Person Biography:
Lorna Thayer was a talented character actress who left an indelible mark on the Hollywood film industry. Born Lorna Patricia Casey on March 10, 1919, in Boston, she was the daughter of actress Louise Gibney. In 1923, her mother brought the family to California to escape the harsh winters, settling in Venice Beach and eventually securing a permanent residence in Hollywood.
Lorna began her acting career in the early 1950s, appearing in a handful of films, including "The Lusty Men" (1952),"Women's Prison" (1955),"The Beast with a Million Eyes" (1955),"I Want to Live!" (1958),and "Freckles" (1960). She also made her Broadway debut in "Comes a Day" in 1958 and returned six years later with a role in "Never Live Over a Pretzel Factory".
A fixture on both the New York and Los Angeles stages, Lorna's steady work on television throughout the 1950s and 1960s was interrupted by a slump, but her celebrated scene with Jack Nicholson in "Five Easy Pieces" (1970) triggered a resurgence of character film work. She went on to appear in films such as "Cisco Pike" (1971),"The Dion Brothers" (1974),"Buddy Buddy" (1981),and "Nothing in Common" (1986),as well as assorted TV mini-movies.
Lorna was married twice, first to actor George N. Neise and then to Arthur Dowling, with whom she had two daughters, Adrienne and Nikki. She was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease five years before her death in 2005 at the age of 85, and was living at the Motion Picture and Television Fund retirement establishment in Woodland Hills, California at the time of her passing.
