Piper Laurie

Piper Laurie was an American actress. She is known for her roles in the films The Hustler, Carrie, and Children of a Lesser God, and the miniseries The Thorn Birds. She played Kirsten Arnesen in the original TV production of Days of Wine and Roses, and Catherine Martell in the television series Twin Peaks.
She received various accolades, including a Primetime Emmy Award and a Golden Globe Award, in addition to nominations for three Academy Awards and a BAFTA Award.

Early life

Piper Laurie was born Rosetta Jacobs in Detroit, Michigan, on January 22, 1932. Laurie was the younger of two daughters born to furniture dealer Alfred Jacobs and his wife, Charlotte Sadie Jacobs. Her paternal grandparents were Jewish immigrants from Poland and her maternal grandparents were Jewish immigrants from Russia.
In her 2011 autobiography Learning to Live Out Loud, Laurie said she was born in her family's one-bedroom walk-up on Tyler Street in Detroit. To combat her shyness, her parents provided her with weekly elocution lessons.
Laurie's mother and grandmother placed Laurie's older sister in a sanitarium for her asthma. Laurie was sent along to keep her company.

Career

In 1949, Jacobs signed a contract with Universal Studios, and changed her screen name to Piper Laurie, which she used thereafter. Her breakout role was in Louisa with Ronald Reagan, whom she dated briefly before his marriage to Nancy Davis. In her autobiography, she claimed that she lost her virginity to him. Several other roles followed: Francis Goes to the Races ; Son of Ali Baba ; and Ain't Misbehavin'.
file:Piper Laurie 1951.jpg|thumb|left|200px|Laurie in 1951
To polish her image, Universal Studios told gossip columnists that Laurie bathed in milk and ate flower petals to protect her luminous skin. Discouraged by the lack of substantial film roles, she moved to New York City to study acting and to seek work on the stage and in television. She appeared in Twelfth Night, produced by Hallmark Hall of Fame, in "Days of Wine and Roses" with Cliff Robertson, presented by Playhouse 90 on October 2, 1958, and in Winterset, presented by Playhouse 90 in 1959.
Laurie was lured back to Hollywood by the offer to co-star with Paul Newman in The Hustler, released in 1961. She played Newman's girlfriend, Sarah Packard, and for her performance, she received an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress. Substantial movie roles did not come her way after The Hustler, so she and her husband moved to New York. In 1964, she appeared in two medical dramas—as Alicia Carter in The Eleventh Hour episode "My Door Is Locked and Bolted", and as Alice Marin in the Breaking Point episode "The Summer House". In 1965, she starred in a Broadway revival of Tennessee Williams's The Glass Menagerie, opposite Maureen Stapleton, Pat Hingle, and George Grizzard.
Laurie did not appear in another feature film until she accepted the role of religious fanatic Margaret White in the horror film Carrie. She received an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress for her performance. The commercial success of the film, and recognition for her performance, relaunched her career. Her co-star Sissy Spacek praised her acting skill: "She is a remarkable actress. She never does what you expect her to doshe always surprises you with her approach to a scene."
In 1979, Laurie appeared as Mary Horton in the Australian movie Tim opposite Mel Gibson. After her 1981 divorce, Laurie moved to California. She received a third Oscar nomination for her portrayal of Mrs. Norman in Children of a Lesser God. The same year, she was awarded an Emmy for her performance in Promise, a television movie, co-starring James Garner and James Woods. She had a featured role in the Off-Broadway production of The Destiny of Me in 1992, and returned to Broadway for Lincoln Center's acclaimed 2002 revival of Paul Osborn's Morning's at Seven, with Julie Hagerty, Buck Henry, Frances Sternhagen, and Estelle Parsons.
In 1990–1991, Laurie starred as the devious Catherine Martell in David Lynch's television series Twin Peaks. She also appeared in Other People's Money with Gregory Peck, and in horror maestro Dario Argento's first American film Trauma. She played George Clooney's character's mother on ER. In 1997, she appeared in the film A Christmas Memory with Patty Duke, and in 1998, she appeared in the sci-fi thriller The Faculty.
Laurie made guest appearances on television shows such as Frasier, Matlock, State of Grace, and Will & Grace. Laurie also appeared in Cold Case and in a 2001 episode of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit titled "Care", in which she played an adoptive mother and foster grandmother who killed one of the foster granddaughters in her daughter's charge and who abused her adoptive son and foster grandchildren.
She returned to the big screen for independent films, such as Eulogy and The Dead Girl, opposite actress Toni Collette. In 2010, she played Rainn Wilson's mother in Hesher, and in 2018, she had a supporting role in White Boy Rick as the grandmother of the title character.

Personal life

Laurie was married to New York Herald Tribune entertainment writer and Wall Street Journal movie critic Joe Morgenstern.
They met shortly after the release of The Hustler in 1961 when Morgenstern interviewed her during the film's promotion. They soon began dating, and nine months after the interview, they were married on January 21, 1962. When no substantial roles came her way after The Hustler, she and Morgenstern moved to Woodstock, New York. In 1971, they adopted a daughter. In 1982, the couple divorced, after which she moved to the Hollywood area and continued working in films and television.
She had previously dated actor and future U.S. president Ronald Reagan.
In 1962, she was Harvard's Hasty Pudding Woman of the Year. In 2000, she received the Spirit of Hope Award in Korea for her service during the Korean War. She appeared at the September 2014 Mid-Atlantic Nostalgia Convention in Hunt Valley, Maryland.
Laurie was also a sculptor who worked in marble and clay.

Death

Having been unwell for some time, Laurie died in Los Angeles on October 14, 2023, at age 91.

Filmography

Film

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes	Ref.
1955	The Best of Broadway	Billie Moore	Episode: "Broadway"
1955	Robert Montgomery Presents	Stacey Spender	Episode: "Quality Town"
1956	Front Row Center	Judy Jones	Episode: "Winter Dreams"
1956–1961	General Electric Theater	Various	3 episodes
1957	Studio One	Ruth Cornelius	Episode: "The Deaf Heart" Nominated—Primetime Emmy Award for Actress – Best Single Performance – Lead or Support
1957	Playhouse 90	Ruth McAdam	Episode: "The Ninth Day"
1958	Playhouse 90	Kirsten Arnesen Clay	Episode: "Days of Wine and Roses" Nominated—Primetime Emmy Award for Best Single Performance by an Actress
1959	Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse	Eileen Gorman	Episode: "The Innocent Assassin"
1960–1963	The United States Steel Hour	Edna Cartey	2 episodes
1963	Naked City	Mary Highmark	Episode: "Howard Running Bear Is a Turtle"
1963	Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre	Lee Wiley	Episode: "Something About Lee Wiley"
1963	Ben Casey	Kathleen Dooley	Episode: "Light Up the Dark Corners"
1964	The Eleventh Hour	Alicia Carter	Episode: "My Door Is Locked and Bolted"
1964	Breaking Point	Alice Marin	Episode: "The Summer House"
1977	In the Matter of Karen Ann Quinlan	Julie Quinlan	Television movie
1978	Rainbow	Ethel Gumm	Television movie
1980	Skag	Jo Skagska	6 episodes
1981	The Bunker	Magda Goebbels	Television movie Nominated—Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited Series or a Special
1982	Mae West	Matilda West	Television movie
1983	'	Anne Mueller	3 episodes Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Series, Miniseries or Television Film Nominated—Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited Series or a Special
1983	St. Elsewhere	Fran Singleton	3 episodes Nominated—Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series
1985	Hotel	Jessica	Episode: "Illusions"
1985	Murder, She Wrote	Peggy Shannon	Episode: "Murder at the Oasis"
1985	Tender Is the Night	Elsie Speers	Episode: "1925"
1985	Love, Mary	Christine Groda	Television movie
1985	Toughlove	Darlene Marsh	Television movie
1985–1986	'	Aunt Neva	Episode: "The Burning Man"
1985–1986		Gramma	Episode: "Gramma"
1986	Matlock	Claire Leigh	Episode: "The Judge"
1986	Promise	Annie Gilbert	Television movie Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or a Special Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Series, Miniseries or Television Film
1988	Go Toward the Light	Margo	Television movie
1989	Beauty and the Beast	Mrs. Davis	Episode: "A Gentle Rain"
1990	Rising Son	Martha Robinson	Television Movie
1990–1991	Twin Peaks	Catherine Martell / Mr. Tojamura	27 episodes Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Series, Miniseries or Television Film Nominated—Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series Nominated—Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series Nominated—Soap Opera Digest Award for Outstanding Actress – Prime Time
1993	Lies and Lullabies	Margaret Kinsey	Television movie
1994	Traps	Cora Trapchek	5 episodes
1994	Frasier	Marianne	Episode: "Guess Who's Coming to Breakfast"
1994	Shadows of Desire	Ellis Snow	Television movie
1995	Fighting For My Daughter	Judge Edna Burton	Television movie
1995–1996	ER	Sarah Ross	2 episodes
1996	Diagnosis: Murder	A.D.A. Susan Turner	Episode: "The ABC's of Murder"
1997	Intensity	Miriam Braynard	Television movie
1997	Touched by an Angel	Annie Doyle	Episode: "Venice"
1997	A Christmas Memory	Jennie	Television movie
1999	Brother's Keeper	Jane Waide	Episode: "Everybody Says I Love You"
1999	Frasier	Mrs. Mulhern	Episode: "Dr. Nora" Nominated—Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series
1999	Inherit the Wind	Sarah Brady	Television movie
2000	Will & Grace	Sharon	Episode: "There But for the Grace of Grace"
2000	Possessed	Aunt Hanna	Television movie
2001	Midwives	Cheryl Visco	Television movie
2001	The Last Brickmaker in America	Ruth Anne	Television movie
2001	Law & Order: Special Victims Unit	Dorothy Rudd	Episode: "Care"
2002	State of Grace	Aunt Sophie	Episode: "Where the Boys Are"
2004	Dead Like Me	Nina Rommey	Episode: "Forget Me Not"
2005	Cold Case	Rose 2005	Episode: "Best Friends"
2018	MacGyver	Edith	Episode: "Skyscraper – Power"