Catherine Coulson was an actress best known for her role as The Log Lady on David Lynch’s ABC television series Twin Peaks.

She played the role semi-regularly in 12 episodes over the course of the series’ two-season run in 1990 and ’91. Her character was regarded as a fixture in the fictional Washington town of the title, and was thought to know more about the murder of Laura Palmer, which was the focal point of the series. She was also known to carry a log with her wherever she went, with which she shared a clairvoyant connection.

Coulson was set to return as her character in Showtime's planned 2017 reboot of the show. She also appeared as The Log Lady in the 1992 feature film Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me, a prequel to the series. She began her working relationship with Lynch in 1974, when she appeared in his short film "The Amputee" as a woman with no legs, while Lynch played her incompetent nurse. Coulson worked with him again as assistant director on his 1977 debut feature Eraserhead. It was reportedly then that the two began discussing the idea of a character who carried a log.

Coulson also appeared on the television series Psych as “Wood Woman” and on Portlandia as a marionberry farmer. She also had roles in the television movies Ring of the Musketeers and The Four Diamonds, as well as the features Femme Fatale, starring Colin Firth; Another You, with Richard Pryor and Gene Wilder; and, most recently, 2013's Redwood Highway.

Additionally, she worked extensively as a first or second camera assistant, including on the films Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, Modern Romance, Youngblood and Night on Earth, as well as the 1988 TV miniseries The French as Seen by... and the 1981 television movie Bitter Harvest, starring Ron Howard.

Coulson died September 28, 2015, in Ashland, Oregon. She was 71.