Piper Laurie
By 
The co-star of one of my favorite movies ever — The Hustler — and many other fine films has died:
Piper Laurie, a three-time Oscar nominee who excelled in roles fragile and fierce, including as Paul Newman’s disabled girlfriend in “The Hustler” and Sissy Spacek’s religiously fanatical mother in “Carrie,” and who memorably went incognito as a Japanese businessman on the TV series “Twin Peaks,” died Oct. 14 at a nursing facility in Los Angeles. She was 91.
The death was confirmed by her representative, Marion Rosenberg, but no cause was given.
Adept at losing herself in her characters, Ms. Laurie also performed one of the more notable vanishing acts in Hollywood: She largely disappeared from the screen during the 15 years between the two finest performances of her career, in “The Hustler” (1961) and “Carrie” (1976), both of which garnered Academy Award nominations.
She subsequently returned to acting and received a torrent of Emmy nominations, including for the hit miniseries “The Thorn Birds” and “Twin Peaks.” She also earned a supporting Oscar nod for “Children of a Lesser God” (1986), as a woman who resents her deaf daughter (played by Marlee Matlin).
R.I.P.