Grace Zabriskie filmography and biography
Date of birth: 17 May 1941, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA
Grace Zabriskie biography
"Amazing Grace" Zabriskie was born in New Orleans, Louisiana. She wrote
her own original poetry, then performed at coffee shops and various
artist hangouts in Atlanta. She was also a wonderful silk-screen
printmaker. She moved to Hollywood and made her acting debut in
Norma Rae. She went on to appear in over 80 movies. She
gave an acclaimed performance as Mrs. Ames in
East of Eden, the adaptation of John Steinbeck's
novel. Grace appeared in the highly acclaimed and Oscar-nominated
An Officer and a Gentleman and
The Big Easy, set in her beloved New Orleans. She worked
with producer and director David Lynch (I), and was a series
regular in the cult favorite Twin Peaks as Sarah
Palmer, the part with which she is most often identified. She also
appeared in Lynch's Wild at Heart the same year. She has
played a wide variety of roles, and gave a terrific performance in the
Oscar-nominated Fried Green Tomatoes and showed great
character depth as the lonely and despondent widow in
The Passion of Darkly Noon.
Grace's more recent roles were in the zany Sparkler and in
the big-name feature No Good Deed, based on a short story
by Dashiell Hammett. A woman of many talents, she is currently
creating her own original paintings, unique sculptures and woodwork art
that can be viewed in Los Angeles galleries.
Her visual arts, which include creating lamps or "sculptures with light"
as she calls them, are available from the L.A.-based ArtHaus.
Grace Zabriskie trivia
- Grace and her daughter Marion Lane (II) hand craft fine art boxes
for "ArtHaus" a Los Angeles gallery.
- Grew up in the French Quarter of New Orleans where her father started
Lafitte's, a well-known café and bar on Bourbon Street, frequented by
such prolific personalities as Tennessee Williams,
Gore Vidal and Truman Capote.
- All four of her grandparents were teachers, and Grace herself taught at
an academy for black teen dropouts for a time.
- Has two daughters. One of them, Marion Lane (II), is a painter
who works often in collaboration with her mother.
Grace Zabriskie quotes
- I do less waiting by the phone than anyone I know in the business. I
don't wait for a job. I just go on to my own work. Some people are
suspicious of others who have more than one talent. I've had poets tell
me to my face that an actress can't be a poet.
- [Recollecting working on the 1981 film "Galaxy of Terror"] We all said
during the making of it that it was a film about corridors and
tentacles.
- [Talking about her experience filming "Galaxy of Terror" in 1981] Nobody
walked in and nominated themselves cast asshole, as is often the case.
Everybody got along pretty well.