{"id":2342826,"date":"2026-03-23T22:41:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-23T22:41:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2342826"},"modified":"2026-03-23T22:41:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-23T22:41:08","slug":"valerie-perrine-dead-lenny-and-superman-actor-was-82","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/valerie-perrine-dead-lenny-and-superman-actor-was-82\/","title":{"rendered":"Valerie Perrine dead: ‘Lenny’ and ‘Superman’ actor was 82"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Valerie Perrine, the Las Vegas showgirl turned Oscar-nominated actor best known for playing Lenny Bruce\u2019s wayward wife Honey Harlow in \u201cLenny\u201d and Lex Luthor\u2019s secretary Eve Teschmacher in the 1978 and 1980 \u201cSuperman\u201d films, died Monday morning. She was 82.<\/p>\n

Perrine\u2019s death was confirmed by Stacey Souther, her close friend and the director of the 2019 documentary \u201cValerie,\u201d which followed the star\u2019s debilitating battle with Parkinson\u2019s disease.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is with deep sadness that I share the heartbreaking news that Valerie has passed away,\u201d Souther announced<\/a> on social media. \u201cShe faced Parkinson\u2019s disease with incredible courage and compassion, never once complaining. She was a true inspiration who lived life to the fullest \u2014 and what a magnificent life it was. The world feels less beautiful without her in it.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love you, Valerie. I\u2019ll see you on the other side.\u201d<\/p>\n

Souther also shared a GoFundMe link and a note that Perrine\u2019s final wish was to be laid to rest at the Hollywood Hills Forest Lawn Cemetery. \u201cAfter more than 15 years of fighting Parkinson\u2019s, her finances are exhausted.\u201d<\/p>\n

Perrine was born Sept. 3, 1943, in Galveston, Texas, to parents Renee and Kenneth, a dancer and a U.S. Army lieutenant colonel. A military brat growing up, Perrine moved frequently and spent time in Japan, Paris and Scottsdale, Ariz.<\/p>\n

She attended the University of Arizona, but her academic aspirations were short-lived. She skipped town, trading her textbooks for a feather headdress and G-string in Las Vegas. Soon she was a lead dancer in the star-spangled Lido de Paris show at the Stardust Hotel. She told the New York Times<\/a> in 1974 that she spent some of her $800 weekly paycheck on experimenting with drugs: acid, mescaline, peyote, cocaine \u2014 you name it, she tried it.<\/p>\n

Eight years after her foray into Vegas showbiz, her movie career kicked off unexpectedly during a visit to Hollywood. An agent at a friend\u2019s dinner party took a liking to her, she told the Los Angeles Times<\/a> in 2013. He asked if she had any publicity photos. The only one she had was in her topless Lido costume.<\/p>\n

The sexy picture made its way to the desk of Monique James, the head of new talent at Universal. \u201cShe called me in and asked if I had ever acted before and I said \u2018no,\u2019\u201d Perrine said. \u201cShe arranged a screen test.\u201d<\/p>\n

Paul Monash, the producer of \u201cSlaughterhouse-Five,\u201d which was based on Kurt Vonnegut\u2019s acclaimed novel about World War II and time travel, directed the screen test. \u201cThey told me to wear a bikini because they wanted to see what my body looked like. I didn\u2019t have a bikini. I wore my G-string and that was it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI had been working in Vegas all the time and had been on the beach in St. Tropez, so being [naked] didn\u2019t mean anything to me,\u201d she told The Times. \u201cIt was my attitude that sparked his interest and the way I read the line, \u2018Oh, you\u2019re a moon child.\u2019 He hired me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Soon after, she portrayed the love interest of NASCAR driver Junior Johnson opposite Jeff Bridges in the 1973 sports drama \u201cThe Last American Hero.\u201d Perrine and Bridges dated briefly while working on the film. The same year she became the first woman to bare her breasts on television in the PBS telefilm \u201cSteambath.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bridges described Perrine in the 2019 documentary \u201cValerie\u201d as having a \u201creal sense of fun and play.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cShe was excited about life and excited where she was and it\u2019s a contagious feeling,\u201d he said. \u201cGrowing up in a military family and traveling all over the world made her a really interesting person and as an actress, she had the ability to bring all of that into her performances.\u201d <\/p>\n

In 1974, she tapped into her showgirl background to portray the drug-addled stripper Honey Harlow opposite Dustin Hoffman as Lenny Bruce in the biopic \u201cLenny.\u201d Her performance garnered rave reviews. She nabbed the lead actress award at the Cannes Film Festival, BAFTA named her most promising newcomer and she was nominated for an Oscar.<\/p>\n

Perrine was perhaps best known for her portrayal of Eve Teschmacher, Lex Luthor\u2019s secretary and love interest in the 1978 \u201cSuperman\u201d starring Christopher Reeve, Gene Hackman and Marlon Brando. She played the role again in 1980\u2019s \u201cSuperman II.\u201d <\/p>\n

She also starred in the 1980 disco flick \u201cCan\u2019t Stop the Music\u201d alongside the Village People and Caitlyn Jenner. The movie flopped and Perrine was so mortified by the film\u2019s poor reception that she moved to Europe. She didn\u2019t officially retire from acting until around 2010, and by 2015 she had gone public with her Parkinson\u2019s disease diagnosis. <\/p>\n

The 2019 documentary short \u201cValerie,\u201d directed by Souther, dropped the veil on Perrine\u2019s battle with the illness, with her loss of bodily autonomy captured in the film. She said \u201cthe shakes\u201d caused her to struggle and the level of care she required made her feel like a baby. <\/p>\n

Still intact, though, were her sharp wit and self-deprecating sense of humor. In the film a doctor explains that there are times when physicians aren\u2019t able to pin down a diagnosis or there are multiple diagnoses. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe doctors don\u2019t know what\u2019s going on with me,\u201d Perrine says. \u201cThey can\u2019t figure it out.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat do you think it is?\u201d the doctor asks Perrine. <\/p>\n

\u201cKarma,\u201d she quips.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n