Piper Laurie, Emmy-Winning Twin Peaks & Carrie Star, Dead at 91

Piper Laurie, best known for her work on Twin Peaks and Carrie, has died.

She was 91.

According to Variety, the actress had been ill for a long time.

Laurie’s manager, Marion Rosenberg, told the outlet that Laurie was “A beautiful human being and one of the great talents of our time.”

She played Catherine Martell on Twin Peaks, the iconic ABC drama from David Lynch.

Although Catherine perished during the show’s freshman season, Lynch wanted Piper to return to the show in some capacity, and she was brought back under the disguise of Mr. Tojamura.

Piper’s involvement in the second season was shrouded in secrecy, with her name kept out of the opening credits and the cast being kept out of the loop, believing Piper to be an actor named Fumio Yamaguchi.

“‘What kind of man is going to be up to you,'” Piper claimed Lynch said he told her, according to The Hollywood Reporter. 

“‘You could be a Mexican, a Frenchman, whatever you think.’ I was beside myself with the power to be able to pick my part like that.

I decided I would be a Japanese businessman because I thought it would be less predictable.”

“The cast would never come very close to me,” Laurie said.

“They were told to be respectful to this actor who had come over from Japan specifically for the show and had only worked with [Akira] Kurosawa.”

Piper’s impressive work on the ABC series earned her Emmy nominations in 1990 and 1991.

Laurie’s big break came in the form of Louisa in 1950.

She went on to star in the 1961 drama The Hustler, which earned her an Oscar nomination for Outstanding Actress in a Leading Role.

Another iconic role for Piper was as Sissy Spacek’s mother in Carrie in 1976.

The actress scored her first Emmy Award in 1986 for her work in Promise.

Additional TV credits include The Twilight Zone, St. Elsewhere, The Thorn Birds and Law & Order: SVU, and many more.

Her final TV role was on the MacGyver reboot on CBS.

Away from the screen, Laurie was also well known for her stage roles.

May Piper Laurie rest in peace.

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Paul Dailly is the Associate Editor for TV Fanatic. Follow him on X.