How ‘Carrie’ Brought Piper Laurie Back to Hollywood After a Decade Away

If you grew up watching horror movies back in the ’70s, chances are pretty darn good that you remember Piper Laurie‘s turn as Margaret White, the downright terrifying, puritanical mother to Sissy Spacek‘s shy teenager in the 1976 film adaptation of Stephen King‘s Carrie.

In that movie, Laurie practically stole every single scene she was in. For a lot of younger filmgoers at the time, that memorable performance was the first time they’d ever seen Laurie on-screen, big or small. But here’s the thing: Carrie wasn’t the start of her career. Not by a long shot. It was actually something of a mid-life comeback after she had left Hollywood for more than a decade.