The 1950's was an era of contract players sporting unusual marquee names. Among actors, there were Rock Hudson and Tab Hunter and among actresses, Piper Laurie. The actress professes to hate the name and kept it for its established value in later career phases.
"I accepted my new name like I accepted so many other things in those days, dociley," Laurie says. "I knew I didn't know what I was doing. It took a few years longer to figure out that the men running the studio didn't know what was good for me either."
Piper Laurie was born Rosetta Jacobs on January 22, 1932 in Detroit. At age 7, her family moved west and she graduated from Los Angeles High School where she performed in plays. Rosetta's red hair and 36-25-36 figure and not acting ability attracted the attention of talent scouts.
Using Tennessee Williams' "This Property is Condemned," Rosetta screen tested to no avail for Warner Brothers. But, Universal-International saw the test and had her do a new test with Rock Hudson. U-I signed the 17-year old in 1848 and her first publicity gimmick was signing her contract at 12:01 a.m., January 1, 1950. "To be an ingenue in Hollywood is to be nothing," Laurie said years later. U-I began building up its new possession by tagging her "Miss Flamethrower," having her eat gardenia petals and cream to promote "Louisa" and discard Rosetta Jacobs. "I got the name Piper Laurie from an anonymous high school student, who wrote it on a post card and sent it to me", she says.
RONALD REAGAN'S DAUGHTER
Piper Laurie made her film debut as Ronald Ragan's daughter in "Louisa" [1950 U-I dir. Alexander Hall] In "The Milkman" [1950 U-I dir. Charles T. Barton], she played Donald O'Connor;s love interest and "The Prince Who was a Thief" [1951 U-I dir. Rudolph Mate] was an Arabian nights tale co-starring Tony Curtis. Playing second fiddle to O'Connor and Francis the Talking Mule in "Francis Goes to the Races" [1951 U-I dir. Arthur Lubini epitomized the studio's random use of her.
Due to her minor status, Laurie's seven-year contract was approved January 10, 1951 in ocurt. Her salary began at $250 a week with options up to $1,750 a week. U-I kept Laurie busy with the studio's hot young actors. She provided romance for Rock Hudson in the musical "Has Anybody Seen My Gal" [1951 U-I dir. Douglas Sirk] and another Arabian nights story "The Golden Blade [1951 U-I dir. Nathan Juran].
Laurie did three more films with Curtis. "No Room for the Groom" [1952 U-I dir. Douglas Sirk] had soldier Curtis returning home to wife Laure. There were more Arabian nights as she played a princess in "Son of Ali Baba" [1952 U-I dir. Kurt Neumann]. Curtis raced cars as "Johny Dark" [1954 U-I dir. George Sherman]. Tyrone Power captured her heart in "The Mississippi Gambler" [1953 U-I dir. Rudolph Mate] and Victor Mature saved her in "Dangerous Mission" [1954 RKO dir. Louis King], "Dawn at Socorro" [1954- U-I dir. George Sherman] with Rory Calhoun was her first western.
In 1955, Laurie received a contract release and finished her obligation to U-I with three films. She played a chorus girl marrying Rory Calhoun in "Ain't Misbehavin'" [1955 U-I dir. Jerry Hopper] with Dana Andrews. She again played second to a star [Van Johnson] and animal [German shepherd] in "Kelly and Me" [1957 U-I dir. Robert Z. Leonardi].
QUIT UNIVERSAL
"It was purely emotional." Laurie says about quitting U-I. "When I realized the enormity of what I'd done, I was terrified. I had no financial security. Those studio checks had been rolling in since I was 17. But it was something I had to do. I knew I had to do something more than play ingenues. I was very serious about acting then."
Laurie immediately attempted to change her image. "I deliberately chose roles which would counteract my own mediocrity," she says. "The first role I played after I left was a very plain unattractive girl." Based on a James A. Michener story, "Until They Sail" [1957 MGM dir. Robert Wise] cast Joan Fontaine, Jean Simmons, Sandra Dee, and Laurie as four New Zealand sisters, involved with American soldiers during World War II.
She shifted from film to television after convincing Robert Montgomery to cast her in "Quality Town." "I had one scene," she says about the TV show, "but it was the first real scene I'd played, the first part with character and depth and meaning in seven years." She appeared on Studio One and Playhouse 90 and won Emmy nominations for "The Deaf Heart," "The Road That Went Afar," and "The Days of Wine and Roses."
LIVING IN NEW YORK
I'm living in New York because that seems to be the most practical place to be," Laurie said in 1961. "Most of my work is here." Her quest to land Broadway and off-Broadway roles was difficult." "Nobody thought of me as an actress," she says. "They just remembered that publicity story about my munching flower petals for breakfast. I even thought of giving up the name Piper Laurie because I felt there was a stigma attached to it. I never could figure out just how many parts I lost and how many I won because of this name. I know some producers and directors said "Well, maybe she can act even if her name is Piper Laurie!"
Director Robert Rossen spotted Laurie at Actors Studio and cast her in "The Hustler" [1961 Fox], the most important film of her career. She played Paul Newman's crippled and alcoholic girlfriend Sarah Packard whose weariness of life leads to suicide. Despite nomination and a new career beckoning, Laurie vanished from the screen for 15 years. (Small b&w photo of PL from "Ain't Misbehavin'", subtitled 'PIPER played a fast-stepping chorus girl in 1955's "Ain't Misbehavin'"
The actress married New York Times drama critic Joseph Morgenstern in March, 1962. They moved to Woodstock, New York and daughter Annie was born in 1971. She continued acting and starred with Maureen Stapleton in a 1965 Broadway revival of "The Glass Menagerie" but Laurie concentrated on a quiet family life. She became ordinary Rose Morgenstern.
Piper Laurie's comeback began by playing birth control advocate Margaret Sanger in "The Woman Rebel" [1976] on PBS's Nova. Next came the surprise that she was returning to the screen in Brian DePalma's "Carrie" [1976 UA].
Sissy Spacek played the telekinetic teenager and Laurie her fanatical mother in the box office hit. "I got such a bang playing this part," she says, "It's a very beautiful, lyrical, interesting film, that has a great deal of humor and one kind of a fun scare." Laurie earned a Best Supporting Actress Oscar nomination and commented "Just being nominated is honor enough for a girl who once played straightwoman to Frances the Talking Mule."
She followed up "Carrie" with "Ruby" [1977 Dimension dir. Curtis Harrington], an exploitation film about a dead gangster's spirit possessing his deaf-mute daughter who starts killing at a drive-in. "Ruby's a kind of theatrical lady." Laurie says, "She's got lots of men." Stuart Whitman played Ruby's lover and Janet Baldwin her possessed daughter.
CAREER REVIVED
With her career revived, Laurie and her family relocated to Los Angeles and she starred in two TV movies. Brian Keith and she played a New Jersey woman's parents arguing the right to die question in "In the Matter of Karen Ann Quinlan" [1977 NBC dir. Hal Jordan]. Jackie Cooper directed her as Judy Garland's mother in "Rainbow" [1978 NBC] tracing the singer's early years.
Laurie went to Australia to star in "Tim [1979 dir. Michael Pate] costarring Mel Gibson. Based on Carson McCullough's novel, she played the older woman romantically involved with a retarded young man and won a Best Actress Australian "Sammy" award for her performance. "Tim" was not released in America until 1981.
Hopes were high for "Skag" [1980 NBC dir. Frank Perry] and its subsequent series. Critics approved of the middleclass drama aobut coal miner Karl Malden, wife Laurie, their family, and the problems facing them but low ratings proved "Skag's" downfall. It was always full of hope," Laurie says "but I really went into it against my better judgement. I thought it would be better than most and I thought I could create an interesting role model as a blue collar wife. It sort of petered out."
"The Bunker" [1981 CBS dir. George Schaefer] recounted Hitler's last days during the collapse of the Third Reich. She received anohter Emmy nomination for her performance as Martha Goebbels. The actress had a small but meaty part of Rachel Ward's confidant Anne in "The Thorn Birds" [1983 ABC dir. Daryl Duke].
Laurie's career unusual for its two distinct phases. From 1950 to 1961, she was a contract starlet and TV actress struggling to prove herself as an actress. From 1976 on, she has become an unglamorous mature actress and enjoys it. Of those glamour girl years in mediocre films, Laurie offers "I'm not bitter. I don't hold a grudge against Hollywood. I let it happen." HSM