From Newsgroup: alt.online-service.comcas

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/valerie-perrine-dead- superman-lenny-1236544394/

Valerie Perrine, rCySupermanrCO Actress and rCyLennyrCO Oscar Nominee, Dies at 82

Her career also included work as a Vegas showgirl and appearances in 'The
Last American Hero,' 'The Border' and, regrettably, 'Can't Stop the
Music.'

By Lisa de los Reyes


Valerie Perrine, the former Las Vegas showgirl who earned a best actress
Oscar nomination for portraying Lenny BrucerCOs drug-addicted stripper wife
in Lenny and played Lex LuthorrCOs secretary in a pair of Superman films,
died Monday. She was 82.

PerrinerCOs death at her home in Beverly Hills was announced by friend and soulmate Stacey Souther. She was diagnosed in 2015 with ParkinsonrCOs
disease, which eventually robbed her of her mobility and much of her
ability to eat and speak.

rCLShe faced ParkinsonrCOs disease with incredible courage and compassion, never once complaining,rCY he wrote. rCLShe was a true inspiration who lived life to the fullest rCo and what a magnificent life it was. The world feels less beautiful without her in it.rCY

Souther cared for her for years, as Seth Abramovitch wrote about for The Hollywood Reporter in April 2023. A GoFund Me page that was set up for her medical expenses will now go toward burial costs.

The actress did comedy and drama with equal fervor, also starring as the
love interest of Jeff BridgesrCy NASCAR driver Junior Johnson in Lamont JohnsonrCOs The Last American Hero (1973) and as the soon-to-be ex of
champion rodeo rider Robert RedfordrCys character in Sydney PollackrCOs The Electric Horseman (1979).

Perrine, unfortunately, also starred with The Village People and Caitlyn Jenner in the lamentable disco-themed CanrCOt Stop the Music (1980), one of the two films that inspired the Worst Picture Golden Raspberry Award show
(The Razzies).

rCLIt ruined my career rCo I moved to Europe after, I was so embarrassed,rCY she
said.

For playing Honey opposite Dustin Hoffman as the tormented 1960s stand-up legend in Lenny (1974), Perrine received the best actress award at the
Cannes Film Festival, a BAFTA honor for most promising newcomer and then
her Oscar nomination. (She lost out to Ellen Burstyn of Alice DoesnrCOt Live Here Anymore.)

In the Christopher Reeve-starring Superman (1978) and its 1980 sequel, PerrinerCOs seductive but soft-hearted Eve Teschmacher conspires with Luthor (Gene Hackman), but she ultimately rescues the Man of Steel from the villainrCOs trap in return for a promise that he will save her mother. In
the second movie, she helps her bald-headed boss escape from jail.

Widely regarded as a sex symbol during a period of feminist backlash
against sex symbols, Perrine was photographed several times for Playboy,
and in the wake of LennyrCOs release, The New York Times described her as rCLa sensual Betty Boop, with her cherubic blue eyes, button nose and rosebud lips.rCY (The piece was headlined rCLValerie Perrine, or The Return of the Hollywood Sex Kitten.rCY)

In 1973, she had become the first woman whose breasts were intentionally exposed on television when she appeared in the PBS telefilm Steambath. She attributed her casting to her relaxed attitude about appearing topless, something she said she had cultivated onstage in Vegas and on the beaches
of Europe.

Perrine was shown getting out of the shower and dropping her towel in the film, and her scene served as a popular fundraising tool for the nonprofit broadcaster.

Valerie Ritchie Perrine was born on Sept. 3, 1943, in Galveston, Texas.
Her mother, Renee, was a dancer from Scotland, and her father, Kenneth,
was a career military man who would retire from the U.S. Army as a
lieutenant colonel.

She spent her childhood following her fatherrCOs military postings, which
took the family to Japan, Paris and many stops in between.

rCLMy father is and always has been a WASP only,rCY Perrine told the Times in the 1974 profile. rCLHerCOs a true American. Our family goes back to 1640 rCo we
were on the second ship after the Mayflower. My closest friend in the
whole wide world is Barry GoldwaterrCOs daughter, Peggy, but the Goldwaters were the only Jewish people I was allowed to go around with rCo and they
went to the Episcopal Church. I had to date boys from the country club. I
went out with a garage mechanic once, and daddy went after him with a
gun.rCY

She briefly studied psychology at the University of Arizona but dropped
out to become a headlining Las Vegas showgirl. rCLMother cried, Daddy swore,rCY she told People magazine of her decision. At one point, she was making $800 a week as the lead dancer in a Lido de Paris show at the
Stardust Hotel.

The accidental death of her fianc|-, Bill Haarman rCo an importer and gun collector who lived in Beverly Hills, he was killed in January 1969 when a pistol tucked in his waistband fell to the floor and fired a bullet, which ricocheted off a door and into his heart rCo left Perrine devastated and led her to leave Vegas, and she traveled throughout Europe for a time.

She then had a fling with hairdresser Jay Sebring, but he would be
murdered by Charles Manson followers in the home of Sharon Tate in August
that year. (Perrine had been invited to the house that day but had to work instead.)

Her natural charisma eventually caught the attention of casting agent
Robert Walker at a dinner party. After eavesdropping on her lively phone
call to her boyfriend, Walker inquired if she had any acting experience.

In a 2013 interview with screenwriter Larry Karaszewski, Perrine said, rCLHe asked if I had ever acted, and I said no. He asked me if I could, and I
said yes. He asked me if I had a picture, and the only picture I had was
me as a topless showgirl in Vegas in a little G-string.rCY

Once Monique James, then the head of new talent at Universal, saw the revealing photo, she invited her to screen test for the role of soft-core pornography actress Montana Wildhack in Slaughterhouse-Five (1972),
directed by George Roy Hill.

rCLThey told me to wear a bikini because they wanted to see what my body looked like. rCa I didnrCOt have a bikini, so I wore my Vegas costume,rCY she recalled. Despite an audition that she described as so awful that James claimed to have burned the tape, Perrine got the part.

Though she never met Slaughterhouse-Five author Kurt Vonnegut during the filming of the movie, she later ran into him at ElainerCOs while living in
New York, and he told her he approved of the adaptation.

Having never taken acting lessons, Perrine said her success came from just trying to be real. rCLI donrCOt really know what I do. I donrCOt think about anything until I get on the set. I just learn my lines, period,rCY she said. rCLThen when IrCOm on the set, I think of something that has happened to me in the past rCo like in that crying scene with Dustin in Lenny, I thought of an old boyfriend who had hurt me, and rCo that really did it.rCY

While working on the movie, Hoffman confided to Perrine that he hated when people mistook him for Al Pacino or Robert De Niro.

On set in a large restaurant in Miami, Perrine noticed that rCLall of these tourists and retirees were watching and passionately in love with Dustin.rCY When she exited the stage, she told the crowd, rCLWhen Dustin comes out, I want you people over here on the left to all yell, rCyBobby De Niro,rCO and on the other side, I got them to yell, rCyAl Pacino.rCO And by God, every one of them did it.rCY

When Hoffman came out and heard the crowd, he threw down his script and yelled, rCLWhere the fuck is Valerie?rCY

She later starred with Rod Steiger in W.C. Fields and Me (1976) as FieldsrCO mistress Carlotta Monti; she later called it her worst experience on a
film set. rCL[Steiger] was just not a happy man, he was full of hate for everything,rCY she told Karaszewski.

On the other hand, she referred to Michael Caine, her co-star in the
comedy Water (1985), as rCLthe nicest human being IrCOve ever worked with.rCY

She pinpointed the moment she knew the Alan Carr-scripted CanrCOt Stop the Music would fail to being scolded by first-time feature director Nancy
Walker rCo better known for playing the mother of TVrCOs Rhoda Morgenstern rCo before a scene with Jenner, who had won an Olympic gold medal at the 1976 Summer Games in Montreal.

Perrine was trying to help Jenner, an acting novice, relax before they
started filming, when rCLall of a sudden, I heard Nancy yell out for ruining the set because I was talking during a tape rCo and she was looking the
wrong direction and didnrCOt know the camera was on me.rCY

Perrine also appeared with Alan Arkin in The Magician of Lublin (1979) and with Jack Nicholson in The Border (1982), and she played a vapid office assistant in the Mel Gibson starrer What Women Want (2000). She continued taking guest roles on television until she reduced her workload in the
early 2000s because of declining health.

But it was the Superman movies for which she would always best be
remembered, and throughout her life she was greeted by fans with a bellow
rCo |a la Lex Luthor rCo rCLMiss Teschmacher!rCY

After having battled essential tremors for more than a decade, she was diagnosed with ParkinsonrCOs. She underwent treatments including brain
surgery to help stop the shaking, with limited success.

In 2017, she had dental surgery after medications made her teeth brittle
to the point of falling out. The procedure was funded by Smile Fairies, a nonprofit that provides dental care for those who canrCOt afford it.

Perrine was romantically linked to a number of men through the years, including Bridges when they worked on Last American Hero, Elliott Gould
and Dodi Faye, but she never married or had children.

Her final wish was to be laid to rest at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in the Hollywood Hills, Souther said.

rCLI am devastated by the loss of my amazing sister Valerie this morning,rCY her brother, Ken Perrine, who also has ParkinsonrCOs, said. rCLShe lived an extraordinary life most us can only dream of. She will be missed by all
that knew her and her loving fans. She fought till the end and never gave up.rCY

Deirdre Durkan contributed to this report.


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From Newsgroup: alt.online-service.comcas

Big Mongo <mongo@biteme.com> wrote:

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/valerie-perrine-dead-superman-lenny-1236544394/

That's sad. In her first role in movies, Slaughterhouse-Five (1972), she
could act and was sexy as hell.
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From Newsgroup: alt.online-service.comcas

Big Mongo <mongo@biteme.com> wrote:

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/valerie-perrine-dead- superman-lenny-1236544394/

Valerie Perrine, rCySupermanrCO Actress and rCyLennyrCO Oscar Nominee, Dies at 82

Her career also included work as a Vegas showgirl and appearances in 'The Last American Hero,' 'The Border' and, regrettably, 'Can't Stop the
Music.'

By Lisa de los Reyes

Valerie Perrine, the former Las Vegas showgirl who earned a best actress Oscar nomination for portraying Lenny BrucerCOs drug-addicted stripper wife in Lenny and played Lex LuthorrCOs secretary in a pair of Superman films, died Monday. She was 82.

PerrinerCOs death at her home in Beverly Hills was announced by friend and soulmate Stacey Souther. She was diagnosed in 2015 with ParkinsonrCOs disease, which eventually robbed her of her mobility and much of her
ability to eat and speak.

rCLShe faced ParkinsonrCOs disease with incredible courage and compassion, never once complaining,rCY he wrote. rCLShe was a true inspiration who lived life to the fullest rCo and what a magnificent life it was. The world feels less beautiful without her in it.rCY

Souther cared for her for years, as Seth Abramovitch wrote about for The Hollywood Reporter in April 2023. A GoFund Me page that was set up for her medical expenses will now go toward burial costs.

The actress did comedy and drama with equal fervor, also starring as the love interest of Jeff BridgesrCy NASCAR driver Junior Johnson in Lamont JohnsonrCOs The Last American Hero (1973) and as the soon-to-be ex of champion rodeo rider Robert RedfordrCys character in Sydney PollackrCOs The Electric Horseman (1979).

Perrine, unfortunately, also starred with The Village People and Caitlyn Jenner

Obviously he was not "Caitlyn" then.

in the lamentable disco-themed CanrCOt Stop the Music (1980), one of
the two films that inspired the Worst Picture Golden Raspberry Award show (The Razzies).

rCLIt ruined my career rCo I moved to Europe after, I was so embarrassed,rCY she
said.

So...it stopped the music?

For playing Honey opposite Dustin Hoffman as the tormented 1960s stand-up legend in Lenny (1974), Perrine received the best actress award at the Cannes Film Festival, a BAFTA honor for most promising newcomer and then
her Oscar nomination. (She lost out to Ellen Burstyn of Alice DoesnrCOt Live Here Anymore.)

In the Christopher Reeve-starring Superman (1978) and its 1980 sequel, PerrinerCOs seductive but soft-hearted Eve Teschmacher conspires with Luthor (Gene Hackman), but she ultimately rescues the Man of Steel from the villainrCOs trap in return for a promise that he will save her mother. In the second movie, she helps her bald-headed boss escape from jail.

Widely regarded as a sex symbol during a period of feminist backlash
against sex symbols, Perrine was photographed several times for Playboy,
and in the wake of LennyrCOs release, The New York Times described her as rCLa
sensual Betty Boop, with her cherubic blue eyes, button nose and rosebud lips.rCY (The piece was headlined rCLValerie Perrine, or The Return of the Hollywood Sex Kitten.rCY)

In 1973, she had become the first woman whose breasts were intentionally exposed on television when she appeared in the PBS telefilm Steambath. She attributed her casting to her relaxed attitude about appearing topless, something she said she had cultivated onstage in Vegas and on the beaches
of Europe.

Perrine was shown getting out of the shower and dropping her towel in the film, and her scene served as a popular fundraising tool for the nonprofit broadcaster.

I don't recall this (I was 12 that year) though I did watch some things
on Channel 13 at times.

For some reason this description puts me in mind of a Broadway show
("Steaming" I think it was called) for which Judith Ivey appeared
on commercials wrapped in a towel,speaking in a Cockney accent,
and she started her Tony acceptance speech in an exaggerated drawl,
"Ah'm from Texas,not Britain..." just to make sure viewers knew
her "Steaming" voice was not her usual speaking voice.

Valerie Ritchie Perrine was born on Sept. 3, 1943, in Galveston, Texas.

A commonality with Ivey beyond the steambaths,to some degree.

Her mother, Renee, was a dancer from Scotland, and her father, Kenneth,
was a career military man who would retire from the U.S. Army as a lieutenant colonel.

She spent her childhood following her fatherrCOs military postings, which took the family to Japan, Paris and many stops in between.

rCLMy father is and always has been a WASP only,rCY Perrine told the Times in
the 1974 profile. rCLHerCOs a true American. Our family goes back to 1640 rCo we
were on the second ship after the Mayflower.

Clear exaggeration as the ships were more frequent than that.

My closest friend in the
whole wide world is Barry GoldwaterrCOs daughter, Peggy, but the Goldwaters were the only Jewish people I was allowed to go around with rCo and they went to the Episcopal Church. I had to date boys from the country club. I went out with a garage mechanic once, and daddy went after him with a gun.rCY

She briefly studied psychology at the University of Arizona but dropped
out to become a headlining Las Vegas showgirl. rCLMother cried, Daddy swore,rCY she told People magazine of her decision. At one point, she was making $800 a week as the lead dancer in a Lido de Paris show at the Stardust Hotel.

The accidental death of her fianc|-, Bill Haarman rCo an importer and gun collector who lived in Beverly Hills, he was killed in January 1969 when a pistol tucked in his waistband fell to the floor and fired a bullet, which ricocheted off a door and into his heart rCo left Perrine devastated and led her to leave Vegas, and she traveled throughout Europe for a time.

She then had a fling with hairdresser Jay Sebring, but he would be
murdered by Charles Manson followers in the home of Sharon Tate in August that year. (Perrine had been invited to the house that day but had to work instead.)

The Wikipedes quote somebody saying that these two 1969 deaths
made it a joke that someone who wanted to die could just get
fixed up with Perrine.

Her natural charisma eventually caught the attention of casting agent
Robert Walker at a dinner party. After eavesdropping on her lively phone call to her boyfriend, Walker inquired if she had any acting experience.

In a 2013 interview with screenwriter Larry Karaszewski, Perrine said, rCLHe asked if I had ever acted, and I said no. He asked me if I could, and I
said yes. He asked me if I had a picture, and the only picture I had was
me as a topless showgirl in Vegas in a little G-string.rCY

Once Monique James, then the head of new talent at Universal, saw the revealing photo, she invited her to screen test for the role of soft-core pornography actress Montana Wildhack in Slaughterhouse-Five (1972),
directed by George Roy Hill.

rCLThey told me to wear a bikini because they wanted to see what my body looked like. rCa I didnrCOt have a bikini, so I wore my Vegas costume,rCY she
recalled. Despite an audition that she described as so awful that James claimed to have burned the tape, Perrine got the part.

Though she never met Slaughterhouse-Five author Kurt Vonnegut during the filming of the movie, she later ran into him at ElainerCOs while living in New York, and he told her he approved of the adaptation.

Poo-tee-tweet?

She pinpointed the moment she knew the Alan Carr-scripted CanrCOt Stop the Music would fail to being scolded by first-time feature director Nancy Walker rCo better known for playing the mother of TVrCOs Rhoda Morgenstern rCo

To some of us,always the Bounty paper towel pitchwoman.

before a scene with Jenner, who had won an Olympic gold medal at the 1976 Summer Games in Montreal.

Perrine was trying to help Jenner, an acting novice, relax before they started filming, when rCLall of a sudden, I heard Nancy yell out for ruining the set because I was talking during a tape rCo and she was looking the wrong direction and didnrCOt know the camera was on me.rCY

Perrine also appeared with Alan Arkin in The Magician of Lublin (1979) and with Jack Nicholson in The Border (1982), and she played a vapid office assistant in the Mel Gibson starrer What Women Want (2000). She continued taking guest roles on television until she reduced her workload in the
early 2000s because of declining health.

But it was the Superman movies for which she would always best be remembered, and throughout her life she was greeted by fans with a bellow rCo |a la Lex Luthor rCo rCLMiss Teschmacher!rCY

After having battled essential tremors for more than a decade, she was diagnosed with ParkinsonrCOs. She underwent treatments including brain surgery to help stop the shaking, with limited success.

In 2017, she had dental surgery after medications made her teeth brittle
to the point of falling out. The procedure was funded by Smile Fairies, a nonprofit that provides dental care for those who canrCOt afford it.

Do the medications affect implants or only real teeth?

Perrine was romantically linked to a number of men through the years, including Bridges when they worked on Last American Hero, Elliott Gould
and Dodi Faye,

The Dodi Fayed who died with Diana?

but she never married or had children.

The childless sex symbol is an incarnation of irony.

-=-=-
The World Trade Center towers MUST rise again,
at least as tall as before...or terror has triumphed.
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