Deaths: Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman’s Louise Lasser (87)

 

LOUISE LASSER (1939-2026) 

 Louise Lasser was a decidedly quirky performer, best known for her title role appearance on 325 episodes of the Norman Lear soap opera spoof "Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman" in the mid-1970s. Married to Woody Allen for four years, she appeared prominently several of his early films, "Take The Money and Run," "Bananas," and "Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex But Were Afraid to Ask." 

She had four Broadway credits, namely "Thieves," "The Chinese and Dr. Fish," "Henry, Sweet Henry," and her debut, "I Can Get It For You Wholesale," where she played Miss Marmelstein, the role indelibly created at the beginning of the run by a certain Barbra Streisand. She also appeared Off-Broadway at The Public Theater in Wally Shawn's "Marie and Bruce.” 

She passed away yesterday.

I was so surprised by Louise’s 'Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman' she introduced me to a style of American humour that I didn’t know existed until then . . . .