Laurie Bird

Laurie Bird
Born	(1952-09-26)September 26, 1952 Glen Cove, Nassau County, New York
Died	Manhattan, New York City, New York
Burial place	Flushing Cemetery, Queens, New York City, New York
Other names	Lauri Bird
Occupation	Film actor, photographer

Laurie Bird (September 26, 1952 – June 15, 1979) was an American film 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.

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 Two-Lane Blacktop she played "The Girl." In 2012, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress.

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."

Credits

Title	Year	Role	Director(s)	Notes	Ref(s)
Two-Lane Blacktop	1971	The Girl	Monte Hellman	also uncredited performer: "Stealin'", "Satisfaction"
Cockfighter	1974	Dody White	Monte Hellman	Also credited as still photographer
Annie Hall	1977	Tony Lacey's Girlfriend	Woody Allen	Credited as Lauri Bird

External links

• Laurie Bird at the Internet Movie Database
• Laurie Bird at AllMovie