Reviewing Peaks – Profile of Piper Laurie from Joey Berlin in 1991

When David Lynch and Mark Frost cast Piper Laurie in the role of Catherine Martell, it was a big deal. This incredibly talented actress had a long acting career before she joined the groundbreaking series in the early 1990s. In early 1991, reporter Joey Berlin published a profile of Laurie for the Copley News Service. Strangely, the story was only picked up in two outlets with one article containing an anecdote about her work on Twin Peaks.

WHO IS JOEY BERLIN?

Joey Berlin was an entertainment reporter and movie critic in the early 1990s, writing stories for the New York Post, Los Angeles Times, Newsday, Copley News Service, Hollywood Online, On2, World Entertainment News Network, and many general interest and pop culture magazines. In 1995, he was the Broadcast Film Critics Association’s founding Executive Director alongside the group’s first President, Rod Lurie.

After serving two terms as the President of this Association, Berlin is now the Chief Operating Officer of the Critics Choice Association. He has worked as Executive Producer on every “Critics Choice Awards” broadcast, including the Critics Choice Documentary Awards, the Critics Choice Real TV Awards, and the Critics Choice Super Awards. He is a Board member for UCLA Film & Television Archive. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife and son.

PROFILE OF PIPER LAURIE FOR COPLEY NEWS SERVICE

The first of two syndicated articles about Piper Laurie ran on February 22, 1991. At this time, Twin Peaks was on a six week hiatus after episode 2.016 had aired (ending with Josie Packard in a nightstand drawer pull). The interesting part about syndicated stories is local news editors may cut out parts of the story to fit in their newspapers. This was the case with Berlin’s profile. The first article didn’t contain details about working with David Lynch.

‘TWIN PEAKS’ STAR TOOK TWISTED PATH TO SUCCESS

For Piper Laurie, life has had more twists than a two-hour episode of “Twin Peaks.”

Miss Laurie won a Golden Globe award for her work as the evil Catherine in David Lynch’s delightfully different series — now on hiatus — but her path to success is quite remarkable.

It began 59 years ago in Detroit, where she was born Rosetta Jacobs, the daughter of a furniture salesman. At age 6, she accompanied her asthmatic sister to California to live for three years in a home for children with allergies.

Then their parents joined them in Los Angeles and, two years later, she began her career in a play called “Guest in the House,” staged in what is now the Beverly Hills Playhouse.

By the time Miss Laurie was 17, she had shed her given name and was under contract to Universal Pictures. She was cast in a series of ingenue roles, starting with “Louisa,” starring Ronald Reagan.

“He was extremely charming to me, going out of his way to be kind and attentive,” Miss Laurie recalled. “He even took me out a few times. He was not a married man at that time, but he was the president of the Screen Actors Guild.”

DISSATISFIED

Dissatisfied Miss Laurie quickly became a popular star, but she was dissatisfied with the types of movies she was cast in by Universal.

“Their program pictures didn’t correspond to anything that meant anything to me,” she said. “I was just playing these superficial girls — and I had no acting technique anyway. Finally, I told my agent that they could sue me or put me in jail, but I wasn’t going to do any of this stuff anymore.”

So Miss Laurie left Hollywood in the mid-’50s and did something unheard of today. She quit making movies to get serious by doing television.

“Live television was very serious in those days,” she said. “They did good things, certainly better than what I had been doing in movies. It took about a year after I broke my contract with Universal before I got a job that promised something substantial.

“And the only reason they gave it to me, because I had such a bad reputation, and because the name Piper Laurie stood for insipid films, was that someone who knew me before Universal vouched for me.”

Miss Laurie went on to star in many of the finest productions during TV’s so-called “Golden Age,” and then made a triumphant return to Hollywood as the female lead in 1961’s “The Hustler,” for which she received her first Oscar nomination. But she was still not satisfied as an actress and went into retirement.

“Acting seemed like a stupid way for an adult to spend her time,” Miss Laurie said.

However, after Miss Laurie made her comeback in the role of the mother in “Carrie,” she found that she enjoyed acting again. When she garnered another Academy Award nomination for that role, her career was back in full swing. She began working steadily, picking up an Emmy Award and an-other Oscar nomination (for “Children of a Lesser God” ) along the way.

FUTURE PROJECTS

Next for Miss Laurie is director Norman Jewison’s screen adaptation of the Broadway hit “Other People’s Money,” starring Gregory Peck, Danny DeVito and Penelope Ann Miller. And when Miss Laurie has a few weeks off at a time, she is taking a slow tour around the country with “The Last Flapper.”

Of all the stage shows, TV programs and feature films she has appeared in, Miss Laurie has gotten more satisfaction out of doing this one-woman show based on the life of Zelda Fitzgerald.

“Doing ‘The Last Flapper.’ and knowing that it is working, being out therefor two hours and interacting with the audience — and feeling that I have had a great personal growth from the little girl who vowed after a piano recital when I had to recite the name of the piece that I would never do anything again that would require me to stand up in front of people and talk — for me to have come that tar is a thrill,” Miss Laurie said.

The photo that accompanied Berlin’s article show’s Laurie dressed as Catherine Martell holding a One-Eyed Jacks poker chip.

A second slightly different story ran in The Times on April 18, 1991. This was the day Twin Peaks episode 2.020 (#27) aired on the ABC Television Network before it went on hiatus again until June 10, 1991. This article contains more details about working with David Lynch. It also contains additional details about Laurie being a sculptress after moving to Connecticut. Who knew!?

PIPER LAURIE RETURNS IN STYLE

For Piper Laurie, life has had more twists than a two-hour episode of her current television residence, “Twin Peaks.”

Laurie won a Golden Globe award for her work as the evil Catherine in David Lynch’s delightfully different series, but her path to the part is quite remarkable.

Start [sic] out 59 years ago in Detroit, where she was born Rosetta Jacobs, the daughter of a furniture salesman. At 6 she accompanied her asthmatic sister to Califomia to live for three years in a home for children with allergies.

Then Mom and Dad joined them in Los Angeles and two years later she began her career in a play called “Guest in the House,” staged in what is now the Beverly Hills Playhouse.

By the time Laurie was 17, she had shed her given name and was under contract to Universal Pictures. She was cast in a series of ingenue roles, starting with “Louisa,” starring Ronald Reagan.

“He was extremely charming to me, going out of his way to be kind and attentive,” recalls Laurie. “He even took me out a few times. He was not a married man at that time, but he was the president of the Screen Actors Guild.”

Laurie quickly became a popular star, but she was dissatisfied with the types of movies she was cast in by Universal.

“Their program pictures didn’t correspond to anything that meant anything to me,” she remembers. “I was just playing these superficial girls — and I had no acting technique anyway. Finally, I told my agent that they could sue me or put me in jail, but I wasn’t going to do any of this stuff anymore.”

So Laurie left Hollywood in the mid-’50s and did something unheard of today. She quit making movies to do television.

“Live television was very serious in those days,” notes Laurie. “They did good things, certainly better than what I’d been doing in movies. It took about a year after I broke my contract with Universal before I got a job that promised something substantial.

“And the only reason they gave it to me, because I had such a bad reputation, and because the name Piper Laurie stood for insipid films, was that someone who knew me before Universal vouched for me.”

Laurie went on to star in many of the finest productions during TV’s so-called “Golden Age,” and then made a triumphant return to Hollywood as the female lead in 1961’s “The Hustler,” for which she received her first Oscar nomination. But she was still not satisfied as an actress and went into retirement.

“Acting seemed like a stupid way for an adult to spend her time,” says Laurie.

She moved to Connecticut, got married and became a serious sculptress. In fact, when she finally returned to aching 15 years later, her primary motivation was to earn money to buy stones to sculpt.

However, after Laurie chose the role of the mother in “Carrie” to make her comeback, she found that she enjoyed acting again. When she garnered another Academy Award nomination, her career was back in full swing. She began working steadily, picking up an Emmy Award and another Oscar nomination (for “Children of a Lesser God”) along the way.

Now she is being discovered by a new audience as the villainous Catherine in director David Lynch’s maverick series,.“Twin Peaks.” Lynch is considered to be a gifted oddball by many, but Laurie likens him to Jimmy Stewart, with a weird sense of humor.

“The first day that I worked with him when we were doing the pilot, he was so pleased he was glowing,” laughs Laurie. “I remember him turning to me and saying, ‘Oh, Piper, that was so sick,’ and sort of chuckling to himself.”

Lynch has given Laurie a chance to bring her career full circle, from pretty young thing in Universal’s B movies to nasty older lady on “Twin Peaks.” And she’s quite pleased to play on the dark side.

“Nice people are just boring,” she maintains, “theatrically.”

Next up for Laurie is director Norman Jewison’s screen adaptation of the Broadway hit “Other People’s Money,” starring Gregory Peck, Danny DeVito and Penelope Ann Miller. And when she has a few weeks off at a time, she is taking a slow tour around the country with “The Last Flapper.”

The second article used a different image of Laurie as Catherine Martell holding the One-Eyed Jacks poker chip.

I love finding these story nuggets about David Lynch as they offer insight into how he approached creating the wonderful and strange series we all love today.