The Oscar-nominated and fiercely independent Piper Laurie, who at one point gave up acting for a “more meaningful” life, passed away early Saturday morning at her Los Angeles home. In terms of age, she was 91. Her manager, Marion Rosenberg, informed The Associated Press in an email that Laurie died of old age and called her “a superb talent and a wonderful human being.”
RIP Piper Laurie.
I will always remember her return to acting as Carrie White’s Christian mother, for which she won an Oscar. pic.twitter.com/Bwey8t3t92
— Kubrick’s Lens Cap (@kubrickslenscap) October 15, 2023
Beginnings In Life And Work
In 1949, Laurie, then known as Rosetta Jacobs, made her way to Hollywood. She was promptly offered a contract by Universal-International, given a new name she despised, and cast in a series of high-profile parts alongside Hollywood heavyweights such as Ronald Reagan, Rock Hudson, and Tony Curtis.
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The 1961 poolroom drama “The Hustler,” the 1976 adaptation of Stephen King’s horror classic “Carrie,” and the 1986 love drama “Children of a Lesser God” all garnered her Academy Award nods. She has had a number of successful appearances on both screen and stage, notably the wicked Catherine Martell in David Lynch’s “Twin Peaks” during the 1990s.
In her first role, as Reagan’s daughter in “Louisa,” Laurie made her acting debut at the age of seventeen. She then starred opposite Francis, a talking mule, in “Francis Goes to the Races.” She starred alongside her ex-boyfriend, actor Tony Curtis, in many movies.
These include:
- The Prince Who Was a Thief (1967),
- No Room for the Groom (1967),
- Son of Ali Baba (1967),
- Johnny Dark (1967).
In 1955, she quit her job making $2,000 per week because she was fed up with the poor pay and promised herself she wouldn’t work again unless a better role came along. She relocated to New York, where she was quickly cast in both stage productions and dramatic live television broadcasts.
Emmy nods for her work in “Days of Wine and Roses,” “The Deaf Heart,” and “The Road That Led After” encouraged her to return to film, and she was later praised for her performance as Paul Newman’s unstable fiancée in “The Hustler.” For a long time after that, Laurie refused to return to the acting industry.
Piper Laurie in Carrie pic.twitter.com/wbXohwyXrx
— Ricardo Hirooka (@HirookaRicardo) October 15, 2023
She eventually settled in a farmhouse in Woodstock, New York, after marrying film critic Joseph Morgenstern and having a daughter named Ann Grace. She explained her decision by citing the Vietnam War and the Civil Rights Movement as major influences.
“I was disenchanted and looking for an existence more meaningful for me,” she recalled, adding that she never regretted the move.
“My life was full,” she said in 1990. “I always liked using my hands, and I always painted.”
The New York Times published several of Laurie’s baking recipes, and she gained notoriety in that capacity as well when she joined a group of twelve musicians and actors on a tour of college campuses to promote Sen.
George McGovern’s 1972 presidential campaign, it was the only time she performed publicly during that time. When “Carrie” director Brian De Palma phoned Laurie about playing Sissy Spacek’s disturbed mother, Laurie was eager to make her acting comeback.
