Biography for Piper Laurie
Piper Laurie as Margaret White
Brian DePalma's adaptation of Stephen King's first published novel is one of the most influential horrors of the 1970's. The opening locker room scene so powerfully lays out the terrors of adolescence - physical, emotional, and social terrors - that the whole film plays itself out at a much higher level. Sissy Spacek's performance is so believably vulnerable and winning that it makes up for a lot later when the action shifts to her fellow students. The pig blood scene is a definite Hitchcock moment and though the surprise finish has been copied countless times, it still grabs viewers today.
Biography for Piper Laurie
Date of birth
22 January 1932
Detroit, Michigan, USA
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Piper Laurie was born Rosetta Jacobs in Detroit, Michigan, on January 22, 1932, the daughter of a Polish immigrant and his Russian-American wife. Her father was a furniture dealer who moved his family to Los Angeles, California, when she was 6-years-old. Rosetta was a pretty red-haired little girl, but very shy, so her parents sent her to weekly elocution lessons. In addition to her lessons in Hebrew school, she studied acting at a local acting school, and this eventually led to work at Universal Studios.
Universal had signed her as a contract player when she was only 17-years-old, and changed her screen name to Piper Laurie. She was cast in the movie Louisa (1950), and became very close friends with her costar, Ronald Reagan. She was then cast in Baba (1950) with Tony Curtis, Francis Goes to the Races (1951) with Donald O'Connor, and Ain't Misbehavin' (1955) with Rory Calhoun. The studio tried to enhance her image as an ingenue with press releases stating that she took milk baths and ate gardenia petals for lunch. Although she was making $2,000 per week, her lack of any substantial roles discouraged her so much that by 1955 when she received another script for a Western and 'Another silly part in a silly movie,' she dropped the script in the fireplace, called her agent and told him she didn't care if they fired her, jailed her or sued her.
From there, she went to New York City ro study acting, and worked in live television, starring in The Hallmark Hall of Fame version of Twelfth Night, The (1957), Days of Wine and Roses, The (1958) with Cliff Robertson, which debuted on Playhouse 90 on October 2, and as Kirsten in the Playhouse 90 version of Winterset (1959). In 1961, she got the part of Paul Newman's crippled girlfriend in the classic film, Hustler, The (1961). She was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress for that role of Sarah Packard. That same year, she was interviewed by a writer/reporter for the New York Herald Tribune, Joseph Morgenstern. She liked his casual dress and lifestyle, and 9 months later, they were married. When she did not receive any substantial acting offers after The Hustler, she retreated with her husband to Woodstock, New York, where she pursued domestic activities such as baking (her grandfather's trade) and raising her only daughter, Anne, born in 1971. In 1976, she accepted the role of Margaret White, the eccentric religious zealot mother of a shy young psychic girl named Carrie (1976), played by Sissy Spacek. Piper received her second supporting Oscar nomination for this role. She and her husband divorced in 1981, she moved to Southern California and obtained many film and television roles.
She got a third Oscar nomination for her role as Mrs. Norman in Children of a Lesser God, (1986), and won an Emmy that same year for her acting in Promise (1986), a television movie with James Garner and James Woods. She has appeared in more than 60 films, from 1950 to the present. Ms. Laurie has appeared in many outstanding television shows from The Best of Broadway in 1954, to roles on Playhouse 90 in 1956, roles on St. Elsewhere, Murder, She Wrote, Matlock, Beauty and the Beast, ER, Diagnosis Murder and Frasier. Her daughter, Anne Grace, has made her a grandmother, and though she lives in Southern California, she frequently visits her daughter in New York.
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Trivia
She won an Emmy in 1986 opposite James Garner and James Woods in Promise (1986).
Measurements: 36-25-36 (Source: Celebrity Sleuth magazine)
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Where are they now
(2002) On Broadway in "Mornings at Seven"
Biography from Leonard Maltin's Movie Encyclopedia: Pert, pretty, generally appealing ingenue who, under contract to Universal in the 1950s, appeared in innumerable swashbucklers, costume dramas, and sword-andsandal epics, often costarred with Tony Curtis. Rarely given an opportunity to display her abundant talent, Laurie got her first really meaty role in The Hustler (1961), playing Paul Newman's girlfriend and earning an Oscar nomination in the process. But, having just married, she abruptly retired and was absent from the screen for 15 years. She returned with a vengeance as Sissy Spacek's domineering, fanatical mother in Carrie (1976), picking up another Academy Award nomination, and launching a new screen career as a major character actress. She's had a handful of meaty supporting roles since then, and even played young Mel Gibson's love interest in the Australian-made Tim (1979). She got a third Oscar nod for her supporting role as Marlee Matlin's mother in Children of a Lesser God (1986), and won an Emmy for that same year's TV movie Promise with James Garner and James Woods. Laurie appeared as a shrewish, scheming villainess in David Lynch's TV series "Twin Peaks" (1990-91), and in "Traps" (1994).
Hustler: The Inside Story, The (2001) (V) (archive footage) .... Herself
Last Brickmaker in America, The (2001) (TV) .... Mrs. Potter
Acting 'Carrie' (2001) (V) .... Herself
Midwives (2001) (TV)
Dario Argento: An Eye for Horror (2000) (TV) (interviewee) .... Herself
Possessed (2000) (TV) .... Aunt Hanna
"Partners" (1999) TV Series .... Roberta Stahler
Mao Game, The (1999) .... Ida Highland
Inherit the Wind (1999) (TV) .... Sarah Brady
Rage: Carrie 2, The (1999) (voice) (archive footage) .... Margaret Brigham White
Palmer's Pick Up (1999) .... Evangelist
Faculty, The (1998) .... Mrs. Karen Olson
St. Patrick's Day (1997) .... MaryPat Donnelly-McDonough
Alone (1997/I) (TV) .... Lillie Dawson
... aka Horton Foote's Alone (1997) (TV) (USA: complete title)
Christmas Memory, A (1997) (TV) .... Jennie
... aka Truman Capote's 'A Christmas Memory' (1997) (TV) (USA: complete title)
Intensity (1997) (TV) .... Miriam Braynard
... aka Dean Koontz's Intensity (1997) (TV)
In the Blink of an Eye (1996) (TV) .... Kay Trafero
Road to Galveston (1996) (TV) .... Wanda Kirkman
Crossing Guard, The (1995) .... Helen Booth
Grass Harp, The (1995) .... Dolly Talbo
Fighting for My Daughter (1995) (TV) .... Judge Edna Burton
Shadows of Desire (1994) (TV) .... Ellis Snow
... aka Devil's Bed, The (1994) (TV)
"Traps" (1994/I) TV Series .... Cora Trapchek
Wrestling Ernest Hemingway (1993) .... Georgia
Love, Lies & Lullabies (1993) (TV) .... Margaret Kinsey
... aka Sad Inheritance (1993) (TV)
Trauma (1993) .... Adriana Petrescu
... aka Dario Argento's Trauma (1994) (USA: complete title)
Rich in Love (1993) .... Vera Delmage
Storyville (1992) .... Constance Fowler
Other People's Money (1991) .... Bea Sullivan
Rising Son (1990/I) (TV) .... Martha Robinson
"Twin Peaks" (1990) TV Series .... Catherine Packard Martell/Mr. Tojamura
Twin Peaks (1990) (TV) .... Catherine Martell
Mother, Mother (1989) .... Martha Cousins
Dream a Little Dream (1989) .... Gena Ettinger
Tiger Warsaw (1988) .... Frances Warsaw
... aka Tiger, The (1988)
Go Toward the Light (1988) (TV) .... Margo
... aka Go to the Light (1988) (TV)
Appointment with Death (1988) .... Emily Boynton
Distortions (1987) .... Margot Caldwell
Promise (1986) (TV) .... Annie Gilbert
Children of a Lesser God (1986) .... Mrs. Norman
Toughlove (1985) (TV) .... Darlene Marsh
Love, Mary (1985) (TV) .... Christine Groda
"Tender Is the Night" (1985) (mini) TV Series .... Mrs. Speers
Return to Oz (1985) .... Aunt Em Blue
Terror in the Aisles (1984) (archive footage) .... Margaret White (segment "Carrie")
... aka Time for Terror (1984) (Europe: English title: video title)
"Thorn Birds, The" (1983) (mini) TV Series .... Anne Mueller
Mae West (1982) (TV) .... Matilda West
Macbeth (1981) (V) .... Lady Macbeth
Bunker, The (1981) (TV) .... Magda Goebbels
... aka Bunker, Le (1981) (TV) (France)
"Skag" (1980) TV Series .... Jo Skagska
Skag (1980) (TV) .... Jo Skagska
Tim (1979) .... Mary Horton
Rainbow (1978) (TV) .... Ethel Gumm
Ruby (1977) .... Ruby Claire
... aka Blood Ruby (1977)
In the Matter of Karen Ann Quinlan (1977) (TV) .... Julie Quinlan
Woman's Rebel, A (1976) (TV) .... Margaret Sanger
Carrie (1976) .... Margaret White
18th Annual Tony Awards, The (1965) (TV) .... Presenter
Hustler, The (1961) .... Sarah Packard
Winterset (1959) (TV) .... Miriamne Esdras
Until They Sail (1957) .... Delia Leslie
Kelly and Me (1957) .... Mina Van Runkel
Ninth Day, The (1956) (TV)
Road That Led Afar, The (1956) (TV)
Ain't Misbehavin' (1955) .... Sarah Hatfield
Smoke Signal (1955) .... Laura Evans
Dangerous Mission (1954) .... Louise Graham
... aka Rangers of the North (1954) (USA)
Johnny Dark (1954) .... Liz Fielding
Dawn at Socorro (1954) .... Rannah Hayes
Golden Blade, The (1953) .... Princess Khairuzan
Mississippi Gambler, The (1953) .... Angelique 'Leia' Dureau
Has Anybody Seen My Gal? (1952) .... Millicent Blaisdell
No Room for the Groom (1952) .... Lee Kingshead
Son of Ali Baba (1952) .... Kiki
Prince Who Was a Thief, The (1951) .... Tina
Francis Goes to the Races (1951) .... Frances Travers
Milkman, The (1950) .... Chris Abbott
Louisa (1950) .... Cathy Norton
