Catherine E. Coulson
Catherine E. Coulson is an American stage and screen actress who worked behind the scenes on various studio features, magazine shows and independent films as well as acting in theater and film since the age of 15. She is best known for her role as the Log Lady in the David Lynch TV series Twin Peaks.
Coulson met Lynch in the 1970s and performed various behind the scenes functions during the four year filming of his low budget classic Eraserhead (1977). She also appeared in Lynch's short film The Amputee (1974), in which she played a woman with no legs. During the filming of Eraserhead, Lynch told Coulson that he had an image in his head of her holding a large log. Fifteen years later, he created such a role for her in Twin Peaks, on which she guest starred for 12 episodes through seasons 1 and 2. Coulson went on to reprise her role in the film prequel, Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me, and in Dual Spires (2010), an episode of Psych.[1]
Coulson was married to actor Jack Nance (who played Henry Spencer in Eraserhead, and Pete Martell in the Twin Peaks saga) in 1968, but they divorced in 1976.
Coulson is now primarily a theatre actor and has worked with the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland, Oregon for the last two decades where she continues to be part of the acting company. She appears in 'Calvin Marshall' directed by Gary Lundgren. Lundgren was a huge fan of Twin Peaks, and even created a short version while at First Baptist San Mateo in the early '90s. She recently played Susie for Lundgren in "Redwood Highway" with Shirley Knight and, Tom Skerritt and James LeGros. She is in the second season of PORTLANDIA.
Theatre
Some of her Oregon Shakespeare Festival roles
- Ms. Quickly in The Very Merry Wives of Windsor, Iowa
- Mattie Fae in August, Osage County
- Big Mama in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
- Mrs. Gottlieb in Dead Man's Cell Phone
- Mrs. Sommes in Our Town
- Mrs. Van Daan in The Diary of Anne Frank
- Lucetta in The Two Gentlemen of Verona
- Catherine in By the Waters of Babylon
- Rose Schell in The Visit
- Elaine, Hoola-Hoop, et al. in Continental Divide
- Snug in A Midsummer Night's Dream
- Alice in Handler
- Emilia in The Winter's Tale
- Gertie in Fuddy Meers
- Mistress Quickly in The Merry Wives of Windsor
- E.M. Ashford in Wit
- Player Queen in Hamlet
- Mrs. Morton in Chicago
- Ursula in Much Ado about Nothing
- Clara Stepaneck in the OSF and Kennedy Center productions of The Magic Fire
- Shulamis in Vilna's Got a Golem
- Maryina in Uncle Vanya
- Marina in Pentecost
- Virginia in Three Viewings
- Duchess of York in Richard II
- The Mother-in-Law in Blood Wedding
- Penny in You Can't Take It with You
- Evelyn in Tales of the Lost Formicans
Other theatrical roles
- Hilda in Wintertime, The Elephant Man (San Jose Repertory Theatre)
- Major Barbara (Mark Taper Forum, Los Angeles)
- Anna in Old Times (Encore Theatre, Los Angeles)
- Polly Peachum in The Threepenny Opera (New Committee Theater, San Francisco)
- The Devils (Circle Theatre, San Francisco)
- The Balcony, Muzeeka, Tom Paine (Circus Theatre, San Francisco)
TV and film roles
- The Log Lady in Twin Peaks and in Psych[1]
- Another You, Femme Fatale, Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me, The Four Diamonds
- Host of Twin Peaks for the Bravo Network
- Guest roles in numerous Movies of the Week