Three-time Oscar-nominated American actress Piper Laurie died at her home in Los Angeles on Saturday morning. She was 91 years old.
Laurie died of old age, her manager Marion Rosenberg told The Associated Press via email, adding that she was a great talent and a wonderful person.
Laurie arrived in Hollywood in 1949 as Rosetta Jacobs and quickly landed a contract with Universal-International, a new name she hated, as well as a series of leading roles with Ronald Reagan, Rock Hudson and Tony Curtis, among others.
She went on to receive Oscar nominations for three different films: the 1961 pool drama The Hustler, the 1976 film adaptation of Stephen King’s horror classic Carrie, and the 1986 romantic drama Children of a Lesser God.
From actress to farmer, then to baker
She also appeared in several acclaimed roles on television and on stage, most notably in David Lynch’s “Twin Peaks” in the 1990s as the villainous Catherine Martell.
Her performances in Days of Wine and Roses, The Deaf Heart and The Road That Led After earned her Emmy nominations.
Many years after her career in front of the camera, Laurie turned her back on acting. She married film critic Joseph Morgenstern, had a daughter, Ann Grace, and moved to a farm in Woodstock, New York.
She later said that the civil rights movement and the Vietnam War influenced her decision to make this change.
I was disillusioned and looking for a more meaningful existence for myself.
She added that she has never regretted this decision.
“My life was full,” she said in 1990. I always loved using my hands and I always painted.
Ms. Laurie also became known as a baker, her recipes appearing in the New York Times.