She Had One of the Most Infamous SNL Hosting Gigs

Louise Lasser, whose off-kilter housewife in Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman made her a 1970s TV icon, died Monday at her Manhattan home at 87, the New York Times reports. A New York City native, Lasser first broke through in Woody Allen's early films—including Take the Money and Run and Bananas—deploying a flat, deadpan delivery that also made her a go-to face in commercials, notes Deadline. She and Allen married in 1966 before splitting four years later. For Lasser, though, stardom didn't fully hit until Norman Lear cast her as Mary Hartman in 1976.

That syndicated, five-nights-a-week parody-soap followed a frazzled Ohio homemaker whose life mixed detergent worries with mass murder down the block, and it turned Lasser into the show's center over 325 episodes. (See a clip here.) Offscreen, she drew headlines for a 1976 cocaine arrest and a notoriously rocky Saturday Night Live hosting gig later that same year, on the final show of the first season. "Her behavior was so erratic, reportedly fueled by a substance-abuse problem, she became the first performer banned by producer Lorne Michaels from ever hosting again," per the Hollywood Reporter. The show has rarely, if ever, been shown in reruns.

Lasser kept working in smaller roles—on Taxi, St. Elsewhere, CSI, and in films like Happiness, and Requiem for a Dream—while building a reputation as an acting teacher. She more recently appeared on HBO's Girls as a once-overlooked artist rediscovered by younger fans. Lasser, who died of natural causes, is survived by her longtime partner, Michael Citriniti.