So why no career for Straight after this?

According to the trivia, her first love was for the theatre and this is where she plyed much of her trade. She did a fair bit of TV too, after this, with the occasional film appearance.

I have always thought the same about Laurie,and went as far(gasp!) to say that she deserved the Oscar as much, if not more, thsn Spacek..
So why no career for Straight after this?

It is a treat when re-watching NETWORK, as it is easy to forget Straight's presence in the film and then she suddenly appears and knocks your socks off with her short performance and line delivery."I hurt badly".
Pity that Straight didn't have more scenes, because in the 5mins screen time she had, she was just as impressive as the rest of the stellar cast in this film. I am not convinced that she was as deserving of winning an oscar
for the performance though, compared to the bizarre and memorable character Piper Laurie played in CARRIE. This was a tricky role Laurie had to pull off, too come across as believable as she did and could have also have ended up hammy if overplayed.