Piper Laurie will be celebrity guest at this year's Port Townsend Film Festival
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Only three people guessed the guest's identity in an online contest for the Sept. 26-28 festival, said Peter Simpson, the festival's artistic director.
A winner will be randomly drawn from those three names, and announced later this week, he said.
The winner will have the opportunity to meet the actress during the festival.
Laurie, 76, joins the list of Hollywood stars who have appeared at the festival that celebrates great films and filmmakers.
Previous guests have included — in order of appearance — Tony Curtis, Eva Marie Saint, Patricia Neal, Shirley Knight, Peter Fonda, Jane Powell and Dickie Moore, Debra Winger and Arliss Howard, Malcolm McDowell and Elliott Gould.
Laurie is a replacement for the original star — believed to be Cloris Leachman — who backed out of the festival because of a new television series.
This year's "Guess the Guest" contest offered only two clues to the celebrity's identity, rather than the usual three. The contest, which began in June, was truncated because of the switch.
Known as Rosie
Known as Rosie to her friends, Laurie's career began in 1950.
Cleopatra, Lady MacBeth, and Magda Goebbels are three of her portrayals of infamous women.
Others are the psychotic mother in "Carrie," the lonely alcoholic wife in the original television production of "The Days of Wine and Roses," and the transvestite Mr. Tojamura — formerly Catherine Martell — in television's "Twin Peaks."
Early roles at Universal included Persian princesses, 1920s flappers, and western waifs-with-a-past.
She earned Oscar nominations for her parts in "The Hustler," 1961; "Carrie," 1976; and "Children of a Lesser God," 1986.
Though the Oscar went to others, she earned a Golden Globe for "Twin Peaks" in 1990, and an Emmy for "Promise " in 1986.
"Carrie" and "The Hustler"—will screen at the festival, Simpson said.
Appearances
After the screening of "The Hustler," Laurie will be interviewed on stage by Robert Osborne, Turner Classic Movies host.
She will make other appearances throughout the weekend, meeting with Port Townsend High School drama and video class students, cut the opening ribbon to launch the festival on Sept. 26, gather privately with more than 40 other filmmakers attending the event, join festival supporters in a reception in her honor, and assist with the awards ceremony on Sept. 28.
The festival will begin with the ribbon cutting ceremony and a barbecued salmon feast on Taylor Street between Washington and Water Streets at 4:30 p.m. Sept. 26.
Screenings will begin at six venues at 6 p.m. By the evening of Sept. 28, more than 60 films will have been seen by an expected audience of more than 6,500.
For ticket and pass information, see www.ptfilmfest.com or phone 360-379-1333.
Last modified: August 19. 2008 9:00PM