Louise Lasser, the actress best known for her starring role in the cult 1970s sitcom Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman and for her collaborations with ex-husband Woody Allen, has died at the age of 87. According to The New York Times, Lasser died at her home in Manhattan.
From Soap Parody to National Stardom
Lasser achieved national fame through her portrayal of Mary Hartman, a satirical housewife in suburban Ohio, in the soap-opera parody created by Norman Lear. The series ran from January 1976 to July 1977, producing over 300 episodes due to its five-days-a-week schedule. Lasser's character, with her signature pigtails, was consumed by domestic concerns but often found herself in bizarre and unsettling situations, including witnessing unusual deaths. The show aimed to explore the societal changes sweeping the United States during the 1970s. Her performance earned her covers on People magazine and Rolling Stone.
Early Career and Collaboration with Woody Allen
Born in 1939, Lasser studied political science before training under renowned 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 ABC pilot about an improv comedy troupe, written by Woody Allen. Lasser and Allen met on a double date and married four years later.
Lasser appeared in several of Allen's early films, including a small role in the 1969 mockumentary Take the Money and Run and larger parts in Bananas (1971) and Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex* (*But Were Afraid to Ask) (1972). In Bananas, she played an activist whom Allen's character tries to impress by traveling to a fictional Latin American country in revolution. In the latter, she featured in a sketch parodying Italian modernist cinema titled Why Do Some Women Have Trouble Reaching an Orgasm?
Television and Film Roles
Beyond Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman, Lasser made guest appearances on TV series such as The Bob Newhart Show, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, and McCloud. She also appeared in commercials, including a notable NyQuil ad where her character tells her cold-stricken husband, “I’m lucky to have you,” to which he replies, “I know.”
After Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman ended, Lasser found it challenging to follow up due to the show's grueling production schedule. She later appeared in TV shows like Taxi, It’s a Living, Laverne & Shirley, and St. Elsewhere. In film, she took roles in 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, Sara Goldfarb. A new generation discovered Lasser when she was cast in Lena Dunham's Girls in 2014, portraying an artist who hires Jemima Kirke's Jessa.
Personal Life and Legacy
Lasser was married once, to Woody Allen, and later had a long-term relationship with fellow actor Michael Citriniti, who survives her. Norman Lear, creator of Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman, once said of her: “She came in my office, started to read the lines, and forget it. There’s only one Louise Lasser.” Her death marks the end of an era for fans of 1970s television and cinema.
