Valerie Perrine, who won Best Actress at Cannes and was Oscar nominated for her performance in Bob Fosse’s 1974 Lenny Bruce biopic ‘Lenny’, has died aged 82. She is perhaps best known for playing Lex Luthor’s love interest in the Richard Donner Superman films.
Valerie Perrine, the Oscar-nominated actress best known for her performances in Lenny alongside Dustin Hoffman and her role as Eve Teschmacher in Superman (1978) and Superman II (1980), has died at the age of 82.
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Her death was announced by filmmaker Stacey Souther, who directed the 2022 documentary Valerie about Perrine’s career and battle with Parkinson’s disease.
Souther wrote in a post on Perrine’s official Facebook page: “It is with deep sadness that I share the heartbreaking news that Valerie has passed away. She faced Parkinson’s disease with incredible courage and compassion, never once complaining.”
“She was a true inspiration who lived life to the fullest—and what a magnificent life it was. The world feels less beautiful without her in it. I love you, Valerie. I’ll see you on the other side.”
The Texas-born actress started her career as a showgirl in Las Vegas. On 9 August 1969, Perrine was invited to a party at Sharon Tate’s home in Benedict Canyon by her partner, Hollywood hair stylist Jay Sebring. She unexpectedly had to work that evening – the same night members of the Manson Family cult murdered six people, including Tate and Sebring.
In 2023, on the anniversary of his death, Perrine wrote: “Remembering Jay Sebring today. We dated. I was supposed to be with him at Sharon Tate’s house.”
Her big break came when she was cast in the film version of Slaughterhouse-Five (1972), playing a soft-core porn actress. She then played the girlfriend of Jeff Bridges’ racing car driver in The Last American Hero in 1973, and gained notoriety that same year as the first actress to appear nude on American network television by intentionally exposing her breasts during the 4 May 1973 PBS broadcast of Bruce Jay Friedman’s Steambath.
In 1974, she played Honey Bruce, the wife of comedian Lenny Bruce, in Bob Fosse’s acclaimed biopic Lenny, starring Dustin Hoffman. She won the Best Actress award at Cannes for her performance, and was also nominated for both a Golden Globe and an Academy Award.
Perrine then became known for her role as Miss Eve Teschmancher, the love interest of Gene Hackman’s Lex Luthor in Superman and its sequel.
Other notable roles included Charlotta Steele, the ex-wife of a rodeo champion played by Robert Redford in The Electric Horseman (1979); Jack Nicholson’s wife in 1982’s The Border; and supermodel Samantha “Sam” Simpson in Can’t Stop The Music, the now-cult 1980 pseudo-biopic of disco group the Village People.
RIP Valerie Perrine (1943 – 2026)
