Piper Laurie, the celebrated actress known for her chilling portrayal of the overbearingly religious mother in “Carrie” and for playing Paul Newman’s down-in-the-dumps girlfriend in “The Hustler,” has died at 91, her manager said.
Laurie died early Saturday in Los Angeles, her manager, Marion Rosenberg, confirmed to CNN. No cause of death was provided.
Laurie will be remembered as “one of the finest actresses of her generation and a superb human being,” Rosenberg said.
Turner Classic Movies, which, like CNN, is part of Warner Brothers Discovery, called Laurie “one of the most celebrated and formidable actresses of the last half-century.” The network praised her “full-blooded performances as flawed, often ferocious women.”
She went on to receive Academy Award nominations for three distinct films: The 1961 poolroom drama The Hustler; the film version of Stephen King's horror classic Carrie, in 1976; and the romantic drama Children of a Lesser God, in 1986. She also appeared in several acclaimed roles on television and the stage, including in David Lynch's Twin Peaks in the 1990s as the villainous Catherine Martell.
The actress negotiated herself out of her contract with Universal in the mid-’50s after a series of ingenue roles in mediocre films and turned in an impressive supporting performance in Robert Wise’s “Until They Sail” (1957), with Jean Simmons, Paul Newman and Joan Fontaine.
She then headed east; in New York she appeared in television productions of “Twelfth Night” and “Caesar and Cleopatra.” She picked up Emmy nominations for original drama “The Deaf Heart” on “Studio One in Hollywood” and “Days of Wine and Roses” with Cliff Robertson on “Playhouse 90.” Director Robert Rossen spotted her working at the Actors Studio and offered her the role of the crippled alcoholic Sarah Packard in the drama “The Hustler,” which brought her an Oscar nomination as best actress in 1961.
At first she felt the script was junk, and then she decided she should play the role for laughs. Not until De Palma chided her for putting a comedic turn on a scene did she realize he meant the film to be a thriller.
"Carrie" became a box-office smash, launching a craze for movies about teenagers in jeopardy, and Spacek and Laurie were both nominated for Academy Awards.
Her desire to act rekindled, Laurie resumed a busy career that spanned decades. On television, she appeared in such series as "Matlock," "Murder, She Wrote" and "Frasier" and played George Clooney's mother on "ER."
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