It's Castro in excelsis, and Piper Laurie is looking forward to every minute of it. Friday night, Laurie will be the guset of honor at "A Carrie White Christmas" at the Castro Theatre. In addition to a showing of "Carrie." the 1976 horror classic, the Castro offers "a cock-eyed medley of kooky Christmas carols," the coronation of a Carrie look-alike, and an autograph session with Laurie on the mezzanine.

Laurie, who received an Academy Award nomination as best actress for "The Hustler," two supporting actress Oscar nominations and was also up for an Emmy, said she likes the idea of "Carrie" becoming a centerpiece for Christmas. "It just makes sense to me. I don't know why," she said. "The movie has a life of its own. It sort of bounces."

The hi-jinks surrounding Friday's showing strikes her as "bubbling fun," said Laurie, who added, "I've been looking forward to this since I was invited."
Friday's showing will mark only the second time Laurie has seen "Carrie" in a theater, the first being the night the movie premiered at the Crest Theater in Westwood. "If you had asked me if I'd be going to a showing like this 20 years ago, I wouldn't have believed it." said Laurie in a phone interview from her North Hollywood home. "But I've gotten used to the idea that people think the movie is special." Laurie's portrayal of Carrie's religion-crazed mother earned her an Academy Award nomination, one of three in a career that has spanned 30 films. In 1976, she lost to Beatrice Straight in "Network." Her "Hustler" role lost to Sophia Loren's "Two Women" in 1961, and in 1986 Dianne Wiest won as best supporting actress for "Hannah and Her Sisters" over Laurie in "Children of a Lesser God."

Laurie, who also received an Emmy nomination for the TV series, "Twin Peaks," didn't expect to win any of those awards. "It never entered my mind," she said. Laurie's favorite role may have been in a 1996 Christmastime movie that disappeared without a trace. "I really liked a movie that didn't get much play, "The Grass Harp," she said. "I thought it was a really lovely movie, and I had a wonderful part in it, but the timing was bad in every respect."

Laurie, born Rosetta Jacobs in Detroit in 1932, has had a movie career spanning 48 years, with a self-imposed 15-year hiatus between "The Hustler"and "Carrie." She and her husband, film critic, Joseph Morgenstern, opted for more family life and less Hollywood.

As a teenager thrown into the Hollywood ring, Laurie started out with movies like "The Milkman," "Francis Goes to the Races" and "Has Anybody Seen My Gal?" Described as an ingenue actress - Life magazine said her part in"Hustler" was the first serious one "after a series of syrupy roles as flower-nibbling enchantress" - Laurie tired of the movie scene. "I had highfalutin ideas about being a serious actress when I was 16, 17, and first signed at Universal," she said. "I was so flattered to be asked to be in the movies - the idea of being paid to act was heady stuff. But then I became so disillusioned. ...I had very little life experience and certainly no technique to deal with comedy with any flair. I was very handicapped, and very sensitive to being criticized for being bad," said Laurie, tossing out one of her signature, deep-throated laughs. "I wanted out as almost as soon as I signed my contract."

Laurie was finally taken seriously after "The Hustler," and she can't help smiling when she sees co-star Paul Newman nowadays. They did a steamy scene together in "The Hustler," amd watching Newman slowly age "seems very natural" to Laurie. He was quite a leading man, she said, adding with a smile in her voice, "I've had quite a few." But soon after "The Hustler" debut, Laurie pulled herself out of movies. "I know I lost ground in many respects," she said. "I started sort of from ground zero when I came back. But I needed it. It was necessary. If felt right."

Since coming back with "Carrie", Laurie has done 16 films, including Robert Rodriguez' "The Faculty," due out this Christmas. Sometimes she choses films for the fun of it and sometimes just to be acting again - keeping in the back of her mind the way Bette Davis ended a stellar career with a series of scare-you postboilers. Davis may have closed out her career with some second-rate movies, Laurie acknowledged, "but Bette Davis did such a great body of work, so many wonderful things, that she had a right to take jobs just to keep working. She was a human being, and it show in her work. I don't hold it against her for not having a fairy-tale end to her life or career. As Davis' career worked down, she was making a statement about how human she was, said Laurie, "And I hope I can say the same."

Coming to the Castro for "A Carrie White Christmas" could be one more way of saying that. A "Carrie White Christmas", which begins at 7 p.m. Friday at the Castro Theatre, will feature MC Varla Jean Merman, singer Esmeralda, a medley of Christmas carols, a question-and-answer session between Laurie and film critic Michael Sragow, A Carrie look-alike contest, a taped greeting from "Carrie" star Sissy Spacek and an autograph session on the mezzanine following the film. Tickets are $20 and can be obtained through A Different Light Bookstore, by calling (415) 863-0611 or by e-mailing hostess@best.com. Tickets for a separate showing of "Carrie," at 10:45 p.m, are $7.

* Comment- I have a copy of the videotape of Piper Laurie at the Castro in "A Carrie White Christmas"