CAESAR AND CLEOPATRA 1959 PIPER LAURIE George Bernard Shaw 10x8 PORTRAIT

Original 10 inch x 8 inch Portrait of PIPER LAURIE as Cleopatra in the 1959 Mitchell Leisen General Electric Theatre TV Play CAESAR AND CLEOPATRA, based on the play by George Bernard Shaw.

Piper Laurie was born in Detroit in 1932. She was a leading lady of Hollywood films of the 50s, typecast by Universal in “cute” ingenue roles, mainly in mindless comedies and costume adventures. She proved she could handle a dramatic part effectively in the role of Paul Newman’s crippled girl friend in “The Hustler” (1961), a part that earned her an Oscar nomination as Best Actress. But the following year she retired from the screen to marry film critic Joseph Morgenstern. She made an impressive comeback in 1976 playing Sissy Spacek’s fanatic mother in Brian De Palma’s “Carrie”, a role that earned her a second nomination for an Academy Award, this time for Best Supporting Actress. She gained a third nomination for “Children of a Lesser God” (1986). From 1990-1991, she appeared in a recurring role in David Lynch’s phenomenally successful, if short-lived, “Twin Peaks” series, for which she was nominated an Emmy.

The portrait is in very good condition.