Edy Williams

Last updated

Edy Williams
Edy Williams at the 62nd Academy Awards.jpg
Williams at the 62nd Academy Awards, 1990
Born
Edwina Beth Williams

(1942-07-09) July 9, 1942 (age 82)
Salt Lake City, Utah, U.S.
Occupation(s)Actress and model
Years active1962–1995
Height5 ft 7 in (170 cm)
Spouse
(m. 19701975)

Edwina Beth Williams (born July 9, 1942) [1] is an American television and film actress who is best known for her acting work in the films of Russ Meyer, to whom she was married from 1970 to 1975.

Contents

Early years

Williams was born in Salt Lake City, Utah, and raised in Southern California. She began her career as a model and beauty pageant contestant. After winning several local pageants, she was signed as a contract player by 20th Century Fox. [2]

Career

Throughout the 1960s, Williams appeared in several television series and films including roles in The Beverly Hillbillies , The Twilight Zone , Batman , Adam-12 , Lost in Space , The Naked Kiss , and the Sonny & Cher film, Good Times (1967). In 1970, she appeared as Ashley St. Ives in Russ Meyer's first mainstream film, Beyond the Valley of the Dolls , followed by his second mainstream film, The Seven Minutes (1971). Meyer and Williams married in 1970, shortly after the release of Beyond the Valley of the Dolls.

In March 1973, she was photographed for Playboy in a full color photo spread by then-husband Russ Meyer. [3] After her divorce from Meyer in 1977, Williams continued acting, mainly appearing in films, many of which involved nudity.

In 1982, she appeared on an episode of The People's Court as a defendant in a case titled "The Star Who Wouldn't Pay". She was sued for payment for publicity work the plaintiff had done for her. She counter-sued for half of the retainer she'd paid him. [4] After this, she was sporadically active in films during the 1980s and early 1990s.

Since the 1970s, she has traditionally appeared at both the Academy Awards and the Cannes Film Festival in revealing and flamboyant outfits. [5]

TV and filmography

YearTitleRoleNotes
1962 The Twilight Zone Chorus GirlEpisode: "The Dummy"
1963 For Love or Money Edy
1964 Man's Favorite Sport? Second Girl
1964 The Brass Bottle Slave Girl
1964 A House Is Not a Home Call Girl
1964 The Naked Kiss HatrackAlternative title: The Iron Kiss
1965 Harlow Mail Room Girl
1966 Run for Your Life Watusi DancerEpisode: "Carnival Ends at Midnight"
1966 Nevada Smith Saloon Girl
1966 Paradise, Hawaiian Style Brunette girl
1966 Batman Hostess/Rae3 episodes (37, 49 and 50)
1966 Beverly Hillbillies Bank EmployeeSeason 4, Episode 28 "Jethro's Pad"
1967 Good Times Mordicus' GirlAlternative title: Sonny & Chér in Good Times
1967 Lost in Space NonEpisode: "Two Weeks in Space"
1968 I Sailed to Tahiti with an All Girl Crew Marilyn
1968 The Secret Life of an American Wife Susie Steinberg
1969 Where It's At Phyllis Horrigan
1970 Beyond the Valley of the Dolls Ashley St. Ives
1971 The Seven Minutes Faye Osborn
1973 Adam-12 Tammy WarrenEpisode: "Venice Division"
1975 Dr. Minx Dr. Carol Evans
1977 The Happy Hooker Goes to Washington Professor Simmons
1979 An Almost Perfect Affair HerselfUncredited
1980 Willie & Phil AshleyAlternative title: Paul Mazurksy's Willie & Phil
1983 Chained Heat Paula
1984 Hollywood Hot Tubs Desiree
1984 Bad Manners Mrs. SlattAlternative title: Growing Pains
1985 Hellhole Vera
1987 Mankillers Sgt. RobertsAlternative title: 12 Wild Women
1987 Sledge Hammer! Dream GirlEpisode: "They Call Me Mr. Trunk"
1988Rented LipsHeather Darling

1988 "Nudity Required"

1989 Dr. Alien BuckmeisterAlternative titles: I Was a Teenage Sex Maniac
I Was a Teenage Sex Mutant
1991 Bad Girls from Mars Emanuelle

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Russ Meyer</span> American film director and photographer (1922–2004)

Russell Albion Meyer was an American film director, producer, screenwriter, cinematographer, and editor. He is known primarily for writing and directing a series of successful sexploitation films that featured campy humor, sly satire and large-breasted women, such as Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!. Meyer often named Beyond the Valley of the Dolls (1970) as his definitive work.

<i>Beyond the Valley of the Dolls</i> 1970 film

Beyond the Valley of the Dolls is a 1970 American satirical musical melodrama film starring Dolly Read, Cynthia Myers, Marcia McBroom, Phyllis Davis, John LaZar, Michael Blodgett, and David Gurian. The film was directed by Russ Meyer and screenwritten by Roger Ebert from a story by Ebert and Meyer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Barbara Parkins</span> Canadian actress

Barbara Parkins is a Canadian-American former actress, singer, dancer and photographer.

Constance Money is an American former adult film actress. She played the lead role of Misty Beethoven in the 1976 adult classic The Opening of Misty Beethoven.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tura Satana</span> Japanese American actress (1938–2011)

Tura Satana was a Japanese American actress, vedette, and exotic dancer. From 13 film and television credits, some of her work includes the exploitation film Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! (1965), and the science fiction horror film The Astro-Zombies (1968).

Uschi Digard is the stage name of a softcore pornographic actress and pin-up model active between 1968 and 1982. Born in Europe, she was said to be aged thirty-two in 1977 and sixty in 2006, but her date of birth is not known. She emigrated to the United States in 1968 and settled in California. She is remembered particularly for her work with Russ Meyer.

<i>Supervixens</i> 1975 film by Russ Meyer

Supervixens is a 1975 American film directed by American filmmaker Russ Meyer. The cast features Meyer regulars Charles Napier, Uschi Digard, and Haji. The film also features Shari Eubank in one of her only two film roles and Christy Hartburg in her only film role.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kitten Natividad</span> Mexican-American actress, exotic dancer and porn star (1948–2022)

Francesca Isabel Natividad, known professionally as Kitten Natividad, was a Mexican-American film actress and exotic dancer. She was noted for her 44-inch bust, and appearances in cult films made by her ex-partner, director Russ Meyer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cynthia Myers</span> American film actress and model (1950–2011)

Cynthia Jeanette Myers was an American model, actress, and Playboy magazine's Playmate of the Month for the December 1968 issue.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eve Meyer</span> American actress (1928–1977)

Eve Meyer was an American pin-up model, motion picture actress, and film producer. Much of her work was in conjunction with sexploitation filmmaker Russ Meyer, to whom she was married from 1952 to 1969. She was killed in the Tenerife airport disaster in 1977.

Who Killed Bambi? was to be the first film featuring the punk rock band the Sex Pistols, and was due to be released in 1978. Russ Meyer and then Jonathan Kaplan were due to direct from a script by Roger Ebert and Pistols' manager Malcolm McLaren.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anouska Hempel</span> New Zealand hotelier, designer and actress (born 1941)

Anouska Hempel, Lady Weinberg is a New Zealand-born film and television actress turned hotelier and interior designer. She is sometimes credited as Anoushka Hempel.

Dolly Martin is an English pinup model and actress. She is best remembered for her appearance in Playboy magazine and as the lead character in Beyond the Valley of the Dolls. She sometimes is credited as Margaret Read, Dolly Read Martin or Dolly Martin.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Erica Gavin</span> American actress

Erica Gavin is an American film actress best known for playing the title role in Russ Meyer's 1968 film Vixen!.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Phyllis Davis</span> American actress (1940–2013)

Phyllis Ann Davis was an American actress who appeared primarily on television. She co-starred on the 1978–1981 dramatic detective series Vega$ as Beatrice Travis, office manager, and girl Friday for the show's main character, Las Vegas private detective Dan Tanna, played by Robert Urich.

John LaZar is an American actor of both stage and screen, best remembered for his lead role as Ronnie 'Z-man' Barzell in the Russ Meyer film Beyond the Valley of the Dolls (1970), co-written by Meyer and Roger Ebert.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michael Blodgett</span> American actor, novelist and screenwriter (1939–2007)

Michael Blodgett was an American actor, novelist, and screenwriter. Of his many film and television appearances he is best known for his performance as gigolo Lance Rocke in Russ Meyer's 1970 cult classic Beyond the Valley of the Dolls. He retired from acting in the late 1970s and began a writing career.

<i>The Seven Minutes</i> (film) 1971 film by Russ Meyer

The Seven Minutes is a 1971 American drama movie directed and produced by Russ Meyer. The movie was based on the 1969 novel of the same name by Irving Wallace.

<i>Valley of the Dolls</i> (film) 1967 American drama film

Valley of the Dolls is a 1967 American drama film directed by Mark Robson and produced by David Weisbart, based on Jacqueline Susann's 1966 novel of the same name. The film stars Barbara Parkins, Patty Duke, and Sharon Tate as three young women who become friends as they struggle to forge careers in the entertainment industry. As their careers take different paths, all three descend into barbiturate addiction—"dolls" being a slang term for depressant pills or "downers". Susan Hayward, Paul Burke, and Lee Grant co-starred.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pat Close</span> American actor

Patrick Tilden "Pat" Close was a former American child actor who later appeared in the 1967 Andy Warhol film Imitation of Christ.

References

  1. Lisanti, Tom (2015). Glamour Girls of Sixties Hollywood: Seventy-Five Profiles. McFarland. p. 232. ISBN   978-1-4766-1241-6.
  2. "Edy Williams Official Website Biography". Archived from the original on November 25, 2019. Retrieved December 29, 2007.
  3. Meyer, Russ (March 1973). Playboy. Vol. 20, no. 3. U.S.: Playboy Enterprises, Inc. pp. 135–41.{{cite news}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  4. Edy Williams. The People's Court, "The Star Who Wouldn't Pay" (Internet). U.S.: In2TV. Archived from the original on February 19, 2019. Retrieved December 29, 2007.
  5. Erickson, Hal. "Edy Williams Biography". AllMovie . Retrieved December 28, 2007.