Lorna Raver, ‘Drag Me to Hell’ Actress, Dead at 81

Lorna Raver — best known as the creepy old woman who cursed Alison Lohman in Sam Raimi‘s horror hit “Drag Me to Hell” — has died.

Raver died on May 12 … her death was announced in the “In Memoriam” section of SAG-AFTRA’s Summer 2025 magazine.

Raver’s chilling turn as Mrs. Sylvia Ganush in the 2009 cult classic helped drive the film to a nearly $91 million worldwide box office return. She admitted in a 2014 interview she had no idea what the movie was about when she auditioned, but took the role because of Raimi, saying she wasn’t fully aware of what she was getting into.

The actress had a run on TV soap opera “The Young and the Restless,” and appeared in other shows, including “The Practice,” “Ally McBeal,” “Boston Legal,” “Grey’s Anatomy,” “Desperate Housewives,” “Weeds,” and “Bones.”

Raver was also an acclaimed audiobook narrator, winning multiple Earphones Awards. She was partnered for 25 years with radio writer-producer Yuri Rasovsky, who died in 2012.

Raver was 81.