Louise Lasser

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Louise Lasser (born April 11, 1939) is an American actress. She is known for her portrayal of the title character on the soap opera parody Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman. She was married to Woody Allen and appeared in several of his films. After hosting a somewhat disappointing episode of Saturday Night Live, she was banned from performing on the show.

[edit] Life and work

Lasser was born in New York City, New York to a Jewish family; her father, Sol Lasser, was a well-known writer of an annual income tax guide. Lasser studied political science at Brandeis University.

Lasser was married to Woody Allen in the 1960s, appearing in his films Take the Money and Run, Bananas, and Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex (But Were Afraid to Ask), as well as being one of the dubbed voices for his spy spoof What's Up Tiger Lily?

Louise Lasser became a household name for starring as the neurotic, unhappy housewife Mary Hartman on the outrageous soap opera parody Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman which aired 5 nights a week in 1976-1977.

Lasser also wrote the telemovie Just Me and You (1978), starring in it alongside Charles Grodin. Lasser had a recurring role as Alex's ex-wife on the hit series Taxi (TV series). She also starred in the 1981-82 season of the TV series It's a Living.

In 2000, Louise Lasser appeared on a panel with her former cast members of Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman at the Museum of Television and Radio in Beverly Hills (taped for the museum archives).

Her most recent roles of note was in the 1999 film, Mystery Men, where she played the mother of Hank Azaria's character. The year before this she played Mona, the mother of the three main female characters, in Todd Solondz's film Happiness. Lasser also had a role in the film Requiem for a Dream and co-starred with Renee Taylor in National Lampoon's Golddiggers.

[edit] Saturday Night Live

Louise was the first host to be banned from performing on Saturday Night Live again, after she hosted at the end of the first season on July 24, 1976. Lasser was said to be going through personal problems at the time and was reportedly nearly incoherent throughout the broadcast. Lasser refused to do any skits (except ones where she was by herself or with Chevy Chase). Louise played up her popular "Mary Hartman" character's neurotic schtick in an opening bit where she has a "breakdown" during the opening monologue, runs and locks herself in her dressing room and is coaxed out by the cast (including "Land Shark").

At one point before the show aired, Chase planned to play all of Lasser's parts in a Mary Hartman wig, with Dan Aykroyd taking Chase's parts. This episode was such a disappointment to producer Lorne Michaels that it was also barred from syndication until 2002, when it appeared as a one-hour syndicated episode on E!. It also appears on the Complete First Season DVD boxset in its unedited, as-broadcast form.