Grace Zabriskie (born Caplinger; born May 17, 1941) is an American actress. She is best known for her roles as Sarah Palmer in Twin Peaks (1990–1991; 2017) and its film prequel Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me (1992) and Lois Henrickson in Big Love (2006–2011). She is also known for appearing in two other films of Twin Peaks director David Lynch, as Juana Durango in Wild at Heart (1990) and Visitor #1 in Inland Empire (2006), and for her recurring role as Mrs. Ross on Seinfeld (1992, 1996–1998).
Other notable film credits include An Officer and a Gentleman (1982), Drugstore Cowboy (1989), Child's Play 2 (1990), My Own Private Idaho (1991), FernGully: The Last Rainforest (1992), Armageddon (1998), The Grudge (2004), and My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done? (2009).
Early life Zabriskie was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, the daughter of Marion Grace (née Zabriskie), of Wyckoff, New Jersey, and Roger Thomas "Tom" Caplinger. Her mother had distant Polish and Dutch ancestry, and was a relative of James Zabriskie, a 19th-century railroad industrialist and early pioneer of California.Wanda Tomczykowska. The Silent Heroes: Polish Contributions to California. Polish Arts and Culture Foundation, 1994 Zabriskie has said that her family was visited by Tennessee Williams, Gore Vidal and Truman Capote during her childhood. Her father owned the famous French quarter gay bar Cafe Lafitte in Exile.
In the early 1960s, Zabriskie was among a circle of the New Orleans friends of author and Discordianism co-founder Kerry Thornley. At one point, Thornley began work on a novel about her titled Can Grace Come Out and Play? Thornley later claimed to have had an "eight-year-long, off-again-on-again, affair/friendship/rivalry/ego-game/karmic unraveling" with her, but Zabriskie described it as "four and a half minutes in bed" after a discussion on the exclusion of sex from their friendship—shared with Zabriskie's then-husband Rob—as being "irrational".
Her sister, Lane Caplinger, worked as a typist in New Orleans District Attorney Jim Garrison's office. Caplinger is reputed to have covertly produced all five copies of the first edition of the Principia Discordia in 1965.
Career After making her major film debut in Norma Rae, Zabriskie went on to appear in dozens of other works, including the 1981 Roger Corman horror film Galaxy of Terror and the 1981 miniseries adaptation of John Steinbeck's East of Eden. She played the nanny in The Private Eyes, Debra Winger's mother in An Officer and a Gentleman, Heather Langenkamp's mother in Nickel Mountain, and Paul Le Mat's mother in The Burning Bed (starring Farrah Fawcett). She had a small but crucial part in the fifth season finale of Knots Landing. In 1988, she played Richard Mulligan's love interest "Eva Barrett" on the hit NBC sitcom Empty Nest.
She appeared in 1989's Drugstore Cowboy and as the ill-fated orphanage owner Grace Poole in Child's Play 2. Other movies include the 1991 film adaptation Fried Green Tomatoes and Philip Ridley's 1995 film The Passion of Darkly Noon.
Zabriskie is perhaps most familiar for her television work. After a recurring role on the soap opera Santa Barbara, she appeared on David Lynch's Twin Peaks and its spin-off film, Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me as Sarah Palmer, the eerily psychic mother of the doomed Laura Palmer.
Zabriskie also appeared in Lynch's Wild at Heart—notably as the twin sister of a character played by Isabella Rossellini, an actress eleven years her junior. David Lynch later cast her as a sinister Polish neighbor in Inland Empire in 2006.
Zabriskie may best be remembered as Mrs. Ross, a recurring character on the sitcom Seinfeld. She played the mother of another doomed daughter, Susan Ross—George Costanza's fiancée—who died after licking cheap envelope adhesive when mailing out her wedding invitations. Zabriskie's character's husband on the series, who also appeared in a recurring role, was played by her former Twin Peaks co-star, Warren Frost.
She also made a brief but memorable appearance in the episode "S'ain't Valentine's" on the CBS sitcom The King of Queens, as the emotionally disturbed and alcoholic mother of Spence Olchin (played by Patton Oswalt). While the character Veronica Olchin would reappear throughout the series, Zabriskie would not portray her again, having been replaced by Anne Meara. She also appeared twice in Aaron Spelling's series Charmed as "The Crone".
She has worked in radio, collaborating with radio dramatist/monologist Joe Frank several times. In a 1989 episode of Frank's show, "Home", she talks at length about her childhood in New Orleans, with a focus on her father.
Zabriskie appeared in the 2004 American remake of The Grudge, in which she played a senile elderly woman sensitive to the paranormal occurrences in her home.
From 2006 to 2011, she played "Lois Henrickson" on the hit HBO series Big Love. The drama series seriously explored the issue of polygamy.Sellers, John. "The Zabriskie Principle: Why the Big Love Finale Wasn't Really a Shocker", The Wrap, March 21, 2011.
In 2013, she played "Mama Dips" on The Killing.
In 2015, she played "Miss Monassian" on the hit Showtime series Ray Donovan. Then in 2016, she played "Mildred" on Outcast.
In 2017, she reprised her role as Sarah Palmer on the Showtime revival of Twin Peaks. Also in 2017, she played the role of "Mrs. Baković" on the Netflix series Santa Clarita Diet.
In 2018, she played "Enid" on the hit HBO series Ballers, opposite Dwayne Johnson. Also in 2018, she played "John's grandmother" on The Alienist.
In 2020, she starred in the music video for Grouplove's "Youth", directed by Christopher Blauvelt.
In 2022, she portrayed "Camille D'Amato" in the Hulu limited series Mike, opposite Trevante Rhodes as Mike Tyson.
Personal life In her early 20s, Zabriskie "had an intense friendship” with Kerry Wendell Thornley; this friendship was "centered around an intense shared love for and fascination with the philosophy of Ayn Rand". Although Thornley claimed that he and Zabriskie had an affair that lasted over a decade, Zabriskie denies this and states that their friendship ended due to Thornley's belief that she was involved in a conspiracy.
In May 1963, she married John Dunham MacEachron. Zabriskie has two daughters: Helen, who became an actress, and Marion Lane, a painter. In 1993, Helen died of Hodgkin's disease. Marion died in 2019, aged 56, of cancer. In 2006, she told the Los Angeles Times, "You can make your life an absolute bummer out of the inevitability of death. Or you can decide to absorb this blow and figure out a way to exist with as much energy and creativity and lack of fear as you can".
Filmography +Film Year Title Role Notes1978They Went That-A-Way & That-A-WayLem's Wife1979Norma RaeLinette Odum1980The Private EyesNanny1981Galaxy of TerrorCaptain Trantor1982An Officer and a GentlemanEsther Pokrifki1984Nickel MountainEllie Wells1984Body RockChilly's Mother1986Mama1987RampageNaomi Reece1987Leonard Part 6Jefferson1988Sheryl1989Drugstore CowboyBob's Mother1990MegavilleMrs. Jessica Palinov1990Wild at HeartJuana Durango1990Child's Play 2Grace Poole1991AmbitionMrs. Wendy Merrick1991Servants of TwilightGrace Spivey1991My Own Private IdahoAlena1991Fried Green TomatoesEva Bates1992Pat1992FernGully: The Last RainforestMagi Lune (voice)1992Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with MeSarah Palmer1992Chain of DesireLinda Bailey1993Stone SoupOlympia1993Even Cowgirls Get the BluesMrs. Maria Hankshaw1994LouiseShort film1994Gloria Pierce1994Drop ZoneWinona1995Desert WindsJackie's Mother1995Roxy1996Ruby1996Bastard Out of CarolinaGranny1997SeedMother's VoiceShort film1997Psycho SushiGreat Aunt1997George B.The Mother1997Dead Men Can't DanceBrig. Gen. Burke1997Annie's GardenMrs. Felicity Barnes1997SparklerSherri1998ArmageddonDottie1998Dante's ViewGeraldine1999TrashMrs. Wendy DeMarie1999A Texas FuneralMurtis1999Me and WillEdith2000Home the Horror StoryGrace Parkinson2000OlgaShort film2000Puppy LoveJeanette FoleyShort film2000Gone in 60 SecondsHelen Raines2001They CrawlMrs. Gage2002R.S.V.P.Mary Franklin2002No Good DeedMrs. Karen Quarre2003AllisonShort film2004Mrs. Stella Allison2004ChrystalGladys2004Emma Williams2004Sabine and the Two-Headed BabySabineShort film2006Inland EmpireVisitor #12007CarelessAdrienne2007License to WedGrandma Jones2007Alternate EndingsMomShort film2008Madam2009Bob FunkMrs. June Funk2009My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done?Mrs. Joan McCullum2013Wrong CopsDonna2013Trancers: City of Lost AngelsThe WardenShort film (shot in 1988)2014Blind MaliceNanna2014Twin Peaks: The Missing PiecesSarah PalmerArchived footage2014The JudgeMrs. Anita Blackwell2014The Makings of YouMargareta.k.a. Never My Love2015Only ChildDelores2015Christmas at RosemontJosephine2019PolaroidLena Sable2020The Grudge: The Untold ChapterEmma WilliamsArchived footage2021CryptozooJoan (voice) 2024 MaXXXine Psychic Deleted scene2025 Bad Painter Mother