Fun TCM Interview with Piper Laurie, Who Just Turned 90

Wasn't she the actress in "Tim" with the delectable young Mel Gibson? I wanted to be her in that role!

Yes, she talks about seeing him for the first time when she got to the set. She doesn't mention it in the interview, but they had a hot one night stand after production wrapped.

The dirty pillows went over like a WTF?

Wow...she looks and sounds great at 90!

What kind of name is "Piper"?

A made-up one.

I like it...uniique.

*unique^

Her memoir was pretty good. I loved reading about her Universal Studios swords and sandals days.

Thank you for posting this, OP. I'm struck by how down to earth she seems to be in that piece. I always imagined her to be very actressy and complicated but she sounded just delightfully simple.

r5 Universal Studios named her when she went into contract.

Her first agent, Ted Radin, suggested the name:

Ted told me one evening that he had thought of a good professional name for me and handed me a scrap of yellow paper with “piper laurie” written on it. He’d not capitalized it, so it looked strange. I didn’t care for it because it didn’t seem to be a name. He couldn’t explain how he’d thought of it; he said it just came to him! I had used a variety of professional names by then. In those days it was understood that Rosetta Jacobs was not a name that could be used professionally. Everyone advised us so. Not because of its ethnicity, I never thought of it as such, but because it didn’t sound like Lana or Cary and was hard to remember.

Fun fact: Piper Laurie was friends with DL non-fave Pauline Kael.

R9, what did she have to say about Tony Curtis and other stars she worked with?

So romantic!

From a 2011 article:

[quote]In politics he was known as the great communicator. But when it came to matters of the heart Ronald Reagan was a rude, insensitive show-off, one of his former lovers has claimed.

[quote]The actress Piper Laurie said that when she slept with the former U.S. President he bragged to her afterwards about his staying power.

[quote][bold]Yet when she complained she was unsatisfied he replied she should see a doctor [/bold]- because he definitely knew how to make a woman happy.

It's a shame she was not invited back for Twin Peaks.

She was amusing in Will and Grace.

Did she say anything about regretting not getting an abortion when it would have saved the world a lot of pussy gas and arrogance?

It was only about 10 years ago when I found out she was saying "Dirty Pillows" and not "Dirty Pellows". Yes, I know pellows isnt a word. But, I thought it was some kind of crazy made up word for breasts that I didnt know about.

She’s always so casual about leaving movies behind and moving to upstate New York fo 15 years. That’s really admirable - though it’s so hard to comprehend when you’re just an average moviegoer who imagines it must be so great to be in movies.

Maybe she isn’t sharing everything… but she does seem like someone who moved on without any drama.

"They're BREASTS, momma. They're called BREASTS!"

[quote]R18 Did she say anything about regretting not getting an abortion when it would have saved the world a lot of pussy gas and arrogance?

I think Piper Laurie’s child was adopted. Not welped.

Piper is a unique individual. She always had a solid line between her work and her personal life. She’s opinionated but not loud, self-centered but not egotistical, and intense but not crazy.

She was in that unique finishing school of Universal in the early 50s…she was very photogenic and her pictures did well financially. She was surrounded by the likes of Rock Hudson, Tony Curtis, Jeff Chandler, Richard Long, Mamie Van Doren, Julie Adams, Mala Powers, and Lori Nelson. Most of them were satisfied with the 7 year studio contract lifestyle but Piper wanted to be challenged creatively.

People thought she was insane to break her contract. But she did and toiled in NYC television and theatre for years. She made the right decision, too, because the studio system fell apart completely after she quit Universal.

The Hustler was a huge surprise comeback and validation. But then she didn’t do a picture again until Carrie, 15 years later. She has worked steadily in supporting and character roles since then.

She’s a pleasure and it was nice to see her looking sharp and healthy at 90.

[quote]r23 the studio system fell apart completely after she quit Universal.

Coincidence?

I think not.