Blues Brothers star Dan Aykroyd has written a loving remembrance of the actress Carrie Fisher, in which he described her as a "one-off, broke-the-mould woman".
Aykroyd and Fisher were engaged in 1980, during a break in her seven-year relationship with musician Paul Simon; Fisher eventually married Simon in 1983.
Aykroyd described Fisher as "one of the most brilliant and hilarious minds of our eon ... [with] the most refined eye for art and design."
In an essay written for the film magazine Empire, the 64-year-old actor revealed he and Fisher had met on the set of the long-running sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live.
Fisher was friends with Aykroyd's Blues Brothers co-star John Belushi.
"I remember how much she made him laugh," Aykroyd recalled.
Later, he said, the pair exchanged gifts: he gave Fisher a sapphire engagement ring, and she gave him a Donald Roller Wilson oil painting.
Describing his relationship with the iconic actress and star of the Star Wars saga films, Aykroyd said he was "embraced in warmly human and Hollywood-glamorous emotional comfort, elegance and excitement".
He was also befriended by Fisher's friends in Los Angeles, including the actor José Ferrer.
Aykroyd described their relationship as a "laugh-filled exhilaration and a vibrant, wholly satisfying physical intimacy."
"Carrie wasn't shallow, we had a great time," Aykroyd wrote. "She was also in love with Paul Simon. She married him but I hope she kept my ring."
Fisher died in January, a day before her mother, the iconic musical and film star Debbie Reynolds, died; Fisher was 60, Reynolds was 84.
