CDA: Louise Lasser

I just read in the NY Times about the death of Louise Lasser (age 87). I just read her Times obit and what a treasure trove of useful information! It was no surprise that she went to a private school in the Bronx and then Brandeis but I was not expecting to read that she was Barbra Streisand's understudy as Miss Marmelstein in I Can Get It For You Wholesale, the show that catapulted Streisand into semi-stardom.

She met Woody Allen on a double date (she was with the other guy) and they married in 1966. She was in many of his early movies, most memorably in Everything You Always Wanted To Know About Sex (But Were Afraid To Ask) as a woman who can only achieve orgasm while having sex in public. They divorced during the making of that movie, in 1970.

She will be best remembered as the title character on the syndicated soap opera satire Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman. I had fond memories of that show and bought the box set (all 325 episodes) when Norman Lear died. It wasn't streaming anywhere and I bought a used set for only $50. I watched about 20 or 30 episodes and while I found it fascinating I didn't exactly find it engrossing. It has a beloved spot on the shelf in my kitchen, next to the cookbooks and sitting atop the autobiography of La Streisand, My Name Is Barbra. I was unaware of the Lasser/Streisand connection until today.

Here she is in a memorable scene from the TV show's pilot episode. Her blank yet engaging manner is fascinating. It reminds me of Peter Sellers's character in Being There.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bhlZdP1uKyc