(Interview orginally appeared on Bravotv.com in 1993 just before the re-airing of Twin Peaks with Log Lady intros)

Catherine Coulson... The Woman Behind the Log

Catherine Coulson lives a seemingly normal life. She is an actor, a mother, and the wife of a rabbi living in a small town in the Pacific Northwest. But all is not as it seems. She keeps a log locked up in a temperature controlled vault. And she just....knows things. She can see the forest and the trees. She is, of course, the woman who won cult status as “The Log Lady” in David Lynch's acclaimed television series, TWIN PEAKS. Coulson brought both humor and soothsaying sincerity to Twin Peaks' most cryptic (and cranky) resident. The series will air in its entirety on Bravo, beginning June 6, with special introductions by The Log Lady, written and directed by David Lynch. 

We recently caught up with Coulson in Ashland, OR, where she is currently appearing in the play “Three Viewings,” at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. 

BRAVO: You and David Lynch go back a long way, right?

Catherine Coulson: Yes, I met him at the AFI (American Film Institute). I was teaching this acting workshop at the AFI when he was a student there back in the '70's. David started to make ERASERHEAD, and he cast me in it. He cast Jack Nance, and then myself, and we started working at it. But my part wasn't going to be shot until later, so I was hanging out on the set, and David asked me if I'd take production stills. And all those production stills - you know, of Henry with the hair - I took those! I'm very proud of that. And I did Jack's hair, which is a real claim to fame. David's design, but I executed it!

BRAVO: When you were working on the notoriously low-budget ERASERHEAD, did you have any idea that Lynch would one day cast you in a television series?

Coulson: Well, actually, he always wanted to do television, which was kind of weird because in those days everybody was a snob about just making art films. But he said someday he was going to do a series. When we were doing ERASERHEAD, I would wear these glasses late at night - we used to shoot all night on ERASERHEAD - and he would say to me, “Someday, Catherine, I really want you to play a girl with a log, and we're going to do a TV show, and it's going to be called “I'll Test My Log With Every Branch of Knowledge.” He dreamed up this character, and we used to talk about her late at night. We became really good friends over the years, and we're still friends. So, we would always say someday we're going to do “the girl with the log.” Then, when he actually did get to the point where he could do TWIN PEAKS, he called me. And he said, "Are you ready?” And I said, “Yeah, I'm ready!” But, I said, “the girl with the log” is a little older now, and he said “That's ok, she's got more wisdom!” I still wore plaid skirts and the same glasses, and had my hair the same way that we always talked about .... but we always knew her backstory - I mean David and I made it all up - about her husband the logger, and giving her the log after their wedding day, when he died in an arson fire. And then when we had to make up our trading cards (you know we had these trading cards that now are incredibly valuable), I made up her favorite foods, and all of that, and it was really a great acting challenge, because it's like making up a whole character's backstory when there's nothing there. But David and I had been talking about her for so long, it was really fun to finally manifest her.

BRAVO: It sounds like the Log Lady was very important to David's concept of the series.

Coulson: He always thought she would be a critical character, but he wasn't sure that it would be understandable on paper. He wanted the network to see it first, because once they saw it, he thought they'd really go for it. For the pilot, David said, ”I want you to play the Log Lady now, but I want you to just come up and do it, and then we'll let the networks see it, because they'll never understand it.” So I didn't start with a contract, but they never really signed me until they played the pilot and it was such a big hit, and the press sort of latched onto the concept of a Log Lady. 

The press latched on to this character just after this little 20 second bite in the first pilot. What happened was, the pilot had aired and the series got picked up, and we started shooting it. Then the ABC affiliates had their annual meeting in L.A., and they asked all of us to go to this affiliates dinner. This was before they started picking us up in limousines. So Marc (my husband) and I drove. I didn't quite get what was about to happen, none of us did. 

So, we show up at the Century Plaza Hotel in our Volvo station wagon that needed a good bath...and I started to open the door and the flash bulbs started going off. And I said “What's that?”, and Marc said, "Catherine, I think that's for you.” And it was the most surreal experience, getting out of the car, like in slow motion, suddenly being surrounded by papparazzi, and Roseanne Barr was walking into the Century Plaza Hotel and she screamed, “IT'S THE LOG LADY!!”

I said, “Oh, my god” and Marc said to me ,"Catherine, our lives are about to change."

BRAVO: You had achieved cult status.

Coulson: Yes. At this first event, I remember signing autographs - they thrust these 3X5 white cards at you, and I remember saying "what's your name," and writing, you know, "To John, lots of love, Catherine Coulson, "The Log Lady," and this guy said to me, "You know you don't need to do that, you can just sign your name because these are going to be valuable." I said, "What?" In fact, when we signed our first contracts, all of us, Kyle, everybody, signed away all of our merchandising rights, which means that for every Log Lady T-shirt, coffee mug, and trading card, out of the millions that were sold, we never saw any royalties. But I did have the fun of seeing people wear my likeness on their chests!

The continuing broadcasts on Bravo have really kept people's interest in the show alive. You know about "Wrapped in Plastic" don't you?

BRAVO: The magazine?

Coulson: Yes. It's really great - talk about information about TWIN PEAKS! There's also the fan club, and these lovely folks, the Shooks, in Michigan put together the Twin Peaks Fan Festival every year, and it's very successful. It's really a phenomenon. It's just amazing.

BRAVO: It seems that fans are still trying to figure out what it all meant. There are a great many interpretations of The Log Lady floating around. Would you say that the Log Lady was crazy, or perfectly and acutely sane?

Coulson: Totally sane. Yes. In fact, somewhere I have this really interesting article that a psychiatrist wrote about her after watching several episodes. The article argues that the Log Lady was the town's soothsayer; that she was a note of sanity in a town that was very disturbed, and that her ability to see the truth through the help of her log helped Dale Cooper solve the mystery (of Laura Palmer's murder). And she and Dale Cooper were good friends, although she was cranky with him. Off screen, not in the episodes, she often gave him advice. And we used to talk about that a lot, in interviews. She was his mentor and soothsayer. She wasn't crazy at all...she just loved this log because it represented her dead husband. She was just an incredibly cranky person who'd had a rough life.

BRAVO: Did you get a lot of people or fans interpreting the Log Lady in all kinds of ways?

Coulson: Oh, yeah. People would say "Oh, [the log] is the lost baby I never had...and I always say the log is not a he or a she, it's an it. It is a log. It's a Ponderosa Pine."

BRAVO: And she knows it's a log.

Coulson: She knows it's a log. She cradles it that way because - I don't know if you've ever tried to carry a log that heavy- but it's the best way to carry it. So that's why she carries it like that. But she never anthropomorphized the log. It was always the log. And neither did anybody in the town. That definitely was always the log.

BRAVO: It seems like you handle being a television icon quite well. Did you ever have trouble with the cult status?

Coulson: For the most part it's been a most enjoyable experience, in terms of meeting new people, and as i often say, it has opened doors for me to do good work. I've gotten to speak out for different AIDS organizations, and ancient forests, and places that I never would have been listened to as carefully before I became an "icon". It really has opened doors in that way. The other thing is that I've met a number of fascinating people who somehow were captivated by this television show. I think it's because it showed life as it really is, that we never saw before on television. And as a result of that it definitely changed our lives, certainly mine and my family's. But the annoyances are minor, really. I think it's really important, when somebody approaches you, it takes a certain amount of courage, and that you need to be kind and gracious to them. And that's been my philosophy. You know it's paid off in that I've met some lovely people. And the fans of Twin Peaks are truly a very nice group of people.

BRAVO: And you've returned to Twin Peaks country- you live in Oregon now?

Coulson: Yes, what happened was my husband and I both got offered these jobs, and I'd never planned on leaving Los Angeles that quickly but I wanted our daughter to be in a small public school where I didn't have to worry about her as much. But, I was also concerned about abandoning my city, so I was kind of conflicted. But, I got this job acting in the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, and within the week he was offered a job, and they didn't even know we knew each other. And it's a town of 17,000 people. . .occasionally I get a few days off and go down to L.A. My elderly but spunky mother lives near L.A., so I go down there as much as I can.

BRAVO:bYou mentioned your role as the Log Lady gave you the opportunity to speak on behalf of forest preservation?

Coulson: There's an organization called the Western Ancient Forest Association. I've done some public appearances for them, when, a few years ago, they were trying to prevent the cutting down of ancient forests. So I stood in front of this huge, huge, you know, 1500 year old Doug Fir log. And then there's this organization called Lighthawk, which flies people who can vote - you know, senators and Congresspeople - flies them over the clear-cutting to show them what's happening. I haven't worked for them, but we've talked about it, and I always talk about preserving our ancient forests when I do interviews. Because I really do have a bigger connection with wood now. 

There's an AIDS organization in L.A. that plants treees for people who have died - they have a tree planted, and it's a live thing. And here, in the Pacific Northwest, I've often been the master of ceremonies for a charity and I'll talk about the log. Once, I appeared as the Log Lady for the volunteers here at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival (there's about 800 wonderful volunteers). Usually the Log Lady doesn't like to go out in public. She doesn't like to go anywhere. Catherine Coulson will go somewhere and talk about the Log. But the Log Lady herself is very shy. She's not a good PR person. But, I went to this one event as the Log Lady, and I did a scientific presentation on bark beetles. It was just 5 minutes, but I had graphics, and a pointer, and it was a lot of fun. You know, I never really knew that much about trees and wood, but now I know a lot about bark beetles.

But every year there's this Twin Peaks Fan Festival which I try to go to, because I really feel that these people care that much, and it's largely because Bravo has kept it going. But, they come from all over the world. And so I've gone up to that, and sometimes I'll bring the log. But, for the most part, the log has started getting kind of dry. Now it's back in the Pacific Northwest, so I think that might help.

BRAVO: Where exactly is the Log?

Coulson: We don't talk about its exact location. We just keep it in a controlled environment.

BRAVO: That's fantastic.

Coulson: But it's gotten a lot lighter, over the years. It was a lot heavier. It was freshly cut for the show. But I always say no tree's life was lost for the log. They never cut down a Ponderosa Pine - we just got a branch. Because David's father was a research scientist for the forest service. And he did his doctoral thesis on the Ponderosa Pine, which is why David wanted a Ponderosa. The night before the pilot the prop man was bringing him all these logs and David would say "nope. nope." Finally we found the right one, and that one happened to be oozing sap. So, the very first day of shooting my forearms were really aching. So when people ask, "What's the Log Lady's greatest strength," I say, "her forearms."

BRAVO: You've been involved with the Oregon Shakespeare Festival for how many seasons now?

Coulson: This is my third season. And what I love about it is that, I love working every day as an actor. Doing film and television is a wonderful experience, and you reach a lot of people, but you don't always work every day. Sometimes you work like five days a month. And even though I had a fairly good career in Los Angeles, and I still go back and do television, movies, and commercials, I really love the craft of acting. That's how I was really trained, as a classical actor in the theater. I did it for years before I got involved in film and television. So for me it's a real return to my roots. My grandmother was an actress in Hungary. I love live audiences. And I love Shakespeare. And I love doing the new plays which we do here at the festival. By the way, Kyle McLaughlin [Agent Dale Cooper on TWIN PEAKS] was here playing Romeo right before he got cast in DUNE.

BRAVO: What play are you doing now?

Coulson: It's called "Three Viewings." It's three characters in the viewing room of a funeral home in the Midwest. It's a monologue; I speak for about 30 minutes. I play this woman named Virginia Carpolotti. Jeffrey Hatcher wrote it. It's humorous and poignant: a kind of dark comedy. I play a woman who's in her middle sixties, so she's much older than I am, but it's a wonderful character, and I think that Twin Peaks fans would really like it. It's on until the end of October.

This year I'm doing "Three Viewings" and "Coriolanus" They have capacity audiences here. Many hundreds of thousands of people visit this town - the industry of the town is the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. As a result of that, you never play to a half-empty house. Being in a small town, everybody knows that I have this other life. But, they also really - because there's so much respect for theater and for theater actors - there's really a tremendous amount of respect. Which I really appreciate. When people do plays in L.A., they might get a TV series, and then they'll quit the play. Well here, you don't quit a play. You sign on for the duration. We do like living here, and I like doing theater. Although it has meant that I've had to turn down some fairly lucrative television and film jobs, because of the theater schedule. I still think it's worth it.

BRAVO: What's been your favorite Shakespeare role that you've gotten to play?

Coulson: Oh, I really loved the Duchess of York, in which we did last summer. It was one of the humorous scenes in a serious tragedy. And she defends her son with such humor and vehemence; she defends her son's life in this fabulous scene in Act V of the play, and audience response to it was wonderful. I also felt like all my years of playing the Log Lady somehow served me well with the Duchess of York. When you play a real archetypical character, there's a real connection to other theater and other forms of drama. I think the Log Lady is kind of an archetype. Mostly what I've done here is the contemporary stuff. I loved playing Penny Sycamore in "You Can't Take It With You." It's this classic American play about how you can't take it with you when you die, and Penny is this great mom, a wonderful character, a playwright. I always like playing a creative character.

BRAVO:  Finally, did the Log Lady have a particular philosophy that you can articulate - a vision for mankind?

Coulson: Yes. I think, in spite of all her hardships, she still offers a ray of hope for humanity. And it's really to listen to the tree. To pay attention. She was always telling people to pay attention. And really so much can be learned from being in the woods, and just listening to nature, and paying attention to something bigger than ourselves.

 

Donate now to the Log Lady Film,  "I Know Catherine, The Log Lady" (featuring David Lynch)
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/historyofcool/i-know-catherine-the-log-lady?ref=aw1u6c
Do it for Catherine!