“Forgotten Hollywood”- Remembering Piper (and Others)…
Manny P. here… 
“`Piper Laurie was an underrated actress, who was spectacular in almost everything she appeared in. She is best know for her Oscar-nominated roles in The Hustler, Carrie and Children of a Lesser God. On television, she was in the original production of Days and Wine and Roses and she was memorable on the television series, Twin Peaks.
“`In 1949, she signed with Universal and changed her screen name to Piper Laurie. While on the lot, she made friends with James Best, Julie Adams, Tony Curtis and Rock Hudson. She dated Ronald Reagan before he married Nancy Davis.
“`The actress negotiated herself out of the contract with Universal in the mid-1950s after a series of ingenue roles in mediocre films. She turned in an impressive performance in Robert Wise’s Until They Sail in 1957. Discouraged by the lack of substantial film roles, she moved to New York City to study acting and to seek work on stage and in television. Laurie married Joseph Morgenstern, a New York Herald Tribune entertainment writer and Wall Street Journal movie critic. She left show business to start a family.
“`By the mid-70s, she was ready to work again and appeared in a Broadway revival of The Glass Menagerie. On television, she guest-starred in Naked City, Ben Casey, The Thorn Birds, St. Elsewhere, Murder She Wrote, Matlock, ER, Will & Grace and Frasier.
“`Piper Laurie (above right) was ninety-one.
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“`Mark Goddard was an actor who starred in a number of television programs. He is probably best known for portraying Major Don West in the CBS series, Lost in Space. He also played Detective Chris Ballard in The Detectives. He guest-starred in Perry Mason, Gunsmoke, The Virginian, Adam-12, The Fugitive, The Mod Squad and Barnaby Jones.
“`Mark Goddard was eighty-seven.
MARK GODDARD PHYLLIS COATES
“`Phyllis Coates was an actress, with a career spanning over fifty years. She was best known for her portrayal of reporter Lois Lane in the 1951 film Superman and the Mole Men and in the first season of the television series Adventures of Superman. Noel Neill, who had played Lois Lane in two Superman serials, in 1948 and 1950, replaced Coates, who was not available for the second season.
“`Her career began at 20th Century Fox, co-starring in the Joe McDoakes two-reelers. On television, she guest-starred in Lassie, Leave it to Beaver, Gunsmoke, Perry Mason, The Untouchables and The Patty Duke Show.
“`Phyllis Coates was ninety-six.
Until next time> “never forget”
This entry was posted on Saturday, October 14th, 2023 at 7:11 pm and is filed under Blog by Manny Pacheco. You can follow any comments to this post through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
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