Valerie Perrine

Tall, blue-eyed, blonde and voluptuous, Valerie Perrine made her mark on the screen as sexy or scatterbrained gals with the proverbial heart of gold. Valerie was a child of the swinging 60s. The daughter of a career army officer and a dancer in Earl Carroll's Vanities, she had an unsettled childhood, often on the move due to her father’s overseas posting. She spent time in Japan, went to Europe ‘to find herself’, then briefly attended universities in Arizona and Nevada. Having dropped out of college, she made her way to Las Vegas in 1968 and got her first paying gig as a topless showgirl in ‘Lido de Paris’ at the Stardust Resort and Casino. Before long, she moved on to Los Angeles, adopted the hippie life, experimented with drugs and lived on welfare. A chance encounter with an agent at a dinner party changed her fortunes, getting her cast as porn star Montana Wildhack in George Roy Hill’s motion picture Slaughterhouse-Five (1972), based on Kurt Vonnegut Jr.’s time tripping anti-war novel. She was now an actress on the rise.

Valerie was featured nude in a pictorial layout for the May 1972 issue of Playboy magazine (eventually also making the cover in August 1981) and appeared partially nude in a PBS televised version of the controversial off-Broadway play Steambath in 1973. That ‘notoriety’ notwithstanding, Valerie’s poignant and funny portrayal of Lenny Bruce’s long-suffering wife Honey in the film Lenny (1974) earned her an Oscar nomination, a BAFTA Award as Most Promising Newcomer and the Cannes Film Festival Award as Best Actress. She then gave another touching performance in Arthur Hiller’s biopic W.C. Fields and Me (1976), playing the role of Carlotta Monti, a small-part actress and dancer who was mistress, companion, secretary and nursemaid to legendary comic W.C. Fields for fourteen years, until his death in 1946. Valerie went on to portray another showgirl, tempestuous Broadway star Lillian Lorraine, in the telemovie Ziegfeld: The Man and His Women (1978).

Arguably Valerie's most popular role was her Saturn Award-nominated turn as Lex Luthor’s feather-brained (but very likable) girlfriend Eve Teschmacher in Superman (1978) and Superman II (1980), staring opposite the ever-charismatic Gene Hackman in the role of the evil mastermind. She gave still another solid supporting performance as rodeo champ Robert Redford’s ex-wife in the western comedy The Electric Horseman (1979). Her career suffered a significant setback in the wake of the critical and commercial flop Can't Stop the Music (1980) (for which she received a Razzie Award), later declaring "I moved to Europe after, I was so embarrassed." Nonetheless, Valerie continued to work, albeit in less conspicuous roles. Perhaps the best of these was as the profligate, but affectionate wife of a corrupt immigration enforcement agent (Jack Nicholson) in Tony Richardson’s noirish crime thriller The Border (1982). During the 90s, Valerie enjoyed guest spots on a variety of TV shows, ranging from Nash Bridges (1996) and Walker, Texas Ranger (1993) to a recurring role in the soap opera As the World Turns (1956).

Diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 2015, Valerie retired from acting a year later. She died on March 23 2026, aged 82 at her Beverly Hills home.