Life and career

Perrine was born in Galveston

Galveston, Texas

Galveston is a coastal city located on Galveston Island in the U.S. state of Texas. , the city had a total population of 47,743 within an area of...

, Texas

Texas

Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...

, the daughter of Winifred (née

Married and maiden names

A married name is the family name adopted by a person upon marriage. When a person assumes the family name of her spouse, the new name replaces the maiden name....

 McGinley), a dancer who appeared in Earl Carroll's Vanities, and Kenneth Perrine, a Lieutenant Colonel

Lieutenant colonel

Lieutenant colonel is a rank of commissioned officer in the armies and most marine forces and some air forces of the world, typically ranking above a major and below a colonel. The rank of lieutenant colonel is often shortened to simply "colonel" in conversation and in unofficial correspondence...

 in the US Army. Owing to her father's career, Perrine lived in many locations as the family moved to different posts.

Perrine began her career as a Las Vegas

Las Vegas metropolitan area

The Las Vegas Valley is the heart of the Las Vegas-Paradise, NV MSA also known as the Las Vegas–Paradise–Henderson MSA which includes all of Clark County, Nevada, and is a metropolitan area in the southern part of the U.S. state of Nevada. The Valley is defined by the Las Vegas Valley landform, a ...

 showgirl

Showgirl

A showgirl is a dancer or performer in a stage entertainment show. Showgirl is also often used as a term for a promotional model in trade fairs and car shows, etc...

. Some believe she made her motion picture debut with an uncredited part in Diamonds Are Forever

Diamonds Are Forever (film)

Diamonds Are Forever is the seventh spy film in the Eon Productions James Bond series, and the sixth and final Eon Productions film to star Sean Connery as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. The film is based on Ian Fleming's 1956 novel of the same name, and is the second of four James Bond films...

(1971) but this is not true. She played soft-core porn

Pornography

Pornography or porn is the explicit portrayal of sexual subject matter for the purposes of sexual arousal and erotic satisfaction.Pornography may use any of a variety of media, ranging from books, magazines, postcards, photos, sculpture, drawing, painting, animation, sound recording, film, video,...

 actress Montana Wildhack in the film of Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-Five

Slaughterhouse-Five (film)

Slaughterhouse-Five is a 1972 film based on Kurt Vonnegut's novel of the same name. The screenplay is by Stephen Geller and the film was directed by George Roy Hill. It stars Michael Sacks, Ron Leibman, and Valerie Perrine, and features Eugene Roche, Sharon Gans, Holly Near, and Perry King. The...

(1972).

Perrine was photographed as a model for a pictorial layout in the May 1972 issue of Playboy

Playboy

Playboy is an American men's magazine that features photographs of nude women as well as journalism and fiction. It was founded in Chicago in 1953 by Hugh Hefner and his associates, and funded in part by a $1,000 loan from Hefner's mother. The magazine has grown into Playboy Enterprises, Inc., with...

magazine, later appearing on the cover in August 1981. She then became the first actress to purposely display herself nude on American television by completely baring her breasts during the May 4, 1973, Public Broadcasting Service

Public Broadcasting Service

The Public Broadcasting Service is an American non-profit public broadcasting television network with 354 member TV stations in the United States which hold collective ownership. Its headquarters is in Arlington, Virginia....

 broadcast of Bruce Jay Friedman

Bruce Jay Friedman

Bruce Jay Friedman is an American novelist, screenwriter, playwright, and actor.Raised in the Bronx by Irving and Mollie Friedman, Bruce Jay Friedman graduated from DeWitt Clinton High School. He then attended the University of Missouri as a journalism major, then served as a First Lieutenant in...

's Steambath on Hollywood Television Theater. (She was seen taking a shower from the side totally undressed.) Only a few PBS stations nationwide were adventurous enough to carry the program.

In 1975, Perrine was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress

Academy Award for Best Actress

Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role is one of the Academy Awards of merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actress who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry...

 and the Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture Actress (Drama) and won the Best Actress Award at the Cannes Film Festival

Cannes Film Festival

The Cannes International Film Festival , is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films of all genres including documentaries from around the world. Founded in 1946, it is among the world's most prestigious and publicized film festivals...

 for her role as comedian Lenny Bruce

Lenny Bruce

Leonard Alfred Schneider , better known by the stage name Lenny Bruce, was a Jewish-American comedian, social critic and satirist...

's wife, stripper

Stripper

A stripper is a professional erotic dancer who performs a contemporary form of striptease at strip club establishments, public exhibitions, and private engagements. Unlike in burlesque, the performer in the modern Americanized form of stripping minimizes the interaction of customer and dancer,...

 Honey Bruce

Honey Harlow

Honey Harlow Bruce Friedman was a stripper and showgirl best remembered as the wife of stand-up comedian Lenny Bruce.-Biography:...

, in Bob Fosse

Bob Fosse

Robert Louis “Bob” Fosse was an American actor, dancer, musical theater choreographer, director, screenwriter, film editor and film director. He won an unprecedented eight Tony Awards for choreography, as well as one for direction...

's Lenny

Lenny (film)

Lenny is a 1974 American biographical film about the comedian Lenny Bruce, starring Dustin Hoffman and directed by Bob Fosse. The screenplay by Julian Barry is based on his play of the same name.-Plot:...

(1974).

She was Carlotta Monti

Carlotta Monti

Carlotta Monti was an American film actress who was also the mistress of W. C. Fields.Born Carlotta Montijo in Los Angeles, California, Monti appeared in B-movies like Kiss of Araby , Tarzan the Fearless and Night Cargo , usually cast as an exotic temptress...

 in the biopic W.C. Fields and Me

W.C. Fields and Me

W.C. Fields and Me is a 1976 American biographical film directed by Arthur Hiller and starring Rod Steiger and Valerie Perrine. The screenplay by Bob Merrill is based on a memoir by Carlotta Monti, mistress of W.C. Fields for the last 14 years of his life....

(1976) and one of her best remembered movie roles came as Miss Eve Teschmacher, moll of criminal mastermind Lex Luthor

Lex Luthor

Lex Luthor is a fictional character, a supervillain who appears in comic books published by DC Comics, and the archenemy of Superman, although given his high status as a supervillain, he has also come into conflict with Batman and other superheroes in the DC Universe. Created by Jerry Siegel and...

, in Superman (1978). For this role she was nominated for the 1979 Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress

Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress (Film)

The following are a list of Saturn Award winners for Best Supporting Actress :...

. She reprised her role as Miss Teschmacher in Superman II

Superman II

Superman II is the 1980 sequel to the 1978 superhero film Superman and stars Gene Hackman, Christopher Reeve, Terence Stamp, Ned Beatty, Sarah Douglas, Margot Kidder, and Jack O'Halloran. It was the only Superman film to be filmed by two directors...

(1980).

Perrine played Charlotta Steele, ex-wife of a rodeo

Rodeo

Rodeo is a competitive sport which arose out of the working practices of cattle herding in Spain, Mexico, and later the United States, Canada, South America and Australia. It was based on the skills required of the working vaqueros and later, cowboys, in what today is the western United States,...

 champion played by Robert Redford

Robert Redford

Charles Robert Redford, Jr. , better known as Robert Redford, is an American actor, film director, producer, businessman, environmentalist, philanthropist, and founder of the Sundance Film Festival. He has received two Oscars: one in 1981 for directing Ordinary People, and one for Lifetime...

, in The Electric Horseman

The Electric Horseman

The Electric Horseman is a 1979 adventure and romance feature film starring Robert Redford and Jane Fonda and directed by Sydney Pollack. It was the third time Redford and Fonda starred together in a feature film, having previously teamed on The Chase and Barefoot in the Park .-Plot:Sonny Steele ...

(1979). Her career grew uneven after an appearance in Can't Stop the Music

Can't Stop the Music

Can't Stop the Music is a 1980 musical comedy film directed by Nancy Walker. It is a pseudo-biography of disco's Village People which bears only a vague resemblance to the actual story of the group's formation...

(1980), for which she was nominated for a Razzie Award

Golden Raspberry Awards

A Golden Raspberry Award, or Razzie for short, is an award presented in recognition of the worst in movies. Founded by American copywriter and publicist John J.B. Wilson in 1981, the annual Razzie Awards ceremony in Los Angeles precedes the corresponding Academy Awards ceremony by one day...

 for Worst Actress

1980 Golden Raspberry Awards

The 1st Golden Raspberry Awards were held on March 31, 1981 at John Wilson's living room alcove to recognize the worst the film industry had to offer in 1980. Each category included as many as ten nominees; the maximum was lowered to five the following year to mirror the Oscars...

. 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

Jack Nicholson

John Joseph "Jack" Nicholson is an American actor, film director, producer and writer. He is renowned for his often dark portrayals of neurotic characters. Nicholson has been nominated for an Academy Award twelve times, and has won the Academy Award for Best Actor twice: for One Flew Over the...

. 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

Mel Gibson

Mel Colm-Cille Gerard Gibson, AO is an American actor, film director, producer and screenwriter. Born in Peekskill, New York, Gibson moved with his parents to Sydney, Australia when he was 12 years old and later studied acting at the Australian National Institute of Dramatic Art.After appearing in...

 film What Women Want

What Women Want

What Women Want is a 2000 American romantic comedy film, directed by Nancy Meyers and starring Mel Gibson and Helen Hunt. The movie was a box office success with a domestic gross of $182,811,707 and a worldwide gross of $374,111,707, against a budget of $70 million.-Plot:Nick Marshall, a Chicago...

. In 1995, Perrine made a guest appearance on the series Homicide: Life on the Street

Homicide: Life on the Street

Homicide: Life on the Street is an American police procedural television series chronicling the work of a fictional version of the Baltimore Homicide Unit. It ran for seven seasons on NBC from 1993 to 1999, and was succeeded by a TV movie, which also acted as the de-facto series finale...

, playing an ex-wife of Richard Belzer

Richard Belzer

Richard Jay Belzer is an American stand-up comedian, author, and actor. He is perhaps best known for his role as John Munch, which he has portrayed as a regular cast member on the NBC police drama series Homicide: Life on the Street and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, as well as in guest...

's Detective John Munch

John Munch

Sergeant John Munch is a fictional character played by actor Richard Belzer. Munch first appeared on Homicide: Life on the Street. Upon that series' cancellation, the character was transplanted to Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, the first spin-off of the Law & Order franchise...

.

Selected Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1972	Slaughterhouse-Five Slaughterhouse-Five (film) Slaughterhouse-Five is a 1972 film based on Kurt Vonnegut's novel of the same name. The screenplay is by Stephen Geller and the film was directed by George Roy Hill. It stars Michael Sacks, Ron Leibman, and Valerie Perrine, and features Eugene Roche, Sharon Gans, Holly Near, and Perry King. The...	Montana Wildhack
1973		Marge Dennison, Morley's Secretary	aka Hard Driver (USA: reissue title)
1974	Lenny Lenny (film) Lenny is a 1974 American biographical film about the comedian Lenny Bruce, starring Dustin Hoffman and directed by Bob Fosse. The screenplay by Julian Barry is based on his play of the same name.-Plot:...	Honey Bruce	BAFTA Award for Most Promising Newcomer to Leading Film Roles BAFTA Award for Best Newcomer -Best British Director, Producer or Writer in the First Film:*2006 - Red Road - Andrea Arnold**Black Sun – Gary Tarn**Pierrepoint – Christine Langan**London to Brighton – Paul Andrew Williams... Cannes Film Festival Best Actress Award Best Actress Award (Cannes Film Festival) The Best Actress Award is an award presented at the Cannes Film Festival. It is chosen by the jury from the 'official section' of films at the festival. It was first awarded in 1946.-Award Winners:-External links:* * .... National Board of Review Award for Best Supporting Actress National Board of Review Award for Best Supporting Actress The National Board of Review Award for Best Supporting Actress is one of the annual film awards given by the National Board of Review.-1950s:-1960s:-1970s:-1980s:-1990s:-2000s:-2010s:... New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actress New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actress The New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actress is an award given by the New York Film Critics Circle, honoring the finest achievements in filmmaking.... Nominated—Academy Award for Best Actress Academy Award for Best Actress Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role is one of the Academy Awards of merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actress who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry... Nominated—BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role Best Actress in a Leading Role is a British Academy Film award presented annually by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts to recognise an actress who has delivered an outstanding leading performance in a film.- Winners and nominees :... Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama
1976	W.C. Fields and Me W.C. Fields and Me W.C. Fields and Me is a 1976 American biographical film directed by Arthur Hiller and starring Rod Steiger and Valerie Perrine. The screenplay by Bob Merrill is based on a memoir by Carlotta Monti, mistress of W.C. Fields for the last 14 years of his life....	Carlotta Monti
1977	Mr. Billion Mr. Billion -Plot:Guido Falcone , an easygoing Italian mechanic, is heir to a billion-dollar inheritance after his uncle dies in a freak accident. In order to claim his inheritance, he must reach San Francisco within twenty days to sign a document...	Rosie Jones	aka The Windfall
1978	Superman	Eve Teschmacher	Nominated—Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress
1979	The Magician of Lublin The Magician of Lublin (film) The Magician of Lublin is a 1979 film co-written and directed by Menahem Golan. The film is based on The Magician of Lublin by Isaac Bashevis Singer. The title song The Magician was performed by Kate Bush.-Plot:...	Zeftel
1979		Charlotta Steele
1980	Agency	Brenda Wilcox	aka Mind Games (video title)
1980	Can't Stop the Music Can't Stop the Music Can't Stop the Music is a 1980 musical comedy film directed by Nancy Walker. It is a pseudo-biography of disco's Village People which bears only a vague resemblance to the actual story of the group's formation...	Samantha Simpson
1980	Superman II Superman II Superman II is the 1980 sequel to the 1978 superhero film Superman and stars Gene Hackman, Christopher Reeve, Terence Stamp, Ned Beatty, Sarah Douglas, Margot Kidder, and Jack O'Halloran. It was the only Superman film to be filmed by two directors...	Eve Teschmacher
1981		Female Cop Pulling Over Lamborghini Babes	(uncredited)
1982		Marcy
1983	Malibu Malibu (film) Malibu is a 1983 television film, based on a novel by William Murray. Featuring Kim Novak, Susan Dey, Troy Donahue and James Coburn, the all star miniseries involves a young couple from Milwaukee, who move into the fabled, high-society Malibu beach community, and become involved with the lives of...	Dee Staufer	TV miniseries
1985	Mask of Murder	Maria
1985	Water Water (1985 film) Water is a 1985 comedy film scripted by Dick Clement and Ian Le Frenais, directed by Clement, and starring Michael Caine. This HandMade Films production was released in U.S. theatres in April 1986 by Atlantic Releasing.-Plot summary:...	Pamela Weintraub	aka The Investigator
1987	Maid to Order Maid to Order Maid to Order is a 1987 comedy/fantasy film starring Ally Sheedy.-Plot:Rich and spoiled twenty something Jessie Montgomery winds up in jail after a life of wild partying...	Georgette Starkey
1991	Reflections in a Dark Sky	Caterina
1991	Bright Angel Bright Angel Bright Angel is a 1990 film directed by Michael Fields. Although it received some critical acclaim, the film earned only $158,243 at the domestic box office.-Plot:...	Aileen
1993	Boiling Point Boiling point The boiling point of an element or a substance is the temperature at which the vapor pressure of the liquid equals the environmental pressure surrounding the liquid....	Mona
1995	Girl in the Cadillac Girl in the Cadillac Girl in the Cadillac is a crime drama film released in 1995. The film stars Erika Eleniak and William McNamara.-Film synopsis:A woman called Mandy runs away from her home. She meets Rick at a bus station who takes her with him to a rendezvouz with a pair of bank robbers...	Tilly
1995		Delores Smith
1998	Brown's Requiem	Marguerita Hansen
1998		Estelle
1998	Shame, Shame, Shame	Maura's Mother
1998	54 54 (film) 54 is a 1998 drama film written and directed by Mark Christopher, starring Ryan Phillippe, Salma Hayek, and Neve Campbell...	Elaine's Patron	aka Fifty-Four
1999	My Girlfriend's Boyfriend My Girlfriend's Boyfriend My Girlfriend's Boyfriend is a 1998 screwball comedy film written and directed by Kenneth Schapiro. It was filmed on Long Island, New York.-Plot:...	Rita Lindross
1999	Picture This Picture This Picture This may refer to:*"Picture This" , a song by Blondie from the album Parallel Lines*Picture This , a 1982 album by Huey Lewis and the News...
1999	Curtain Call Curtain Call (1999 film) Curtain Call is a 1999 film directed by Peter Yates. It stars James Spader and Polly Walker.-Cast:*James Spader as Stevenson Lowe*Polly Walker as Julia*Michael Caine as Max Gale*Maggie Smith as Lily Marlowe*Buck Henry as Charles Van Allsburg...	Monica Gilroy	(uncredited)
2000	What Women Want What Women Want What Women Want is a 2000 American romantic comedy film, directed by Nancy Meyers and starring Mel Gibson and Helen Hunt. The movie was a box office success with a domestic gross of $182,811,707 and a worldwide gross of $374,111,707, against a budget of $70 million.-Plot:Nick Marshall, a Chicago...	Margo
2001	Directing Eddie	Gloria Vassick	aka Project: Indie (USA)
2002		Mrs. Duncan
2005		V	aka The Amateurs (USA: new title)
2005		Lenora Tripp
2008	Redirecting Eddie	Gloria Vassick

External links