Carrie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds: Streep among stars at memorial

Meryl Streep, Jamie Lee Curtis and Gwyneth Paltrow attended the memorial

Family and friends of actresses Debbie Reynolds and Carrie Fisher have paid their respects to the mother and daughter at a private memorial service.

Meryl Streep, Gwyneth Paltrow and Meg Ryan were among the guests at the ceremony at the Los Angeles home where Fisher lived next door to her mother.

Star Wars creator George Lucas and British actors Stephen Fry and Eric Idle were also in attendance.

Fisher, 60, and Reynolds, 84, died within a day of each other last month.

Just before her death, Debbie Reynolds said she "wanted to be with Carrie"

Reynolds starred in a string of classic Hollywood films in the 1950s and 60s including the musical Singin' in the Rain.

Her daughter played the iconic Princess Leia in the Star Wars films, appeared in When Harry Met Sally and Hannah and Her Sisters and wrote novels including the semi-autobiographical Postcards From The Edge.

Meryl Streep, who starred in the big screen adaptation of Postcards from the Edge, carried a bunch of white roses as she walked up to Fisher's home in the Hollywood Hills.

Streep later performed Fisher's favourite song Happy Days Are Here Again at the memorial, according to People.

Other guests included Jamie Lee Curtis, who stars with Fisher's daughter Billie Lourd on TV series Scream Queens, singer Courtney Love, and actors Ed Begley Jr, Candice Bergen and Ellen Barkin.

Security guards kept watch at the entrance to Carrie Fisher's home

Lourd, 24, made her first public comment on the deaths of her mother and grandmother on Instagram on Monday.

Alongside a photo of the three generations, she wrote: "Receiving all of your prayers and kind words over the past week has given me strength during a time I thought strength could not exist.

"There are no words to express how much I will miss my Abadaba and my one and only Momby. Your love and support means the world to me."

There have been reports that Fisher and Reynolds will be buried together at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Hollywood Hills on Friday.

Also on Friday, Broadway theatres will dim their lights for a minute as a mark of respect to the pair.