A True Hollywood Survivor
The acting legend on her famous co-stars and her big comeback at age 86!
Piper Laurie is having one of the hottest years in her nearly seven-decade career. She stars with Matthew McConaughey and Bruce Dern in the bigscreen biopic White Boy Rick, and the indie drama Snapshots earned her top honors at film fests. But success is nothing new to the 86-year-old star.
Since her 1950 film debut opposite Ronald Reagan in Louisa, she’s earned three Oscar nominations: for The Hustler, Children of a Lesser God and, most memorably, as a maniacal mom with a tormented teen in Carrie. But those who remember her best from that role may be surprised to learn that she overcame an equally rough childhood, including an anxiety disorder that left her unable to communicate as a child. “I’ve had a tough life sometimes, and a very rewarding one,” Piper shares with Closer. Now she opens up about her rendezvous with Reagan, her relationships with daughter Anna and her co-stars, and why she’s “not frightened often by anything. Either I’ve been through it before, or I just know I will survive!”
You’re starring in your first film in six years! What’s it like to have a comeback at 86?
There aren’t many things written for older people, so I’ve been very, very lucky. White Boy Rick was delightful. Bruce Dern and I play the grandparents of the title character and I play the mother of Matthew McConaughey, who is charming. [Drug dealing] is a heavy subject but I had a lot of fun. Immediately after I was offered a much more substantial role in Snapshots. It was made for 2 cents, but I won four leading actress awards! My mother and father would scold me for bragging, but I’m proud of it.
And you got a 2017 lifetime achievement award?
Yes, I did, which is scary [laughs]. It certainly makes you aware of time, and it’s nice to be appreciated while you’re still alive.
You’ve worked with so many icons. Could you tell me a bit about your co-star in 1961’s The Hustler, Paul Newman?
He’s the best, a real mensch. I still think about him every day because I use his salad dressing. He’s always on my shopping list!
How about Rock Hudson [in 1952’s Has Anybody Seen My Gal]
We were pals and laughed a lot. He, another actor and a friend took me to my first circus when I was 18! We did our screen test together at Universal and we were both so young.
And you won an Emmy working with James Garner in the 1986 TV movie Promise. What was he like?
You’re really picking out these lovely guys! He was terrific, and later on I asked him to do Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? with me, but he hadn’t been onstage in many years and it just scared him too much.
“I never get tired of life and I’ve never
been bored. I’m grateful for that!”
— Piper