Piper Laurie Filmography

The Dead Girl

Actors: Toni Collette, Rose Byrne, Mary Beth Hurt, Marcia Gay Harden, Brittany Murphy

Synopsis: Karen Moncrieff, the Independent Spirit-award nominated director of Blue Car, assembles a stellar cast comprised of Toni Collette, James Franco, Giovanni Ribisi, and Mary Beth Hurt to tell the tale of one girl's mysterious death, and how the tragic actions of the people who surround her eventually Read More

Eulogy

Actors: Hank Azaria, Jesse Bradford, Zooey Deschanel, Glenne Headly, Famke Janssen

Synopsis: Writer/director Michael Clancy makes his feature film debut with the black comedy Eulogy. Zooey Deschanel plays Kate Collins, an unhappy college student who is made even more unhappy when her grandfather (Rip Torn) dies. Even though the entire family hates each other, they reunite at the home of Read More

The Last Brickmaker in America

Actors: Sidney Poitier, Piper Laurie, Bernie Casey, Cody Newton, Mert Hatfield

Synopsis: Actor Sidney Poitier returns to CBS, the same station which originally broadcast his leading role in 1999's The Simple Life of Noah Dearborn, this time adopting the part of a humble brickmaker in the made-for-television drama The Last Brickmaker in America. Without much pride in his job or Read More

St. Patrick's Day

Actors: Piper Laurie

Synopsis: The luck of the Irish is not shining on anyone looking for a spot of whiskey or stout in this comedy about an unusual family get-together. Mary Pat Donnely McDonough (Piper Laurie) is the matriarch of a large Irish-American family, and as is her custom, she has invited as many of her family as can Read More

Inherit the Wind

Actors: Jack Lemmon, George C. Scott, Piper Laurie, Beau Bridges

Synopsis: The celebrated stage drama by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee, based on the real-life Scopes trial in which a teacher was jailed in 1925 for teaching Darwin's theory of evolution, is filmed for the third time in this adaptation produced for the Showtime premium cable network. Jack Lemmon plays Read More

Palmer's Pick-Up

Actors: Robert Carradine, Richard Hillman, Patrick Kilpatrick, Neil Guintoli, Alice Ghostley

Synopsis: Is it a routine delivery job, or the first stage of the apocalypse? No one is quite sure in Palmer's Pick-Up, a bizarre road comedy from writer/director Christopher Coppola. Bruce Palmer (Robert Carradine) and his pal Pearl (Richard Hillman) run their own small trucking service and are doing none Read More

The Mao Game

Actors: Joshua Miller, Piper Laurie, Kirstie Alley, Jeffrey Tambor, Jodi Leesley

Synopsis: Child-actor turned novelist Joshua Miller now adds directing to his resume with this screen adaptation of his novel The Mao Game. Piper Laurie plays an older woman who gave up an early career as a hoofer to become a respected photographer. Her daughter (Kirstie Alley) has become a film star with Read More

Frasier: Dr. Nora

Synopsis: Christine Baranski makes her first series appearance as Seattle radio therapist Dr. Nora Fairchild, a spoof of a certain well-known, ultraconservative talk-show host. Dr. Nora's outspoken, bullying and predominately homophobic "my way or the highway" radio personality is extremely irritating to Read More

The Faculty

Actors: Elijah Wood, Josh Hartnett, Clea Duvall, Jordana Brewster

Synopsis: Miramax Films darlings Robert Rodriguez and screenwriter Kevin Williamson teamed up for a high-school alien-horror film that they described as The Breakfast Club meets Invasion of the Body Snatchers. Dilapidated Herrington High is the location for a story about a school faculty taken over by Read More

Intensity

Actors: John C. McGinley, Molly Parker, Piper Laurie, Blu Mankuma

Synopsis: Based on a book by Dean Koontz, who also served as one of the executive producers, this Canadian telefilm directed by Yves Simoneau (Mother's Boys) concerns a young psychology student named Chyna Shepherd. She's played by Molly Parker (who was so wonderful in the 1996 cult film Kissed) as a Read More

Touched By an Angel: Venice

Synopsis: Monica (Roma Downey) arrives in a small Montana town where dwells an elderly widow named Annie Doyle (Piper Laurie). 35 years ago, Annie's husband Tommy, regarded by the locals as a paragon of virtue and decency, died under mysterious circumstances. This tragic event resulted in friction between Read More

A Christmas Memory

Actors: Eric Lloyd, Patty Duke, Piper Laurie, Jeffrey DeMunn, Anita Gilette

Synopsis: Made for television, A Christmas Memory is adapted from the wistful short story by Truman Capote, previously filmed in 1967 as a one-hour episode of ABC Stage 67. Capote himself narrated the original version, in which he recalled his lonely childhood and the strong bond between himself and his Read More

ER: Take These Broken Wings

Synopsis: Unable to cope with losing custody of baby Suzy, Lewis (Sherry Stringfield) begins consulting a therapist, whereupon the events in this episode (directed by series regular Anthony Edwards) are unfolded in flashback form. One of the plot developments involves Carol (Julianna Margulies), who in Read More

In the Blink of an Eye

Actors: Veronica Hamel, Mimi Rogers, Piper Laurie, Polly Bergen, Carlos Gomez

Synopsis: After her lifelong friend is jailed for murder, a brave woman launches a private investigation to prove her innocent. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide Read More

The Road to Galveston

Actors: Cicely Tyson, Tess Harper, Piper Laurie, James McDaniel, Penny Johnson

Synopsis: In this heartwarming drama, a dying widow "abducts" a trio of women suffering from Alzheimer's disease and embarks upon a journey to the title Texas town in order to fulfill her lifelong fantasy of seeing the ocean. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide Read More

The Crossing Guard

Actors: Jack Nicholson, David Morse, Anjelica Huston, Robin Wright Penn, Piper Laurie

Synopsis: Sean Penn wrote and directed this tale of loss, guilt, and revenge. The daughter of Freddy and Mary Gale (Jack Nicholson and Anjelica Huston) was killed by a drunk driver, John Booth (David Morse). The death of their child took a heavy toll on the Gales; their marriage broke up, and, while Mary Read More

ER: Home

Synopsis: Rushing to Milwaukee after his wife, Jenn (Christine Harnos), and daughter, Rachel (Yvonne Zima), are injured in a car accident, Greene (Anthony Edwards) is relieved to learn that they're all right -- but none too happy with the news that Jenn has been withholding from him. Back in Chicago, Carol (Julianna Margulies Read More

The Passion of Darkly Noon

Synopsis: For his second outing as a director, filmmaker Philip Ridley once again enlisted the talents of Viggo Mortensen, who starred in Ridley's debut, The Reflecting Skin, and co-stars here with Ashley Judd and Brendan Fraser. Fraser plays Darkley Noon, a disturbed young man who received a sheltered Read More

The Grass Harp

Actors: Piper Laurie, Sissy Spacek, Walter Matthau, Edward Furlong, Nell Carter

Synopsis: Based on the novel by Truman Capote, this often-witty coming-of-age drama looks at a young man growing up with an unusual family in the Deep South in the 1940s. After the death of his parents, Collin Fenwick (Edward Furlong) finds himself living in a small town with two of his aunts, Dolly (Piper Laurie Read More

Shadows of Desire

Synopsis: Set in Utah (but filmed in Texas), the made-for-TV Shadows of Desire will probably seem fresh and original to anyone who hasn't seen the old Katharine Hepburn-Robert Taylor-Robert Mitchum theatrical feature Undercurrent--or, for that matter, to anyone unfamiliar with the Biblical story of Cain and Read More

Love, Lies and Lullabies

Actors: Susan Dey, Lorraine Toussaint, D.W. Moffett, Piper Laurie, Kathleen York

Synopsis: When a rebellious young woman's cocaine habit results in an addicted premature baby, authorities whisk the infant away. Devastated, the young mother realizes that she will have to prove herself worthy and capable of motherhood and so sets out to clean up her act. Unfortunately, it may be too Read More

Lies and Lullabies

Actors: Allyce Beasley, Guy Boyd, Tim Kelleher, Piper Laurie, Ace Mask, Andy Romano, Lorraine Toussaint, Kathleen York, A.J. Johnson, Susan Dey

Synopsis: Christina (Susan Dey) is a cocaine addict in a tumultuous relationship with an equally drug-addicted boyfriend. When she becomes pregnant, the baby is born not only prematurely but with the chemical dependency of its mother. Now Christina is in a fight to make her life clean and stable so that Read More

Frasier: Guess Who's Coming to Breakfast

Synopsis: A tongue-tied Frasier (Kelsey Grammer) manages to say all the wrong things at the breakfast table after his father, Martin (John Mahoney), has spent the night with a woman. Realizing that he has embarrassed his dad, Frasier tries to make amends during his radio show -- and succeeds to make things Read More

Wrestling Ernest Hemingway

Actors: Robert Duvall, Richard Harris, Shirley MacLaine, Sandra Bullock, Micole Mercurio

Synopsis: Richard Harris and Robert Duvall star in this low-key drama concerning a hard-drinking former sea captain (Richard Harris) who befriends a shy retired barber (Robert Duvall). Though their polar-opposite personalities find the relationship slow going at first, roguish Frank (Harris) and gentle Read More

Trauma

Actors: Chris Rydell, Asia Argento, Piper Laurie, Frederic Forrest, Laura Johnson

Synopsis: In this suspenseful horror movie, a lovely runaway and a helpful hero go looking for the fearsome "Headhunter," the ghoulish hooded killer who sawed off the heads of her parents. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide Read More

Rich in Love

Actors: Albert Finney, Jill Clayburgh, Kathryn Erbe, Kyle MacLachlan, Piper Laurie

Synopsis: The final installment of what might be called Bruce Beresford's southern trilogy (the other films being Crimes of the Heart and Driving Miss Daisy) examines a disintegrating Southern family. The Odom family live in an elegant mansion, where Warren (Albert Finney) is retired and spends the days Read More

Storyville

Actors: James Spader, Joanne Whalley, Jason Robards, Jr., Charlotte Lewis, Mike Warren, Piper Laurie

Synopsis: Mark Frost, the writer and director best known for his work with David Lynch on the TV series Twin Peaks, made his feature film directorial debut with this convoluted thriller. Cray Fowler (James Spader) is running for congress, partly to satisfy his own political aspirations and partly to resolve Read More

Other People's Money

Actors: Danny DeVito, Gregory Peck, Penelope Ann Miller, Piper Laurie, Dean Jones

Synopsis: Norman Jewison directed Alvin Sargent's adaptation of Jerry Sterner's off-Broadway satire of the excess of the '80s, with Danny DeVito as corporate raider Lawrence Garfield -- or, as he is better known, Larry the Liquidator. Larry spends his waking hours searching for companies to take over. One Read More

Twin Peaks: Episode 06

Synopsis: Episode six in the first season of Twin Peaks, "Realization Time," originally aired May 17, 1990, and was directed by Oscar-nominated cinematographer Caleb Deschanel. The wounded suspect Leo Johnson (Eric Da Re), shot by Shelly (Madchen Amick) in self-defense, tries to kill Bobby Briggs (Dana Ashbrook Read More

Twin Peaks: Episode 07

Synopsis: The final cliffhanger episode of the first season of Twin Peaks, entitled "The Last Evening," originally aired on May 24, 1990, and was written and directed by series co-creator Mark Frost. James (James Marshall) and Donna (Lara Flynn Boyle) search for clues and find the missing tape, while Dr. Read More

Twin Peaks: Episode 01

Synopsis: The first official episode of Twin Peaks, entitled "Traces to Nowhere," originally aired on April 12, 1990. Special Agent Dale Cooper (Kyle MacLachlan) of the FBI continues to investigate the mysterious death of Laura Palmer. He interrogates James Hurley (James Marshall), Bobby Briggs (Dana Ashbrook Read More

Rising Son

Actors: Brian Dennehy

Synopsis: Brian Dennehy stars in this made-for-cable drama about a blue-collar family man laid off from his auto-industry job who learns that his resentful son plans to drop out of medical school. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide Read More

Twin Peaks [TV Series]

Actors: Mädchen Amick, Dana Ashbrook, Lara Flynn Boyle, Joan Chen, Sherilyn Fenn, Piper Laurie, Michael Ontkean, Ray Wise, Grace Zabriskie, Kyle MacLachlan

Synopsis: The groundbreaking and influential Twin Peaks series originally ran on the ABC network for the short time between April 1990 and June 1991. Created by film director David Lynch (Blue Velvet) and writer Mark Frost (Hill Street Blues), it gained an enormous following of viewers while challenging Read More

Twin Peaks: Episode 02

Synopsis: Originally broadcast on April 19, 1990, the memorable and pivotal second episode of Twin Peaks, "Zen, or the Skill of Catching a Killer," contains the infamous surreal dream sequence with the Little Man From Another Place (Michael J. Anderson). On Saturday night, sleazy businessman Benjamin Horne (Richard Beymer Read More

Twin Peaks: Episode 05

Synopsis: Episode five of the first season of Twin Peaks, "Cooper's Dreams," originally aired on May 10, 1990, and was directed by Lesli Linka Glatter. Trying to start her own investigation, Audrey goes to a job interview at her father's department store. She manipulates the manager, Emory Battis (Don Amendolia Read More

Twin Peaks: Episode 04

Synopsis: The fourth episode of Twin Peaks' first season, "The One-Armed Man," was originally broadcast on May 3, 1990, and directed by Tim Hunter (River's Edge). Deputy Andy Brennan sketches Sarah Palmer's visions of Killer Bob, resembling the Bob in Agent Cooper's dream from episode two. Another of Read More

Twin Peaks: Episode 03

Synopsis: Originally broadcast on April 26, 1990, episode three of Twin Peaks, "Rest in Pain," takes place the day of Laura Palmer's funeral. After having breakfast with Audrey (Sherilyn Fenn), Agent Cooper (Kyle MacLachlan) explains his dream to Sheriff Harry Truman (Michael Ontkean), claiming it is a code Read More

Dream a Little Dream

Actors: Corey Feldman, Meredith Salenger, Jason Robards, Jr., Piper Laurie, Harry Dean Stanton

Synopsis: In 1987-88, a quartet of films with the same basic body-switching premise deluged theaters: Like Father, Like Son (1987), Big (1988), Vice Versa (1988), and 18 Again (1988). One year later, Dream a Little Dream (1989) followed suit. Coleman Ettinger (Jason Robards) is forever scolding the local Read More

Twin Peaks

Actors: Mädchen Amick, Dana Ashbrook, Lara Flynn Boyle, Sherilyn Fenn, James Marshall, Michael Ontkean, Ray Wise, Kyle MacLachlan

Synopsis: Also known as "The Northwest Passage," the two-hour pilot episode of Twin Peaks originally aired April 8, 1990. The central plot of the series is set when Pete Martell (Jack Nance) finds the body of high school student Laura Palmer (Sheryl Lee) wrapped in plastic by the water at the Packard Read More

Tiger Warsaw

Actors: Patrick Swayze, Piper Laurie, Lee Richardson, Mary McDonnell, Barbara Williams

Synopsis: Chuck "Tiger" Warsaw (Patrick Swayze) returns to the steel town of Sharon, Pennsylvania hoping to be reunited with his estranged family after 15 years. He spent his time away from home in Miami in a perpetual fog of drugs and alcohol and is struggling to remember what prompted his departure. Tiger Read More

Appointment with Death

Actors: Peter Ustinov, Lauren Bacall, Carrie Fisher, John Gielgud, Piper Laurie

Synopsis: In this mystery, Peter Ustinov reprises the role of Hercule Poirot, the fussy and flower-tending detective from Belgium created by Agatha Christie. In 1937, Mrs. Emily Boynton (Piper Laurie) is on an archeological dig in Palestine; she inherited the wealth of her recently deceased husband and Read More

Go Toward the Light

Actors: Linda Hamilton, Richard Thomas, Piper Laurie, Ned Beatty, Joshua Harris

Synopsis: Based on the autobiographical book by Chris Oyler, the made-for-TV Go Toward the Light is a sometimes wrenching, ofttimes inspirational AIDS drama. Claire and Greg Madison (Linda Hamilton and Richard Thomas) discover to their horror that their hemophiliac son Ben (Joshua Harris) has contracted the Read More

Distortions

Actors: Olivia Hussey, Piper Laurie, Steve Railsback, Rita Gam, June Chadwick

Synopsis: Amy (Olivia Hussey) is a widow who is held captive by her insane Aunt Margot (Piper Laurie) in this predictably routine mystery. After she believes her husband has died, Amy is comforted by a group of society women with lesbian tendencies and is drugged when she goes to live with her aunt who Read More

Children of a Lesser God

Actors: William Hurt, Marlee Matlin, Piper Laurie, Philip Bosco, Allison Gompf

Synopsis: Children of a Lesser God is a love story about a speech teacher who falls for a beautiful yet distant deaf girl in a small New England school for the deaf, and the obstacles that they face due to their differences. William Hurt plays James Leeds, a renegade teacher with an unconventional approach Read More

Promise

Synopsis: Promise represented the first of several momentous TV-movie teamings of James Garner and James Woods. Garner plays an affable middle-aged salesman. When his mother dies, Garner is compelled to fulfill his long-ago promise to her: to look after his schizophrenic younger brother Woods. What begins Read More

Return to Oz

Actors: Nicol Williamson, Jean Marsh, Fairuza Balk, Piper Laurie, Matt Clark

Synopsis: This '80s follow-up to The Wizard of Oz is based upon two of L. Frank Baum's later Oz books. In Return to Oz (a version that may be a bit too scary for young children), Auntie Em sends Dorothy to a sanitarium where hopefully she will clear her head from all of the "Oz nonsense." This Read More

Love, Mary

Actors: Matt Clark

Synopsis: Filmed in Canada for American television, Love Mary is based on the true story of Dr. Mary Groda Lewis. When we first meet Mary, she's neither a Lewis nor a doctor, but instead a troubled young girl played by Kristy McNichol. Diagnosed as retarded and incorrigible, Mary is shunted off to a reform Read More

Toughlove

Actors: Bruce Dern, Piper Laurie, Jason Patric, DeDee Pfeiffer, Lee Remick

Synopsis: This made-for-TV drama was inspired by the real-life Toughlove program, set up to help parents of kids with severe alcohol, drug and behavior problems. Lee Remick and Bruce Dern star as a middle-aged couple who have completely lost control of their teen-aged son Jason Patric. When all else fails Read More

Murder, She Wrote: Murder at the Oasis

Synopsis: Jessica (Angela Lansbury) heads to a fashionable desert resort for a reunion with her college roommate Peggy (Piper Laurie). Unfortunately, the happiness of the occasion is compromised by the presence of Peggy's ex-husband, nasty showbiz star Johnny Shannon (Ed Ames. In fact, Johnny has made so Read More

The Thorn Birds

Actors: Richard Chamberlain, Rachel Ward, Barbara Stanwyck, Christopher Plummer, Bryan Brown

Synopsis: This mammoth TV miniseries, based on the best-selling novel by Colleen McCullough, proved to be a ratings bonanza; indeed, its viewership was surpassed only by the 1978 blockbuster Roots. Set in Australia, the story covers 42 years in the life of Ralph de Bricassart (Richard Chamberlain), a Roman Read More

Mae West

Actors: Ann Jillian, Roddy McDowall

Synopsis: Ann Jillian plays the title character in this made-for-TV film, based on the facts but with several liberties taken as well. Roddy McDowall takes an interesting turn playing a female impersonator. ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide Read More

The Tragedy of Macbeth

Synopsis: This is a filmed theatrical performance of one of Shakespeare's most famous tales of avarice and insanity. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide Read More

The Bunker

Actors: Susan Blakely, Cliff Gorman, Piper Laurie, Anthony Hopkins, Richard Jordan

Synopsis: This exhaustive (and exhausting) 3-hour TV movie dramatizes the last three months of Adolph Hitler's life, spent in his bunker in Berlin. Anthony Hopkins is repulsively riveting as Hitler, while Piper Laurie is even more frightening as fanatical Frau Goebbels. Joseph Goebbels (Cliff Gorman) feeds Read More

The Boss' Son

Actors: Asher Brauner, Rudy Solari, Rita Moreno, Henry Sanders, James Darren

Synopsis: Bobby (Asher Brauner) has never had to work hard or worry much about his future. After all, his father (Rudy Solari) owns a carpet factory, and he has been brought up in the lap of luxury. His father offers him a chance to take over the factory after a few years, and he jumps at the chance. Read More

Skag

Synopsis: The short-lived TV series Skag was introduced with a 3-hour premiere on January 6, 1980. Karl Malden stars as Pete "Skag" Skagska, Pittsburgh steel mill foreman and family man. In the pilot, Skag attempts to deal with several family crises: his father's debilitating stroke, his strained Read More

Tim

Actors: Piper Laurie, Mel Gibson, Alwyn Kurts, Pat Evison, Peter Gwynne

Synopsis: Based on a novel by Colleen McCullough (The Thorn Birds), this "May-December romance" stars Piper Laurie as Mary Horton, a lonely middle-aged American career woman who hires a handsome, mildly retarded young handyman named Tim (played by 22-year-old Mel Gibson in his third screen role). At first Read More

Rainbow

Synopsis: Judy Garland's rise to stardom is chronicled in this bio-pic that begins with her vaudeville days and ends with The Wizard of Oz. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide Read More

Ruby

Actors: Piper Laurie, Stuart Whitman, Roger Davis, Janet Baldwin, Chrystin Sinclaire

Synopsis: Piper Laurie (the mother in the horror film Carrie) appears here as the mother of a deranged deaf-mute girl. The mom runs a drive-in theater which shows mostly horror films. The girl is deranged because she is possessed by the spirit of her long-dead dad, a gangster who was gunned down by the mob. Read More

In the Matter of Karen Ann Quinlan

Synopsis: The right to die with dignity was at the heart of this fact-based TV movie. After a serious accident, New Jersey woman Karen Ann Quinlan lapses into an irreversible coma. Only a complicated and expensive life-support system forestalls Karen's inevitable death; otherwise, she is brain dead and her Read More