I Know Catherine, the Log Lady—Obviously from Twin Peaks

She was the Oracle of Twin Peaks. The show wouldn’t be the same without her or David Lynch. Sadly and strangely, the 2015 return almost happened without either of them. Wisely, Showtime came to their senses and brought Lynch back on-board after previously deciding to proceed without him. There is no way Lynch would have left out his old friend Catherine Coulson, a.k.a. the Log Lady, but accommodations had to be made for her failing health. Friends and fellow cast-members pay tribute to Coulson in Richard Green’s documentary, I Know Catherine, the Log Lady, which has several special screenings starting today in New York.

Eraserhead started her long, close association with Lynch, even though her scenes were cut from the film. Instead, she played key roles behind the camera, which turned into an unlikely career for the academically trained thesp, who notably served as Eraserhead cinematographer Frederick Elmes’ focus puller on Star Trek 2: The Wrath of Khan.

Coulson also happened to be married to Jack Nance, the lead on Eraserhead, but that marriage would not last. Perhaps ill-advisedly, Green (who played the Magician in Mulholland Drive) spends a lot of time on Coulson’s hippy early days in the 1960s, perhaps not realizing the extent to which he alienates the children of Vietnam vets and Vietnamese “Boat People” refugees, but the Twin Peaks sequences are redemptive.

There is indeed extensive footage of Lynch, Kyle MacLachlan, and Michael Horse. The latter might not have had the most PR at the height of the show’s success, his character had a special rapport with the Log Lady, so his presence is quite fitting. However, the three cast-members who graced the cover of Rolling Stone are absent and unaccounted for.

Of course, Nance (Pete Martell in Twin Peaks) only appears in archival footage, since he passed away in 1996. Green also documented his life in the film I Don’t Know Jack. Regardless, colleagues and fans all explain how Coulson was the glue that held the Twin Peaks community together during the wilderness years. Consequently, even casual fans will get choked up when the second unit crew describes Coulson’s grit and grace filming her scenes for the revival series, shortly before her death.

Green’s documentary never sets out to present a full-blown analysis of Twin Peaks, but it still helps explain the show’s artistic success and longevity. Coulson definitely played a significant role. There is something shamanistic about the Log Lady that resonates on a deep level. It is also darned difficult to imitate, although many have tried. Ironically, Twin Peaks might be the most ripped-off show of the 1990s, even though it was canceled after two seasons.

You could never set out to make a Log Lady go viral (by 1990’s standards), but Coulson did so seemingly effortlessly. Sadly, she and Nance are not the only cast-members who left us. Fans also mourned Miguel Ferrer, Kenneth Welsh, Frank Silva, Michael Parks, Piper Laurie, Dan O’Herlihy, and James Booth. Of course, the recent death of Lynch (who is one of the film’s primary voices) makes it especially poignant for fans. Recommended for the fanbase and Coulson’s other admirers (probably for her work with the Oregon Shakespeare Festival’s company), I Know Catherine screens in New York tonight (5/1) and Sunday (5/4) at the IFC Center and Saturday (5/3) at the New Plaza Theater.