So far, this month, I’ve been doing these horror scenes that I love in alphabetical order based on who was featured in the scene.  Originally, today was going to be devoted to Boris Karloff but, last night, I read the news that the great Piper Laurie had passed away at the age of 91.

Have no doubt that Boris Karloff will be honored tomorrow but, for today, I would be remiss if I didn’t pay tribute to Piper Laurie.  Piper Laurie often said that, when she read the script for 1976’s Carrie, she at first didn’t understand the story’s tone until she realized that Margaret White was meant to be as comedic as she was frightening.  Piper Laure’s performance as Carrie’s mother resulted in an Oscar nomination and it also revived Laurie’s career.  (Laurie had semi-retired from Hollywood following her previously Oscar-nominated work in The Hustler.)

In the scene below, Margaret makes one last attempt to keep Carrie from going to the prom.  Her line, “They’re all going to laugh at you” comes back to haunt Carrie in a very big way.

One final bit of Piper Laurie horror trivia: In 1959, when Alfred Hitchcock was casting Psycho, Piper Laurie was his second choice, behind Janet Leigh, for the role of Marion Crane.