Actress Carrie Fisher suffered a "cardiac episode" during an airline flight from London to Los Angeles and was rushed to a hospital in critical condition after landing, the Los Angeles Times reported, citing emergency officials.

Fisher, 60, who has been on a tour promoting a new memoir, is best known for her role as Princess Leia in the Star Wars movie series. No representatives for the performer were immediately available to comment.

The celebrity news website TMZ.com and other news outlets also reported that Fisher suffered a heart attack on the plane before its arrival at Los Angeles International Airport.

A Los Angeles Fire Department spokesman confirmed that emergency medical personnel met an arriving flight at the airport to treat a patient in "cardiac arrest," rendering "immediate advanced life support" to the patient before the individual was taken to a hospital.

But the spokesman, Erik Scott, declined to provide any information about the identity, age or even gender of the patient, or other circumstances, citing medical confidentiality laws.

TMZ said the medical emergency occurred about 15 minutes before the plane landed at the airport, and that an emergency medical technician who was on board came up to the first-class cabin to render assistance to the actress and writer.

United Airlines issued a statement saying that Flight 935 from London to Los Angeles was met on the ground by medical personnel after the crew reported that a passenger was "unresponsive." The airline did not name the stricken passenger.

Twitter messages posted by well-known YouTube performer Anna Akana, who was a passenger on the flight, said Fisher had "stopped breathing" after falling ill aboard the plane. Comedian Brad Cage, in another tweet, said he and Akana were sitting across from Fisher and that she was taken off the plane by paramedics.

The Los Angeles Times account cited unnamed emergency officials as saying Fisher suffered a "cardiac episode," and one source as describing the actress as having been "in a lot of distress on the flight."

NBC News, also citing unnamed sources, said she had suffered a full cardiac arrest on the flight and that her condition was "not good." (