From Newsgroup: alt.obituaries
https://variety.com/2026/music/news/claudine-longet-dead-shot-olympian- spider-sabich-1236749043/
Claudine Longet, Singer and Actress Who Shot Olympian Spider Sabich, Dies
at 84
By Arushi Jacob
Claudine Longet, the French singer and actress who underwent a 1976 trial after she shot and killed her boyfriend, Olympic skier Spider Sabich, has died, according to the Telegram. She was 84.
Longet recorded pop tracks for A&M Records before she sang the Henry Mancini-Don Black song rCLNothing to LoserCY in Blake EdwardsrCO 1968 film rCLThe
Party,rCY in which she portrayed an aspiring actress alongside Peter
Sellers.
Longet married American singer and television entertainer Andy Williams in 1961 and often appeared on his NBC show, joined by their three children.
After she and Williams divorced in 1975, Longet and her children began
living with her boyfriend, Sabich, at his Colorado home. The pair first
met in 1972 at a celebrity skiing exhibition in Bear Valley, Calif., and
had been living together for a couple of years at the time of the
shooting.
Longet shot Sabich on March 21, 1976, in his bathroom with a .22-caliber GermanrCEmade gun that had been purchased by his father. She claimed the gun accidentally discharged as he was showing her how it worked. Sabich died
from his gunshot wound on the way to the hospital, and Longet was charged
with reckless manslaughter in April, facing up to 10 years in prison. The prosecution faced hurdles due to mishandled evidence and illegal search practices, and the jury eventually convicted Longet of criminally
negligent homicide, a misdemeanor charge, in January 1977. She was given
two yearsrCO probation, fined $250 and sentenced to 30 days in jail.
SabichrCOs family filed a civil suit against Longet for $1.3 million, but
the case was settled out of court, with Longet agreeing to never speak publicly about Sabich or his death.
Longet was born in Paris on Jan. 29, 1942. Her career began with a
production of rCLThe Turn of the ScrewrCY when she was 10, later appearing on French television and in plays in Milan and Venice.
She had moved to Las Vegas and was a showgirl at a Folies Berg|?re revue at the Tropicana in 1960 when she first met Williams.
In 1963, Longet appeared for the first time on rCLThe Andy Williams ShowrCY and acted in episodes of rCLMcHalerCOs NavyrCY and rCLDr. Kildare.rCY She later
guest-starred on installments of rCLCombat!,rCY rCL12 OrCOClock High,rCY rCLMr.
Novak,rCY rCLHoganrCOs HeroesrCY and NBCrCOs rCLRun for Your Life,rCY the latter of
which helped her land a contract at Herb Alpert and Jerry MossrCO new A&M label due to her singing on the show.
Her first album, titled rCLClaudine,rCY was released in 1967 and sold more than a million copies.
Longet and Williams were close friends of Robert F. Kennedy and his wife, Ethel, and watched his televised primary victory speech in Los Angeles upstairs in the senatorrCOs suite in 1968. The couple joined KennedyrCOs family at Good Samaritan Hospital after he was shot, and named their son
after him.
Longet and one of her defense attorneys, Ronald Austin, wed in June 1985
and eventually moved to Hawaii. She had three children with Williams: sons Christian and Bobby and daughter Noelle, who reportedly died in 2023.
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