(TotalConservative.com) – Legendary Hollywood icon Piper Laurie died of natural causes and old age on Saturday, October 14th, according to statements her manager, Marion Rosenberg made to the Associated Press. The 91-year-old multiple award-winning actress was described by Rosenberg as “a superb talent and wonderful human being.”
Laurie’s career began in 1949 when she came to Hollywood as Rosetta Jacobs. Shortly thereafter she was contracted with Universal-International and given a new name that she despised. Piper Laurie was thought to be more marketable.
Laurie worked with major leading men of the era including Tony Curtis, Ronald Reagan, and Rock Hudson. She was nominated multiple times for Academy Awards, she played the crazy repressive mother in Stephen King’s Carrie (1976). She starred alongside Ronald Reagan, playing his daughter, when she was just 17 in Louisa (1950), her debut film.
She became disenchanted with Hollywood and walked out on her $2000/week contract in 1955, vowing never to work again unless she felt the roles were decent. Shortly after she moved to New York and became active in television and theater.
Her work in Days of Wine and Roses and other shows earned her multiple Emmy nominations. She eventually got back into film working with Paul Newman on The Hustler (1961). She took another break from acting during the Vietnam War and Civil Rights Movement, suggesting she wanted “a more meaningful existence.” She was married and had a daughter during this time.
In the 1990s she became accredited as a baker, with her recipes being published in outlets like the New York Times. She didn’t return to acting until Brian De Palma tapped her for the role of Sissey Spacek’s deranged mother in Carrie (1976). She didn’t like the script initially but eventually came to pull off an iconic performance that earned her and Spacek multiple Academy Award nominations.
She continued playing roles in television and film for decades thereafter, delighting audiences. She starred in shows like Murder, She Wrote, Matlock, and even played George Clooney’s mom on the smash medical drama ER.
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