Piper Laurie--1/22

Today is Piper Laurie's birthday. One of America's best actresses turns 78. And so, She gets some Lady Love today. I have loved pretty much everything I have seen her do. Although, looking at her filmography, I really haven't seen as much of her work as I thought I had. She has just made such an impression that it has made me think I have seen her in more. I guess I will have to make an effort to see more of her work.
The movie that I love Piper in the most is, of course, Carrie. She is chilling in every scene. Margaret White drives a steak of guilt and fear through Carrie's heart, and the audience as well. She makes me quiver. I definately find Margaret White, as she is played by Piper Laurie, to be the real scare factor of this movie. Carrie doesn't scare me, but her crazy ass christian mother does. That may be my personal fear of christians as a whole, but the way that Piper Laurie plays this woman, gets me every time. Particularly her first and last scenes. In the first, when she is trying to peddle her dogma to Mrs. Snell, she begins to reveal the scariest parts of her self. We all have met someone like that. Someone who stays for that extra minute when we don't want them to, and makes us quietly search for the quickest escape route.
The grand finale of Carrie is one of my favorite scenes in any movie. It is chilling and thrilling. Piper Laurie shows us how truly crazy Margaret White is. She is off the beam, and the mania in Laurie's eyes is seared into my brain. She is brilliant, brilliant, brilliant.

I just read on the Carrie trivia page on imdb, that Piper Laurie thought her character was so over the top  that it must be a comedy. I love that. I love that she went there, and wasn't afraid to let it all go. Whatever it was that gave her that freedom, it is a thrill to watch. HAPPY BIRTHDAY PIPER LAURIE!!!