The American actress Louise Lasser (New York, 1939-2026), known for starring in Woody Allen’s first films, to whom she was married for three years, died this Monday at her home in Manhattan at the age of 87, as confirmed by a friend of hers. The Hollywood Reporter. With Allen he was in his first script, How are you, Pussycat? (1965), as a voice in his directorial debut with Lily, the tigress (1966) and was the protagonist of the comedies that came later: Take the money and run (1969), Bananas (1971) y Everything you always wanted to know about sex but were never afraid to ask (1972), where he parodied the characters of Monica Vitti, the diva of Italian cinema.
His rise to fame in his country, however, came with his role in the satirical series Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman (1976), produced and developed by Norman Lear: a parody of soap operas that criticized American consumerism and became a phenomenon in that country. His work on it earned him an Emmy nomination the year it was released.
Lasser was born in Manhattan, New York, on April 11, 1939. She was the only child of Sol Jay Lasser, a tax accountant and writer, and Paula Lasser, a designer. He spent his childhood in the Bronx and began studying Political Science at Brandeis University in Massachusetts, where he participated in some musical productions. But he left it in his senior year to start taking acting classes with the famous actor Sanford Meisner.
Her career on screen began appearing in television advertisements with which she became the first actress to win a Clio award, the highest award in the advertising industry. She then came to public attention in 1962 when she was chosen to replace Barbra Streisand in the musical comedy I Can Get It for You Wholesale on Broadway. That same year he debuted on television in The Laughmakersa pilot episode that Woody Allen wrote, which was never made into a series, but aired as a special.
She began dating the filmmaker during those years and married in 1966. “When we met, I was going out with a friend of his. It was one of those situations in which you think: ‘Well, if you think you’re complicated, you should meet so-and-so’. And it was Woody,” the actress once said in a 2013 interview in The Toast. Allen was married to his first wife, Harlene Rosen.
In the mockumentary Take the money and runshe played the neighbor of a bank robber, impressed by him. In political satire Bananaswas the progressive girlfriend of the clumsy activist protagonist. And the following year, in Everything you always wanted to know about sex but were never afraid to askplayed a woman who could only reach orgasm in public. She divorced the filmmaker in 1970, only three years after getting married, although in 1972 she worked with him again on the short film Men of crisis: The Harvey Wallinger storywhich served as a criticism of Richard Nixon’s Government. She played the protagonist’s ex.
He also participated in Memories (1980), by Allen himself, in a small cameo; in strange friendship (1971), de Otto Preminger; Crime wave, laughter wave (1985), by Sam Raimi; in Todd Solondz’s film, Happiness (1998); and in Requiem for a dream (2000), by Darren Aronofsky. One of his last works was for the successful HBO series Girls, where he appeared in three episodes.