The actress played Paul Newman’s disabled girlfriend in “The Hustler” and Sissy Spacek’s religiously fanatical mother in “Carrie.” She also went incognito as a Japanese businessman on the TV series “Twin Peaks.”
Piper Laurie, a three-time Oscar nominee who excelled in roles fragile and fierce, including Paul Newman’s disabled girlfriend in “The Hustler” and Sissy Spacek’s religiously fanatical mother in “Carrie,” and who memorably went incognito as a Japanese businessman on the TV series “Twin Peaks,” died Oct. 14 at a health-care facility in Los Angeles. She was 91.Adept at losing herself in her characters, Ms.
In a matter of years, she was one of the highest-paid actresses in Hollywood, but she saw her life as a gilded prison confining her to sex-and-sand costume dramas and lightweight farces oppositeUniversal-International denied her requests to play more complicated parts. Meanwhile, she endured endless cheesecake photo sessions, posing as Miss Mud Bath and Miss Milk Bath. At a low point, she was pressured in a publicity gambit to eat countless daffodil and carnation salads in front of reporters.
“Miss Laurie’s performance was enough to make the flesh crawl, yet it also always elicited deep sympathy,” New York Times TV critic Jack Gould wrote. “Her interpretation of the young wife just a shade this side of delirium tremens — the flighty dancing around the room, her weakness of character and moments of anxiety and her charm when she was sober — was a superlative accomplishment. Miss Laurie is moving into the forefront of our most gifted young actresses.
Her prolific work in TV movies included “In the Matter of Karen Ann Quinlan” , a right-to-die drama in which she played the mother of a young woman languishing in a coma; “The Bunker” as fervent Nazi Magda Goebbels opposite Anthony Hopkins’s Hitler; “The Thorn Birds” as the physically disabled Anne Mueller; and “Promise” , as an ex-girlfriend of James Garner’s middle-aged bachelor.
Her parents eventually settled in Los Angeles, where Ms. Laurie took elocution lessons that sparked a fascination with the power of language and the actors who delivered it. “It was so clear — the beauty, creativity, and especially the courage of the theater and the actors were what I wanted,” she wrote in her memoir, “Learning to Live Out Loud.”
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Piper Laurie Dead: 'Twin Peaks,' 'The Hustler' Actress Was 91The three-time Oscar nominee and Emmy winner also starred in the original 'Days of Wine and Roses' and in 'Children of a Lesser God.'
Read more »
Piper Laurie, Oscar-nominated Carrie and Twin Peaks actress, dies at 91She played Sissy Spacek's controlling, dangerously religious mother in the classic 1976 horror film based on the Stephen King novel.
Read more »
Carrie and Twin Peaks Star Piper Laurie Dead at 91Piper Laurie's death was confirmed by her manager on October 14th.
Read more »
Piper Laurie of ‘Carrie’ and ‘Children of a Lesser God’ dead at 91Born Rosetta Jacobs in Detroit in 1932, she was plucked out of Los Angeles High School at 17 and signed to Universal for $250 a week.
Read more »
Navigating the Post-war Contemporary Art Market with Arianne PiperThe founder of Arianne Piper Art Advisory talks about emerging trends in the contemporary art market, and why collectors’ tastes are changing.
Read more »
Billie Piper 'humiliated' after learning Laurence Fox cheated on herBillie Piper is feeling 'humiliated and betrayed' after learning that Laurence Fox cheated on her, an insider has claimed.
Read more »