Catherine Coulson

Catherine Elizabeth Coulson was an actress and former camera operator who worked as First Camera Assistant (a focus puller) under Gayne Rescher on  in.

As an actress, Coulson is best known for her role as Margaret Lanterman, the Log Lady, in 's cult television series. She also played the role in the 1992 prequel film Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me. Coulson first met David Lynch in the 1970s. She starred in his 1974 short film The Amputee, playing the title role, before serving as an assistant director and assistant camera on his low-budget 1977 horror film Eraserhead. It was during this time that Lynch and Coulson began discussing the idea of a woman who carried a log around with her. Fourteen years later, Lynch created such a character for Coulson when he began writing Twin Peaks. 

She worked with several Star Trek alumni on Twin Peaks, including actors Mädchen Amick, Michael John Anderson, Robert Bauer, Richard Beymer, Miguel Ferrer, Galyn Görg, Joshua Harris, Tony Jay, David L. Lander, Wendy Robie, Brenda Strong, Carel Struycken, Ron Taylor, Clay Wilcox, Clarence Williams III, and Ray Wise. Amick, Anderson, Ferrer, and Wise also appeared in Fire Walk with Me, as did Gary Bullock, James Parks, and Victor Rivers.

Coulson's first project as an assistant camera was the 1976 crime drama The Killing of a Chinese Bookie, featuring Seymour Cassel and Morgan Woodward. She later assisted with camera work (2nd AC or film loader & slate operator) for such films as Moonshine County Express (starring Jeff Corey, Susan Howard, and Morgan Woodward), Starhops (featuring Dick Miller), and ' Modern Romance. She again worked with David Lynch as assistant camera person on the "Cowboy and the Frenchman" segment on the 1988 French mini-series Les Français Vus Par... (The French As Seen By...). Her most recent work as additional camera operator can be seen in the film Cold Dog Soup (featuring Seymour Cassel, Raymond Cruz, John Fleck, and Raphael Sbarge). Subsequently, she served as 1st AC on Night on Earth (starring Winona Ryder).

Her other acting credits include the films Trick or Treats, Femme Fatale, and Another You (co-starring Michael J. Pollard, Phil Rubenstein, Vincent Schiavelli, Vanessa Williams, and Biff Yeager), and the 1992 television movie Ring of the Musketeers (co-starring Corbin Bernsen, John Rhys-Davies, and Branscombe Richmond).

Beside primarily working as a stage actress in her more recent years including a collaboration with the Oregon Shakespeare Festival for over a decade, Coulson had a role in the 2013 Psych episode "Dual Spires" which was a homage to Twin Peaks including several references and a bunch of Twin Peaks actors playing different parts in this episode.

Coulson was up to reprise her role of the Log Lady in the 2017 sequel series of Twin Peaks but died on 28 September 2015 at the age of 71 due to cancer.