Piper Laurie

Trivia

• Ironically, in a career of film making that has spanned almost 50 years, the one role that Rosetta Jacobs has never played is that of a Jewish woman.
• Piper Laurie was making $2,000 per week, her lack of any substantial parts discouraged her so much that by 1955 when she received another script for a Western' and 'another silly part in a silly movie'.
• Piper Laurie 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, that she wasn't going to act again until she could do something worthwhile. That was the end of her first career.
• From there, she went to New York to study acting, and worked in live television, starring in The Hallmark Hall of Fame version of Twelth Night, in 1957, The Days of Wine and Roses, with Cliff Robertson, which debuted on Playhouse 90, Oct. 2, 1958, and as Kirsten in the Playhouse 90 version of Winterset in 1959.
• In 1961, she got the part of Paul Newman's crippled girl friend in the classic film, The Hustler.
• Piper Laurie was nominated for an Academy Award for best actress for that role of Sarah Packard.
• That year, Piper Laurie was interviewed by a writer reporter for the New York Herald Tribune, Joseph Morgenstern.
• 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 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", played by Sissy Spacek.
• Piper Laurie 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.

Quotes

• "If I had stayed in Hollywood, I would have killed myself. Or someone would have done it for me."
• "Nobody thought of me as an actress. They just remembered that publicity story about my munching flower petals for breakfast. I even thought of giving up the name 'Piper Laurie' because I felt there was a stigma attached to it. I never could figure out just how many parts I lost and how many parts I won because of this name. I know some producers and directors said, 'Well, maybe she can act even if her name is Piper Laurie!'"
• "The fact is, I never wanted to be a movie star. "
• "One thing is certain. The old Piper Laurie is no more. "
• "It took a long time, but I have learned that you just can't take anything you want out of life without putting something back in exchange."
• "I've always felt robbed of something by people not knowing I was a Jew. "
• "I'm one of those people who has always been a bridesmaid. "
• "I was so flattered to be asked to be in the movies - the idea of being paid to act was heady stuff. "
• "I never forget, remember that. Not an action, not a name, not a face. "
• "I dropped the script in the fireplace, called my agent and said, they can jail me, sue me, but I'm never acting again, unless I can do something worthwhile."