Lorna Raver, the actress best known for her chilling role as Mrs. Sylvia Ganush in Sam Raimi’s 2009 horror hit Drag Me to Hell, has died at age 81.
Although Raver passed away on May 12, news of her death only emerged when she was included in SAG-AFTRA’s Summer 2025 “In Memoriam” list alongside Anne Burrell, George Wendt, and Brian Wilson. Her cause of death has not been disclosed.
“She will now fly in Heaven, not be dragged to Hell,” her representative, Michael Greene, told The Post. “She was an incredible lady and artist — a true chameleon and the complete opposite of that character in real life.”
Born Oct. 9, 1943, in York, Pennsylvania, Raver began her career at Hedgerow Theater before moving to New York, where she appeared in the off-Broadway plays Last Days of the Dixie Girl Café (1979) and Between Daylight and Boonville (1980). After stints in Chicago and Los Angeles, she made her film debut in 1990’s Opportunity Knocks.
Her decades-long career spanned more than 50 TV credits, including The Young and the Restless, The Practice, Ally McBeal, Boston Legal, ER, Gilmore Girls, Desperate Housewives, Nip/Tuck, and Grey’s Anatomy. She retired from acting after her final film, Rushlights (2013).
In a 2014 interview, Raver admitted she had little knowledge of horror films before joining Drag Me to Hell. “I was definitely interested in doing it because of Sam Raimi,” she said, “but I was not fully aware of exactly what I was getting into until it happened.”
