Before he’d ever seen her act, filmmaker David Lynch came across a photo of SHERYL LEE that was being used to promote a Seattle play she’d been doing, and asked her to audition for the part of LAURA PALMER, the murdered homecoming queen she’d later play on Twin Peaks (and in Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me, the show’s big-screen prequel). But corpses don’t typically get much dialogue, so Lynch, hoping to give Lee more to work with, created the role of Maddy, Laura’s doppelganger cousin. The world of Twin Peaks explored the deepest, darkest corridors of the human psyche, and no one’s journey was more grueling or lonely than that of Lee, the beautiful face behind television’s most iconic victim. For our 2012 Winter issue, we asked Lee to make contact with the ghost of Laura Palmer, which she did in haunting, poetic fashion. 

(Click through to read the poem and more: Character Study: Sheryl Lee Writes a Ghostly Ode to Laura Palmer)