Louise Lasser, the star of the cult 1970s sitcom Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman and early films by Woody Allen, has died at the age of 87. The New York Times reported that she died at her home in Manhattan.
Rise to Fame with Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman
Lasser's role as a satirically conceived housewife in suburban Ohio in Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman, a parody of daytime soap operas, made her a national star. She landed on the cover of People magazine and Rolling Stone. The series ran from January 1976 to July 1977, producing over 300 episodes due to its five-day-a-week schedule. Lasser's character, with her signature pigtails, was preoccupied with domestic minutiae but found herself in unsettling situations, including bizarre deaths. The show aimed to explore the changes sweeping ordinary life in the US in the 1970s.
Collaborations with Woody Allen
Lasser's film work with Woody Allen is well known to non-US audiences. She had a small role in Allen's 1969 mockumentary Take the Money and Run and larger roles in Bananas (1971) and Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex* (*But Were Afraid to Ask) (1972). In Bananas, she played an activist that Allen's character tries to impress by going to a fictional Latin American country in revolution. In the latter, she appeared in a parody of modernist Italian cinema, a sketch titled Why Do Some Women Have Trouble Reaching an Orgasm?
Early Life and Career
Born in 1939, Lasser studied political science before becoming a student of acting coach Sanford Meisner. In 1962, she understudied a 19-year-old Barbra Streisand in the Broadway musical I Can Get It for You Wholesale. That same year, she was cast alongside Alan Alda in The Laughmakers, an unaired pilot for ABC about an improv comedy troupe, written by Woody Allen, whom she had met on a double date. They married four years later.
Lasser appeared in guest roles on TV series such as The Bob Newhart Show, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, and McCloud. She also starred in commercials, including a well-known one for NyQuil, where her cold-affected husband tells her: “I'm lucky to have you,” and she replies: “I know.”
Impact of Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman
Lasser was cast in Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman after impressing creator Norman Lear, who said: “She came in my office, started to read the lines, and forget it. There's only one Louise Lasser.” However, the show's grueling schedule took a toll, and she found it hard to follow up.
Later Roles and Legacy
She later appeared in TV shows including Taxi, It's a Living, Laverne & Shirley, and St. Elsewhere. High-profile film roles included Todd Solondz's Happiness, the superhero comedy Mystery Men, and Darren Aronofsky's Requiem for a Dream, where she played the neighbor of Ellen Burstyn's character. Lasser was introduced to a new generation when she was cast in Lena Dunham's Girls in 2014, as an artist who gives Jemima Kirke's Jessa a job.
Lasser was married once, to Woody Allen, and was in a long-term relationship with fellow actor Michael Citriniti, who survives her.
