Louise Lasser, the deadpan comedic actress who began her screen career in Woody Allen movies and became a star as the wrenchingly sympathetic title character of \u201cMary Hartman, Mary Hartman,\u201d Norman Lear\u2019s off-center 1970s comedy, died on Monday at her home in Manhattan. She was 87.<\/p>\n
Her death was confirmed by Susan Charlotte, a friend.<\/p>\n
\u201cMary Hartman, Mary Hartman\u201d was a phenomenon, a syndicated parody of midcentury soap operas that ran Mondays through Fridays after the late news in most major markets. It followed a befuddled Ohio housewife as she tried to hold herself together amid mass murders, sex scandals and everyday consumer anxieties. She wore pigtails, puffed sleeves and gingham (while real American women were in Dorothy Hamill bobs and designer denim); fretted about waxy yellow buildup on her kitchen floor; and was emotionally abused by her conveniently impotent blue-collar husband (Greg Mullavey).<\/p>\n
\u201cShe\u2019s a survivor,\u201d Ms. Lasser said of her put-upon character in a 1976 interview<\/a> with The New York Times. \u201cBut that makes me sad. Because she\u2019s a survivor in a world I wonder if it\u2019s worth surviving in.\u201d (The character did eventually have a nervous breakdown.)<\/p>\n Articles about the series proliferated, and Ms. Lasser \u2014 somehow simultaneously neurotic and girlish \u2014 appeared on the covers of major magazines, including People, Newsweek, Ms. and Rolling Stone. The show ran only a year and a half, from January 1976 to July 1977, but that was 325 episodes.<\/p>\n Louise Lasser was born in Manhattan on April 11, 1939, the only child of Sol Jay Lasser, a tax accountant and author, and Paula (Eisenreich) Lasser, a designer. (Louise had no middle name but later chose one: Jane.) <\/p>\n She spent her childhood in the Bronx, where she attended Fieldston, the prestigious private school. At Brandeis University, she majored in political science but also appeared in shows that friends wrote. She dropped out during her senior year and began acting lessons with Sanford Meisner.<\/p>\n Living with her parents in Manhattan, she worked in theater and cabaret, and appeared in television commercials, notably for NyQuil and Excedrin. She was the first actress to win a Clio Award, the advertising industry\u2019s highest honor. In 1962 she understudied a rising star, the 20-year-old Barbra Streisand, in the Broadway musical \u201cI Can Get It for You Wholesale<\/a>,\u201d and briefly took over the role when Ms. Streisand left.<\/p>\n She met Woody Allen on a double date \u2014 he was with the other woman \u2014 and made her screen debut in \u201cThe Laughmakers,\u201d a 1962 pilot he wrote. Set at a comedy club, it never became a series but was broadcast as a special. The two began dating and married in 1966.<\/p>\n After an uncredited part as a masseuse in the Peter Sellers comedy \u201cWhat\u2019s New Pussycat?\u201d (1965), written by Mr. Allen, and a voice-over in \u201cWhat\u2019s Up, Tiger Lily?\u201d (1966), Mr. Allen\u2019s directorial debut, Ms. Lasser had full-fledged roles \u2014 with character names and screen time \u2014 in Mr. Allen\u2019s next three auteur efforts, which he wrote, directed and starred in.<\/p>\n In \u201cTake the Money and Run\u201d (1969), she was a bank robber\u2019s neighbor, impressed by his fame. In \u201cBananas<\/a>\u201d (1971), she was the hero\u2019s activist girlfriend who drops him because he shows no political leadership skills. The next year, in \u201cEverything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex (But Were Afraid to Ask),\u201d she played a woman who could achieve orgasm only in public. In the middle of all that filmmaking, in 1970, the Allens divorced.<\/p>\n Ms. Lasser spent a few years doing guest roles on sitcoms (\u201cThe Mary Tyler Moore Show,\u201d \u201cThe Bob Newhart Show\u201d) and drama series (\u201cMedical Center,\u201d \u201cMcCloud\u201d) and television movies like \u201cCoffee, Tea or Me?\u201d (1973), a comedy about a flight attendant. Then Mr. Lear called.<\/p>\n Critics, including John J. O\u2019Connor of The Times, were initially skeptical of \u201cMary Hartman.\u201d But Mr. O\u2019Connor admitted, in a January 1976 preview article, that Ms. Lasser had \u201can uncanny ability to touch as well as tickle<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n In May that year, Ms. Lasser was charged with cocaine possession<\/a> in a highly publicized case that began at an antiques store where she was shopping. In her tote bag, police officers found 80 milligrams of the drug, which she always contended was a fan\u2019s gift she had forgotten about. She received six months\u2019 probation on the condition that she continue seeing her psychiatrist.<\/p>\n That July, when she hosted \u201cSaturday Night Live,\u201d drugs and breakdowns were the comic topics. Viewers had trouble telling whether some skits were scripted or were showing a desperate performer crumbling in front of a nationwide audience. The episode was long kept out of reruns.<\/p>\n Ms. Lasser stayed busy, writing and starring with Charles Grodin in \u201cJust Me and You<\/a>\u201d (1978), a television movie about two strangers driving cross-country, and doing one season (1981-82) of \u201cIt\u2019s a Living,\u201d a sitcom about waitresses.<\/p>\n She appeared in Mr. Allen\u2019s \u201cStardust Memories\u201d (1980), in a cameo as his secretary; Todd Solondz\u2019s film \u201cHappiness\u201d (1998), for which the ensemble cast won a National Board of Review award; and Darren Aronofsky\u2019s \u201cRequiem for a Dream\u201d (2000). And she taught acting in New York.<\/p>\n She appeared in three episodes of HBO\u2019s \u201cGirls\u201d (2014-15), playing an elderly artist who has been rediscovered. But she always said her favorite project was a part in \u201cThe Lie,\u201d a 1971 BBC movie written by Ingmar Bergman. Its American broadcast won three Emmys.<\/p>\n She is survived by her longtime partner, Michael Citriniti.<\/p>\n The \u201cMary Hartman\u201d questions never ended. Asked in 2013 if there had been a withdrawal period after the show\u2019s end, Ms. Lasser told Interview magazine<\/a>, \u201cI\u2019m still withdrawing.\u201d<\/p>\n