# Valerie Perrine

Valerie Ritchie Perrine (born September 3, 1943) is a retired American actress. For her role as Honey Bruce in the 1974 film Lenny, she won the BAFTA Award for Most Promising Newcomer to Leading Film Roles, the Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actress, and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress. Her other film appearances include Superman (1978), The Electric Horseman (1979), and Superman II (1980).

## Early life

Perrine was born in Galveston, Texas, as the daughter of Winifred "Renee" (nee McGinley), a dancer who appeared in Earl Carroll's Vanities, and Kenneth I. Perrine, a lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army. Kenneth I. Perrine was the grandson of Alfred Perrine of Wallkill, N.Y., a descendant of Staten Island Huguenot Daniel Perrin. The Perrine family dates its ancestry to the French family of Perrin, which intermarried with other Normans dating back to William the Conqueror in 1066. Her mother was Scottish (of Irish descent), from Helensburgh in Dunbartonshire.
Owing to her father's military career, Perrine lived in many locations as the family moved to different posts.

## Career

In 1968, Perrine was a showgirl in "Lido de Paris" at Stardust Resort and Casino Las Vegas.
She played soft-core pornography actress Montana Wildhack in the film adaptation of Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-Five (1972). Perrine was photographed nude for a pictorial layout in the May 1972 issue of Playboy, later appearing on the cover in August 1981. She then became the first actress to appear nude on American network television by intentionally exposing her breasts during the May 4, 1973, PBS broadcast of Bruce Jay Friedman's Steambath on Hollywood Television Theater. Only a few PBS stations nationwide carried the program. Later in 1973, she appeared in the episode "When the Girls Came Out to Play" of the romantic anthology television series Love Story (1973).
In 1975, Perrine was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress and the Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture Actress (Drama) and won the Best Actress Award at the Cannes Film Festival for her role as comedian Lenny Bruce's wife, stripper Honey Bruce, in Bob Fosse's Lenny (1974).
She portrayed Carlotta Monti, mistress of W.C. Fields, in the biopic W.C. Fields and Me (1976). She played Miss Eve Teschmacher, moll of criminal mastermind Lex Luthor, in Superman (1978). For this role, she was nominated for the 1979 Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress. She reprised her role as Miss Teschmacher in Superman II (1980).
Perrine played Charlotta Steele, ex-wife of a rodeo champion played Robert Redford, in The Electric Horseman (1979). Her career grew uneven after an appearance in Can't Stop the Music (1980), for which she was nominated for a Razzie Award for Worst Actress. This film has since become a cult classic. In 1982, she played the role of Marcy, the wife of a corrupt police officer, in The Border with Jack Nicholson. In 1986, she starred in the failed CBS comedy series Leo & Liz in Beverly Hills with Harvey Korman.
In the years since then, Perrine has worked in lower-profile projects, although she did have a small supporting role in the 2000 Mel Gibson film What Women Want. In 1995, Perrine made a guest appearance on the series Homicide: Life on the Street, playing an ex-wife of Richard Belzer's character, Detective John Munch.
Stacey Souther directed and produced Valerie, a 45 minute documentary about Perrine's career and her experience with Parkinson's disease. Valerie was screened at the Edmonton Film Festival in 2020.

## Personal life

In 1969, Perrine began dating Hollywood hair stylist Jay Sebring. He invited her to a dinner party in Benedict Canyon, Los Angeles. She found someone to work for her that night, but at the last minute that person got sick, and Perrine had to show up for work. It turned out that the party she missed was the night when the Manson Family murdered six people at Sharon Tate's home, including Sebring.
As of April 2023, Perrine lives in Beverly Hills, California.

### Health

Perrine was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease in 2015 and underwent dental surgery in 2017 to restore her teeth after they became damaged due to the medications she had been taking for her illness.

## Filmography
### Film

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1972 | Slaughterhouse-Five | Montana Wildhack | |
| 1973 | The Last American Hero | Marge | |
| 1974 | Lenny | Honey Bruce | |
| 1976 | W. C. Fields and Me | Carlotta Monti | |
| 1977 | Mr. Billion | Rosie Jones | |
| 1978 | Superman | Eve Teschmacher | |
| 1979 | The Magician of Lublin | Zeftel | |
| 1979 | The Electric Horseman | Charlotta | |
| 1980 | Agency | Brenda Wilcox | |
| 1980 | Can't Stop the Music | Samantha 'Sam' Simpson | |
| 1980 | Superman II | Eve Teschmacher | |
| 1981 | The Cannonball Run | Female Cop Pulling Over Lamborghini Babes (uncredited) | |
| 1982 | The Border | Marcy | |
| 1985 | Water | Pamela Weintraub | |
| 1985 | Mask of Murder | Marianne McLaine | |
| 1987 | Maid to Order | Georgette Starkey | |
| 1990 | Bright Angel | Aileen | |
| 1991 | Reflections in a Dark Sky | Caterina | |
| 1993 | Boiling Point | Mona | |
| 1995 | The Break | Delores Smith | |
| 1995 | Girl in the Cadillac | Tilly Baker | |
| 1998 | Curtain Call | Monica Gilroy | AKA, It All Came True |
| 1998 | Brown's Requiem | Marguerita Hansen | |
| 1998 | A Place Called Truth | Estelle | |
| 1998 | My Girlfriend's Boyfriend | Rita Lindgross | |
| 2000 | What Women Want | Margo | |
| 2001 | Directing Eddie | Gloria Vassick | Short |
| 2002 | The End of the Bar | Mrs. Duncan | |
| 2005 | The Amateurs | V | |
| 2005 | The Californians | Lenora Tripp | |
| 2008 | Redirecting Eddie | Gloria Vassick | |
| 2016 | Silver Skies | Ethel | |
| 2017 | The Fabulous Allan Carr | Herself | Documentary |

### Television

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1972 | The Couple Takes a Wife | Jennifer Allen | TV film |
| 1973 | Lady Luck | Lady Luck | TV film |
| 1973 | Steambath | Meredith | TV film |
| 1973 | Love Story | Marlene | Episode: "When the Girls Came Out to Play" |
| 1978 | Ziegfeld: The Man and His Women | Lillian Lorraine | TV film |
| 1982 | Marian Rose White | Stella White | TV film |
| 1983 | Malibu | Dee Staufer | TV film |
| 1983 | When Your Lover Leaves | Ronda Thompson | TV film |
| 1985 | Faerie Tale Theatre | Tina | Episode: "The Three Little Pigs" |
| 1986 | Leo & Liz in Beverly Hills | Liz Green | Main role |
| 1987 | CBS Summer Playhouse | Molly | Episode: "Changing Patterns" |
| 1988 | Una casa a Roma | Julie | TV film |
| 1989 | Quattro storie di donne | Rose | Episode: "Rose" |
| 1989 | Sweet Bird of Youth | Lucy | TV film |
| 1991 | Burning Shore | Isabelle | TV film |
| 1992 | Northern Exposure | Jackie Vincoeur | Episode: "The Bad Seed" |
| 1993 | Ghostwriter | April Flowers | Episode: "Who's Who: Part 3" |
| 1993 | The Secrets of Lake Success | Honey Potts Atkins | TV miniseries |
| 1994 | Burke's Law | Suzanne Dubonet | Episode: "Who Killed the Romance?" |
| 1995 | Homicide: Life on the Street | Brigitta Svendsen | Episode: "Law & Disorder" |
| 1995 | ER | Cookie Lewis | Episodes: "Motherhood", "And Baby Makes Two" |
| 1996 | Nash Bridges | Mrs. Nassiter | Episodes: "Key Witness", "Internal Affairs", "The Brothers McMillan" |
| 1997 | The Practice | Jane Elaine | Episode: "Hide and Seek" |
| 1998 | Walker, Texas Ranger | Marge Wyman | Episode: "Eyes of a Ranger" |
| 1998-99 | As the World Turns | Dolores Pierce | TV series |
| 2001 | Just Shoot Me! | Carol | Episode: "Where's Poppa?" |
| 2001 | Family Law | Helen Watson | Episode: "The Gay Divorcee" |
| 2001 | The Beast | Mrs. Silberger | Episode: "The Delivery" |
| 2002 | Grounded for Life | Maureen Bustamante | Episode: "I Fought the In-Laws" |
| 2005 | Third Watch | Merlene | Episode: "Welcome Home" |
| 2011 | Lights Out | Mae | Episodes: "Rainmaker", "Sucker Punch" |

## Awards and nominations

| Year | Association | Category | Nominated work | Result |
| 1974 | New York Film Critics Circle | Best Supporting Actress | Lenny | Won |
| 1974 | New York Film Critics Circle | Best Actress | Lenny | Nominated |
| 1974 | National Board of Review | Best Supporting Actress | Lenny | Won |
| 1975 | Cannes Film Festival | Best Actress | Lenny | Won |
| 1975 | Golden Globe Award | Best Actress in a Motion Picture - Drama | Lenny | Nominated |
| 1975 | Academy Awards | Best Actress in a Leading Role | Lenny | Nominated |
| 1976 | British Academy Film Awards | Most Promising Newcomer to Leading Film Roles | Lenny | Won |
| 1976 | British Academy Film Awards | Best Actress | Lenny | Nominated |
| 1979 | Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films | Best Supporting Actress | Superman | Nominated |
| 1980 | Golden Raspberry Awards | Worst Actress | Can't Stop the Music | Nominated |
| 1985 | CableACE Award | Best Actress in a Comedy Series | Faerie Tale Theatre | Nominated |