lit a candle 3 Sept 2026Still with us
I cried when I heard the news, and I'm not ashamed of it. Louise was part of the soundtrack of my life.
Their story
Louise Jane Lasser, born on 11 April 1939 and died on 6 July 2026, spent her working life in the American theatre and on screen, not only as an actress but also as a writer for television and as a teacher and director of the performing arts. Audiences knew her…
Louise Jane Lasser, born on 11 April 1939 and died on 6 July 2026, spent her working life in the American theatre and on screen, not only as an actress but also as a writer for television and as a teacher and director of the performing arts. Audiences knew her best as the woman at the centre of Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman, the programme that turned the conventions of soap opera on their head, and her performance in the title role brought her a nomination for a Primetime Emmy Award.
Her first appearance on Broadway came in 1962, in the musical I Can Get It for You Wholesale. From 1966 until 1970 she was married to Woody Allen, and she appeared in a number of his earliest pictures, among them Take the Money and Run in 1969 and Bananas in 1971. In 1976 she took a turn as host of Saturday Night Live, and over the years she turned up as a guest on series such as The Bob Newhart Show, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Taxi, Laverne and Shirley and St. Elsewhere.
In later life she was drawn to darker comedy, appearing in Todd Solondz's Happiness in 1998 and, more than two decades on, in Owen Kline's Funny Pages in 2022. Between 2013 and 2014 she played Beadie in Girls, the HBO series about growing up created by Lena Dunham.
She remained a life member of The Actors Studio, having trained under both Sanford Meisner and Robert X. Modica.
Biography adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0), retold in our own words. Wikipedia ↗
Photos
2Photo of Louise Lasser from a guest appearance on Saturday Night Live. Lasser appeared as her popular television character, Mary Hartman.
by People Forever
Greg Mullavey and Louise Lasser in 1976 press photo for Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman
by People Forever
Well put.
Couldn't agree more.