A BELOVED actress has been remembered as a “powerhouse of vitality and goodwill” after tragically dying following a battle with breast cancer.
Carrie Anne Fleming, 51, passed away in Sidney, British Columbia, and was best known for her role in the fantasy drama Supernatural.
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Carrie Anne Fleming, 51, has tragically died after a battle with breast cancerCredit: GettyFleming’s death was confirmed by her Supernatural co-star Jim Beaver in a touching Facebook tributeCredit: Alamy
She is survived by her daughter Madalyn Rose.
Fleming was confirmed dead by her co-star and friend Jim Beaver in a statement to Variety.
The star died on February 26, from complications after battling the deadly illness.
Later, in a lengthy heartfelt tribute posted to Facebook, 75-year-old Beaver called Fleming his “soulmate”.
“To find a soul mate once in life is something of a miracle. To find one twice is almost unimaginable,” he said.
“To love and be loved is a pearl above price, but such pearls do come more than once or twice to the lucky.”
Beaver said loving her had been devastating, after losing Cecily – the mother of his child – to the same disease.
“I lost Cecily to cancer in 2004,” he said.
“Thursday, I lost Carrie to the same disease. I never thought my heart could break so badly more than once.
“But it has. But, oh, the two torches I carry – what bright, bright light they shed.”
He continued, recounting the first time they met on the set of the popular television series.
“Carrie Anne Fleming was cast as my wife on Supernatural in my fifth season on the show,” he said.
Beaver revealed he had “fallen for her hard” just seconds after meeting her for the first time.
He said he had been “shocked” to find she felt the same way.
“To find oneself paired with someone who not only loves and is loved, but who seems by magic or the grace of the gods to understand you, to want what you are, to want you to be what you are, who GETS you and never feels the need to have you defend who you are, and about whom you feel the same – how many of us can say that spark of divinity has alighted on us once, much less twice? I can,” he said in the heartbreaking tribute.
The pair bonded over both having daughters named Madeline Rose, with Beaver saying the discovery had been “the beginning of a beautiful friendship”.
The star was known for her roles in numerous popular TV showsCredit: GettyShe was born in Digby, Nova ScotiaCredit: Alamy
“We ran lines of dialogue together in my trailer and talked for hours that first day, and the electricity between us was practically visible,” he wrote.
Beaver said the actress had “an amazingly good nature … a rapturous laugh and an utterly adorable personality that didn’t seem to have an off switch”.
“I was so in love I think my eyes turned silver,” he said.
“She seemed to think I was worth hanging around with, too.”
Fleming also starred in other popular shows including iZombie, Smallville, Good Luck Chuck, The L Word, Married Life and Supergirl.
Born on August 16, 1974, in Digby, Nova Scotia, Fleming studied at Mount Douglas Senior Secondary in Victoria, British Columbia, and later attended the Kaleidoscope Theatre as well as the Kidco Theatre Dance Company for drama.
She broke into the industry through an uncredited appearance in Adam Sandler’s Happy Gilmore, and later in a role in Viper.
In 2005 she was cast in Dario Argento’s show Masters of Horror, starring as a disfigured woman with cannibalistic urges.
She went on to appear and star in other horror shows, including Bloodsuckers and The Tooth Fairy.
More recently Fleming played Candy Baker on five seasons of the CW’s iZombie.
She also appeared in the 2015 TV film The Unauthorized Full House Story, exploring the behind-the-scenes making of the hit sitcom.
Fleming played the mother of Full House star Candace Cameron Bure, who portrayed D.J. Tanner on the show.
Fleming also performed in a number of British Columbia stage productions, including Steel Magnolias, Noises Off, and Romeo and Juliet.
By Neal Allen and Anne Lamott Avery: 208 pages, $27
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They’re so darn cute together, these two. Neal Allen, father of four, newspaper reporter turned corporate executive turned spiritual coach turned author of two spiritual guidebooks, stands a full head of hair taller than his dread-headed wife, who calls him her “current husband.” He calls her his “remarkable and beautiful partner” and himself “Mr. Anne Lamott.”
And no wonder. Author Anne Lamott has published 21 books, with worldwide sales in the millions. “Bird by Bird,” her 1994 writing handbook, which has sold more than 1 million copies and continues to sell approximately 40,000 copies each year, became a meme before there were memes. Thirty-two years later, the titular phrase has made appearances everywhere from “Ted Lasso” (Coach Beard: “I hate losing.” Coach Lasso: “Bird by bird, Coach.”) to a Gloria Steinem interview in Cosmopolitan (“Every writer, truth-seeker, parent, and activist I know is in love with one or more books by Anne Lamott”).
Ask a famous writer how they do what they do, and “Bird by Bird” will likely get honorable mention. Harlan Coben, whose 35 novels have sold roughly 90 million copies, calls “Bird by Bird” his “favorite writing manual.” “I use it like a coach’s halftime speech to get me fired up to write.”
In a 2007 interview, “Eat Pray Love” author Elizabeth Gilbert called herself Lamott’s “literary offspring.” Paula McLain, who wrote the 2011 blockbuster “The Paris Wife,” told me: “I return to ‘Bird by Bird’ again and again because Anne Lamott tells the truth about how hard this work is — and then somehow makes you laugh about it.”
I reached out to best-selling memoirist and novelist Dani Shapiro to ask if she had her own experience with the book. “A writer is always a beginner,” she said. “And there is no better companion than ‘Bird by Bird.’”
Lamott and Allen partnered to write “Good Writing.”
(Christie Hemm Klok / For The Times)
Lamott, 71, and Allen, 69, met in 2016 on the 50-plus dating site OurTime.com. Nine months later, they bought a woodsy Marin County home with room for Lamott’s son and grandson. Sam, when he was 1 year old, was the subject of his mom’s first bestseller, the 1993 memoir “Operating Instructions.” His son Jax was the subject, at age 1, of his grandmother’s 2012 memoir, “Some Assembly Required.”
“We were watching U.S. Open tennis one night and Neal said, ‘Can I ask you something?’” Lamott told me via email. “I barely looked away from the TV, and he asked me to marry him. I said, ‘Yes, if we can get a cat.’”
After a decade of marriage, Lamott and Allen have undertaken a professional collaboration whose outcome, like their union, is greater than the sum of its parts. “Good Writing: 36 Ways to Improve Your Sentences” is as sharply specific as “Bird by Bird” is wanderingly wonderful: as winning a companion piece as two winning companions could create. The table of contents is itself a mini-manual of writerly tips: “Use Strong Verbs.” “Sound Natural.” “Keep it Active.” “Stick with Said.” “Don’t Show Off.”
Lamott and Allen.
(Christie Hemm Klok / For The Times)
I spoke to the late-life lovebirds about their process of marital manuscript-making: the good, the not so good and the blackmailing.
Meredith Maran: How did writing “Bird by Bird” compare to co-authoring “Good Writing”?
Anne Lamott: “Bird by Bird” was literally everything I knew about writing, everything I had been teaching my students for years. It was definitely my book. “Good Writing” was definitely Neal’s book. I just foisted my attention on him and threatened to undermine the marriage if he did not let me contribute.
MM: Neal, what on earth convinced you that you could add something to one of the world’s most popular writing books —written by your wife, no less?
Neal Allen: Oh, I’m not adding anything to “Bird by Bird,” which is a complete classic. It’s everything you need to know about becoming a writer. “Good Writing” is about what comes next: a second draft. And while it’s not fair to call “Bird by Bird” a craft book — it’s much more — it’s fine to define “Good Writing” that way.
“Helping each other with our work is one of the richest aspects of our life as a married couple,” Lamott said.
(Christie Hemm Klok / For The Times)
MM: In producing this joint project, how did you two negotiate the differences between your writing styles and personalities?
AL: We didn’t need to negotiate. Neal somehow manages to be both elegant and welcoming, whereas I think I am more like the class den mother, with a plate of cupcakes, exhorting people not to give up, trying to convince them that they can only share their truth in their own voice, that their voice is plenty good, and that when they get stuck, as we all do, I know some tricks that will help them get back to work.
NA: I once asked AI to describe the difference between my writing and Annie’s. AI answered that I explain things to readers; Annie helps readers reach catharsis. I think that’s absolutely right.
MM: How did you come up with the book’s fab format, whereby each of you writes your own introduction, and then each chapter starts with Neal’s thoughts about one of the 36 rules and ends with Annie’s?
NA: Annie first asked if she could annotate what I had written. That scared the bejesus out of me. When she started writing her own essays in her own voice, I was quite relieved. One of the format’s surprising strengths is that Annie always gets the last word. I explain the rule; then she helps the reader find their way and resolve their issues with the rule. There’s a downside: I don’t get to respond when she tells the reader to ignore me.
“I’m not adding anything to ‘Bird by Bird,’” Allen said. “It’s everything you need to know about becoming a writer. ‘Good Writing’ is about what comes next: a second draft.”
(Christie Hemm Klok / For The Times)
MM: In your intro, Anne, you recall Neal telling you he was working on a writing book. “Well. Hmmmph,” you replied. “I had written a book on writing once …” How did professional jealousy, competitiveness, possessiveness, or, on the brighter side, tenderness, collaborative spirit and generosity play out as you wrote a writing book together?
AL: We have no competitiveness or jealousy when it comes to each other’s writing. We just want the other person to write the most beautiful work they can. We are each other’s first reader, and editor, and while of course I feel attacked if Neal suggests even the tiniest change to my deathless prose, I have come to understand that his suggested cuts and additions save me from myself. Helping each other with our work is one of the richest aspects of our life as a married couple.
NA: There’s no way around “Bird by Bird,” and I just have to deal with that. My worry was whether Annie really wanted to be associated with my little book. I’m envious of Annie’s brilliance, of course, but we speak the same writing language and we love it equally.
MM: What are each of you proudest of, “Good Writing”-wise?
AL: We just recorded the audio version, and I was surprised by how much practical help the book offers. Also, I love the tone, which is so conversational and sometimes, I hope, pretty funny.
NA: I had the opposite reaction to recording the audio version. I saw all the opportunities for readers to mock me. In the 18 months between writing a final draft and the book showing up in stores, we’ve both flipped from believing it reflects well on us to thinking it’s a disaster. Luckily, both of us haven’t ever thought it sucks at the same time.
MM: That is fortunate. Also, Neal, I’m not sure you answered my question.
NA: What am I proudest of? That the book exists. I carried around these rules for improving sentences for years. I think a lot of writers do a book because they notice it’s not out there, and why isn’t it? And then they shrug, ‘Well, I guess it’s up to me.’ That’s how I came into all three of my books.
AL: May I just add that I’m proud to introduce my seriously charming and breathtakingly wise husband to a wider audience.
Festival of Books
“Written by Hand: Lexicons, Storytelling, and Protecting Human Language in an Age of Artificial Everything” (featuring Anne Lamott and Neal Allen)
ANNA Wintour showed there’s no bad blood when it comes to how she was portrayed in the hit 2006 film The Devil Wears Prada as she teamed up with leading lady Anne Hathaway during Sunday night’s Oscars.
Attending the 98th annual awards bash, which was held at Los Angeles’ Dolby Theatre, the former Vogue Editor-In-Chief took to the stage to present the Best Costume Design gong alongside Anne.
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Anne Hathaway proved she’s got no bad blood when it comes to The Devil Wears Prada as she joined the film’s star Anne Hathaway for a surprise Oscars appearanceCredit: GettyThe Devil Wears Prada famously featured Meryl Streep in a role as a scathing magazine editor, which was largely inspired by Wintour’s professional reputationThe pair presented the Best Costume award at the Oscars with a funny on-stage spoofCredit: AFP
And while the film, based on the 2003 novel of the same name, didn’t paint the character in a glowing light, it seems Anna holds no grudges.
Taking to the stage with Anne, the pair performed a hilarious spoof in apparent promotion of the upcoming Devil Wears Prada 2 coming out in May.
As Anne spoke about the importance of costume and fashion in movies, and in real life, she turned to Anna to ask what the fashion powerhouse thought of her ensemble for the awards show.
Placing her famously oversized sunglasses on, Anna simply replied: “And the nominees are.”
When the pair returned to the stage, Anna hilariously said, “Thank you, Emily,” while addressing Anne.
The moment was a nod to the film’s character Emily, who is the long-suffering assistant to Meryl Streep, portrayed with Emily Blunt.
Despite it being widely accepted that Meryl’s role was based on Anna and her reign at Vogue, the latter failed to share her thoughts on the movie for almost a decade.
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Who won on Hollywood’s biggest night?
One Battle After Another ran away with the night with six Oscars, while Sinners, which was nominated for a record-breaking 16 awards, came away with four. See the full winners list below:
Production Design: Frankenstein, Tamara Deverell and Shane Vieau
Sound: F1, Gareth John, Al Nelson, Gwendolyn Yates Whittle, Gary A. Rizzo and Juan Peralta
Visual Effects: Avatar: Fire and Ash, Joe Letteri, Richard Baneham, Eric Saindon and Daniel Barrett
Casting: One Battle After Another, Cassandra Kulukundis
In 2025, she finally revealed her thoughts on the film.
She said: “I found it highly enjoyable. It was very funny.Miuccia [Prada]and I talk about it a lot, and I say to her: ‘Well, it was really good for you.’“
Anna added that the film “had a lot of humour to it.”
She said: “It had a lot of wit. It had Meryl Streep. I mean, it wasEmily Blunt, [and] they were all amazing. In the end, I thought it was a fair shot.”
The move was released two decades ago, but Anna didn’t share her thoughts on her own depiction by Meryl until last yearClearly not offended, Anna and Anne even shared a hug as they walked off stage togetherCredit: ReutersThey presented Kate Hawley with the Oscar for Best Costume Design for her work on FrankensteinCredit: Reuters
