piper laurie played sissy spacek's mother in carrie.
piper laurie played sissy spacek's mother in carrie.
who played sissy spacek's mother in carrie?
piper laurie
in addition to being a box office success – earning $14.5 million in theater rentals by january 1978 – "carrie" is notable for being one of the few horror films to be nominated for multiple academy awards. sissy spacek and piper laurie received nominations for best actress and best supporting actress awards, respectively. the film also won the grand prize at the avoriaz fantastic film festival, while sissy spacek was given the best actress award by the national society of film critics. in 2008, "carrie" was ranked number 86 on "empire magazine"'s list of "the 500 greatest movies of all time". this movie also ranked number 15 on "entertainment weekly"'s list of the 50 best high school movies, and no. 46 on the american film institute's list of 100 greatest cinema thrills, and was also ranked eighth for its famous ending sequence on bravo's "the 100 scariest movie moments" (2004).
carrie (1976 film)
spacek's most prominent early role came in brian de palma's film "carrie" (1976), in which she played carietta "carrie" white, a shy, troubled high school senior with telekinetic powers. spacek had to work hard to persuade director de palma to engage her for the role. after rubbing vaseline into her hair and donning an old sailor dress her mother made for her as a child, spacek turned up at the audition with the odds against her, but won the part. spacek's performance was widely praised, and pauline kael of "the new yorker" wrote, "though few actresses have distinguished themselves in gothics, sissy spacek, who is onscreen almost continuously, gives a classic chameleon performance. she shifts back and forth and sideways: a nasal, whining child; a chaste young beauty at the prom; and then a second transformation when her destructive impulses burst out and age her. sissy spacek uses her freckled pallor and whitish eyelashes to suggest a squashed, groggy girl who could go in any direction; at times, she seems unborn – a fetus. i don't see how this performance could be any better; she's touching, like elizabeth hartman in one of her victim roles, but she's also unearthly – a changeling." she was nominated for the academy award for best actress for her work in the film.
sissy spacek