Laurie Bird

Laurie Bird
Born	(1953-09-26)September 26, 1953
Died	June 15, 1979(1979-06-15) (aged 25) New York City, New York
Other names	Lauri Bird
Occupation(s)	Film actor, photographer

Laurie Bird (September 26, 1953 – June 15, 1979) was an American actress and photographer.

Life and career

Bird's mother died when she was three. Her father, an electrical engineer, was a former sailor in the United States Navy, and worked long hours. Although she had two brothers, she more or less raised herself.

Described by Hollywood columnist Dick Kleiner as "look[ing] like an innocent Hayley Mills", Bird appeared in just three films: Two-Lane Blacktop (1971), Cockfighter (1974), and a small role in Annie Hall (1977). (Archival footage of the actress in Two-Lane Blacktop is featured in the 2006 documentary Wanderlust.) Bird was the still photographer on Cockfighter, and shot the cover photo for Art Garfunkel's 1977 album Watermark. She was romantically involved with her Blacktop and Cockfighter director Monte Hellman, and later with Garfunkel for several years.

In 1979 Bird committed suicide by taking an overdose of Valium in the apartment she shared with Garfunkel in New York. At Bird's funeral, her father revealed that her mother's death, previously reported as being from ovarian cancer, was also a suicide. Garfunkel referred to his relationship with Bird in the liner notes of his 1988 album Lefty.

Tim Kinsella's novel Let Go and Go On and On (2014) is subtitled "Based on the roles of Laurie Bird." In the foreword he writes, "This book by no means intends to convey any truth beyond one possible solution to the puzzles of her life and work."

External links

• Laurie Bird at IMDb
• Laurie Bird at AllMovie