Piper Laurie

One of the most celebrated and formidable actresses of the last half-century, Piper Laurie was an Emmy winner and Oscar nominee who gave full-blooded performances as flawed, often ferocious women in "The Hustler" (1961), "Carrie" (1976) and "The Bunker" (NBC, 1981). A contract with Universal in 1950 forced her to play ingénue roles, but she balked at the typecasting and headed to New York to learn her craft; upon her return, she netted an Oscar nomination as Paul Newman's bitter lover in "The Hustler." Over the course of an on-again, off-again career, she garnered a reputation as an uncompromising performer willing to tackle unglamorous roles, like her religious fanatic in "Carrie," or eccentric ones, like the vengeful Catherine Martell in David Lynch's "Twin Peaks" (ABC, 1990-91). Nominated numerous times for both Oscars and Emmys, Laurie continued to impress and amaze audiences into her seventh decade with performances in "Hounddog" (2007) and "Hesher" (2010), which served as potent reminders of her legacy as one of Hollywood's most accomplished and unique talents.