighbor, mother Debbie Reynolds in L.A.—might have separated them geographically, but as any A-list behind-the-scenes writer/director/actor worth her salt will attest, not even a country would ever come between them.