Actor / Director Profile

Laurie Bird was a cute and charming actress who appeared in only three pictures during her regrettably short-lived career. Bird was born on September 26, 1953 in Long Island, New York. Laurie was working as a model when she was chosen by director Monte Hellman from nearly 500 women to portray the Girl in "Two-Lane Blacktop." Bird gave a fine and impressively natural performance in her film debut as the chatty and rootless hippie wanderer the Girl in Hellman's extraordinary road movie masterpiece. She was likewise excellent as Harry Dean Stanton's snippy young wife Dody Burke White in Hellman's bleakly fascinating character study "Cockfighter." Following her small role as Paul Simon's L.A. girlfriend in Woody Allen's "Annie Hall," Laurie quit acting altogether and became a photographer. Bird committed suicide in boyfriend Art Garfunkel's Manhattan penthouse at the tragically young age of 25 on June 15, 1979. Garfunkel dedicated his album "Scissors Cut" to Laurie. The album features a partial photograph of Laurie Bird on its back cover.