Veteran actress Lorna Raver, best known for her chilling portrayal of the cursing elderly woman in Sam Raimi’s horror film “Drag Me to Hell,” died on May 12 at age 81. Her death was revealed in the “In Memoriam” section of SAG-AFTRA’s Summer 2025 magazine.
Raver’s most memorable role came in 2009 when she played Mrs. Sylvia Ganush in Raimi’s supernatural thriller. In the film, she portrayed the elderly woman who curses Alison Lohman’s bank executive character, setting the horrific events of the movie in motion. The film achieved significant commercial success, earning nearly $91 million at the worldwide box office.
Her agent Michael Greene remembered her as a “beautiful lady” who will shine down on all from Heaven. Greene revealed that Raver landed the iconic role over another client, Anna Berger, because she was able to perform the special effects sequences requiring her to fly around in a harness with remarkable ease.
In a 2014 interview, Raver admitted she had no idea what the movie was about when she auditioned but took the role because of her respect for director Raimi. She acknowledged she wasn’t fully aware of what she was getting into when she accepted the part that would become her most recognizable screen performance.
Born on October 9, 1943, in York, Pennsylvania, Raver received her early acting training at Hedgerow Theater just outside Philadelphia. She later moved to New York, where she performed in several theatrical productions, including two notable off-Broadway debuts: Robin Swicord’s “Last Days of the Dixie Girl Café” in 1979 and Matt Williams’ “Between Daylight and Boonville.”
Raver’s screen career began with the 1990 film “Opportunity Knocks,” where she played the secretary to Dana Carvey’s character. Her television work included a significant recurring role on the CBS soap opera “The Young and the Restless,” where she took over from Millie Perkins to portray Rebecca Kaplan, a concentration camp survivor and mother of Brad Carlton, from 2006 to 2007. She had previously appeared on the same soap opera in 1997 as Cape Cod resident Helen Miller.
Throughout her career, Raver made frequent appearances on television series produced by David E. Kelley. She appeared in the 1997 pilot of “The Practice” and played judges in both “Ally McBeal” and “Boston Legal.” Her extensive television resume included guest roles on popular shows such as “ER,” “Saved by the Bell: The New Class,” “Beverly Hills 90210,” “Felicity,” “Judging Amy,” “Star Trek: Voyager,” “Gilmore Girls,” “Charmed,” “Bones,” “Grey’s Anatomy,” “Desperate Housewives,” and “Weeds.”
Beyond her screen work, Raver established herself as an accomplished audiobook narrator, earning multiple Earphones Awards for her vocal performances. This aspect of her career demonstrated her versatility as a performer and her ability to bring stories to life through voice work alone.
Raver shared a long-term partnership with Yuri Rasovsky, a writer, producer, and director in radio entertainment. The couple was together for 25 years until Rasovsky’s death in 2012 at age 67. Their relationship was a significant part of Raver’s personal life, and they worked in related fields within the entertainment industry.
The announcement of Raver’s death came several months after she passed away, revealed through the entertainment industry’s traditional method of honoring deceased members in professional publications. Her death on May 12 marked the end of a career that spanned multiple decades and various entertainment mediums, from theater to television to film and audiobook narration.
Raver’s legacy remains most strongly tied to her unforgettable performance in “Drag Me to Hell,” where her portrayal of the vengeful Mrs. Ganush became a defining element of the horror film’s success. Her ability to embody both vulnerability and menace in the role demonstrated her range as a character actor and contributed to the film’s lasting impact in the horror genre.
