Rainbeaux Smith

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Rainbeaux Smith , born Cheryl Lynn Smith , (born June 6, 1955 in Los Angeles ; † October 25, 2002 ) was an American actress and star of several exploitation films in the 1970s.

Life

Cheryl Smith grew up near Hollywood . Her mother Jayne was a vaudeville dancer and later a dance teacher. After Cheryl's divorce from Cheryl's father, when Cheryl was seven, she lived with her mother near Sunset Boulevard . A mother of a school friend gave Smith the first appearance in the short film The Birth of Aphrodite , which was nominated for the 1972 Cannes Film Festival short film competition. Her next appearance was in the film Evel Knievel , followed by her first leading role in the 1973 horror film Lemora . She also made music and played as a drummer. She got her stage name "Rainbeaux" after a club in Hollywood that she often went to. This was followed by a leading role in Jonathan Demme 's first film The Prison of Lost Girls . She subsequently played leading roles in exploitation films such as Die Sklavenhölle der Mandingos and The great story of C. She became the star of several films in which she was preferred as a cheerleader , but also as a prostitute, school girl, model or groupie in nude roles. Her part in the movie Driver was cut out. She took part in the casting for the film Taxi Driver to no avail , but received roles in Robert Aldrich's film The Choirboys and again with Jonathan Demme in Melvin and Howard . During the shooting of the film The Teenies - A college goes crazy , she was pregnant and played a cheerleader at the request of the director. In 1976 she became the mother of a son who was mentioned in the credits of the film.

Smith was also active as a musician and illustrator. She briefly joined the women's rock band The Runaways in 1979 for filming and was then part of the LA Girls band as a drummer and lead singer . She came into contact with hard drugs in the late 1970s. Your Heroin brought Smith more often in conflict with the law. She has been arrested several times and served two prison terms in the late 1980s. During this time, the state welfare took care of her son. She had her last film appearance in 1983 in Independence Day, directed by Robert Mandel . Her mother died in the 1990s, which was an additional burden for her. Smith tried to make a living on music, drawings, and gifts from her friends, and she was temporarily homeless. "She felt forgotten by the film industry and the fans," says film journalist Chris Barbour, "and I assured her that it wasn't." Although she eventually managed to break out of heroin addiction with the help of a significant other, she died. year old from hepatitis .

In letters to the publicist Bill George in 1985 she praised the exploitation cinema of the seventies. It was subordinate to the actresses, not the other way around. Her colleagues described her as "something special". She did not play her roles, but had a natural instinct for her demands. It has been labeled "glowing", "unforgettable" and "cosmic". Quentin Tarantino introduced her at a 1998 film festival at the Dobie Theater in Austin as follows:

"What Pam Grier was to blaxploitation movies, what Bruce Lee was to kung fu movies, what Burt Reynolds was to good-ol'-boy movies, Rainbeaux Smith was to cheerleader movies. She truly has, without trying whatsoever, a Marilyn Monroe quality . She doesn't look like Monroe at all; she just has that kind of vacantness. She's not so much acting as she is existing. Imagine Marilyn Monroe as kind of a '70s hippie junky, then you kind of have Rainbeaux Smith. "

“What Pam Grier was to Blaxploitation films, Bruce Lee to Kung Fu films, Burt Reynolds to Good Ol 'Boy films, Rainbeaux Smith was to cheerleading films. Without practicing this in any way, she has Marilyn Monroe qualities. She doesn't look like Monroe at all, but she has the same kind of emptiness. It plays less, it exists. If you think of Marilyn Monroe as a 70s hippie junkie, you have someone like Rainbeaux Smith. "

- Quentin Tarantino : Big Bad Drive In. Big Bad Mamas: Cheryl "Rainbeaux" Smith; The Projectionist, September 27, 2011

Filmography (selection)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ according to the California Birth Index . The sometimes circulating year of birth "1957" is thus refuted.
  2. ↑ a b c d Cheryl "Rainbeaux" Smith: The Life, Times, Death and Letters Of a Drive-In Diva ... ( Memento from April 21, 2015 in the Internet Archive ), Chris Barbour, Bill Georges's Red Hot Planet
  3. ↑ a b c d Rainbeaux Smith, A look back at the 1970s cult movie starlet , Poché Pictures
  4. ^ The Birth of Aphrodite (1971) , British Film Institute Directory
  5. ↑ a b c Brightly Colored Rainbeaux - Remembering Cheryl 'Rainbeaux' Smith (1955 - 2012) , Tina Aumonts Eyes, October 18, 2013
  6. ↑ a b c Quentins's Angels , choices.de, August 24, 2011
  7. ↑ a b c d Big Bad Mamas: Cheryl "Rainbeaux" Smith , Big Bad Drive In, September 27, 2011
  8. ↑ Film review on choices.de
  9. ^ Requiem for a Cheerleader ... The Passing of Cheryl Rainbeaux Smith , Ain't It Cool News, Nov. 3, 2002
  10. ↑ [1]
personal data
SURNAME Smith, Rainbeaux
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Smith, Cheryl Lynn (maiden name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American actress and musician
DATE OF BIRTH June 6, 1955
PLACE OF BIRTH Los Angeles , California , United States
DATE OF DEATH October 25, 2002
Place of death Los Angeles , California , United States