John Lindsay/AP
Actress Piper Laurie poses in front of the New York Herald Tribune in New York City on December 28, 1961.
CNN –
Piper Laurie, the acclaimed actress known for her chilling portrayal of the overbearing religious mother in “Carrie” and for playing Paul Newman’s down-and-out girlfriend in “The Hustler,” has died at age 91, her manager said.
Laurie died early Saturday in Los Angeles, her manager Marion Rosenberg confirmed to CNN. A cause of death was not given.
Laurie will be remembered as “one of the best actresses of her generation and a great human being,” Rosenberg said.
Turner Classic Movies, which like CNN is part of Warner Brothers Discovery, called Laurie “one of the most celebrated and impressive actresses of the last half century.” The broadcaster said she gave “thorough performances as flawed, often wild women.”
Critics and colleagues took notice: Laurie received Oscar nominations for her captivating performances in “The Hustler” and “Carrie.” She was also nominated for an Academy Award for playing a remorseful mother in “Children of a Lesser God” and won a Golden Globe Award for her role in the television series “Twin Peaks.”
Born Rosetta Jacobs in Detroit in 1932, she took the name Piper Laurie at the urging of a manager when she began acting professionally as a teenager, as she wrote in her memoir, “Learning to Live Out Loud.”
After Laurie began a contract with Universal-International (now Universal Studios) at the age of 18, she starred alongside actors such as Ronald Reagan, Rock Hudson, Tony Curtis and Newman.
After breaking her contract in the mid-1950s, she took a 15-year break from Hollywood, but later returned to deliver a tormented portrayal of the fanatically evangelical mother in Carrie.