Elizabeth Norment, ‘House of Cards’ and stage actress, dies at 61

Actress Elizabeth Norment, who regularly performed on the Southern California theater circuit and recently appeared in the political drama “House of Cards,” has died. She was 61.

Diane Bush, the owner of Leading Artists Talent Agency, which represented Norment, confirmed her death to the Los Angeles Times but could not provide additional details.

Norment died at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York on Oct. 13, according to a death notice that appeared in the Washington Post.

Norment graduated from Yale University in 1979 with a master’s in fine arts, and performed several stage roles in Southern California in the 1980s and early 1990s. She portrayed three of Shakespeare’s most famous female characters in “As You Like It,” “Much Ado About Nothing” and “The Merchant of Venice” at the Grove Shakespeare Festival in Garden Grove in 1990 and 1991.

More recently, Norment played the role of Nancy Kaufberger, a secretary to Machiavellian politician Frank Underwood on the Netflix series “House of Cards.”

She had several other television acting credits to her name, including appearances on “Law & Order,” “Political Animals” and “St. Elsewhere.”

Elizabeth Larrabee Norment was born Dec. 31, 1952, in Washington, D.C. Her survivors include her mother, Nancy Norment McCabe, three sisters and a brother, according to the death notice.

While she was in the midst of a string of performances in the Los Angeles area in the early ‘90s, Norment told The Times that the chance to perform as a Shakespearean heroine had “completely rejuvenated” her love of theater.

“It has certainly challenged my skills to the max. What Shakespeare’s roles give back to you on your investment is just astonishing,” she said. “The deeper you dig, the more there is. You will never hit bottom.”

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