Claudine Longet
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Claudine Longet (born January 29, 1942) is a Franco-American singer, actress, dancer, and recording artist popular during the 1960s and 1970s. Born in Paris, France, Longet was married to American singer and television entertainer
Andy Williams Howard Andrew Williams (December 3, 1927 – September 25, 2012) was an American singer. He recorded 43 albums in his career, of which 15 have been gold certified and three platinum certified. He was also nominated for six Grammy Awards. He hos ...
from 1961 until 1975. She has maintained a private profile since 1977, following her conviction for negligent homicide in connection with the shooting death of her boyfriend, former Olympic skier Spider Sabich.


Career

Her first appearances as an actress on TV were in two 1963 episodes of '' McHale's Navy''. She acted in the 1964 theatrical feature film of the same title. Many of her acting roles during the 1960s were in episodes of TV adventure series that included '' Twelve O'Clock High'', '' Combat!'', '' The Name of the Game'', '' The Rat Patrol'', '' Hogan's Heroes'', and '' Alias Smith and Jones''. Longet was cast as Sharhri Javid in the 1965 episode "The Silent Dissuaders" of the NBC education drama series, '' Mr. Novak'', starring James Franciscus. She appeared many times on '' The Andy Williams Show'' series and specials. She occasionally appeared as a singer on other variety and music programs, including those of singers
Bobby Darin Bobby Darin (born Walden Robert Cassotto; May 14, 1936 – December 20, 1973) was an American singer, songwriter, and actor who performed Pop music, pop, Swing music, swing, Folk music, folk, rock and roll, and country music. Darin started ...
and Tom Jones. Williams described Longet as "a beautiful, athletic, slender, petite brunette with large doe eyes—my favorite French singer." Her career breakthrough occurred in 1966. She guest-starred in the season-one finale of the series '' Run for Your Life'' starring Ben Gazzara. In the episode "The Sadness of a Happy Time", she performed her English-French bilingual rendition of
Antônio Carlos Jobim Antônio Carlos Brasileiro de Almeida Jobim (25 January 1927 – 8 December 1994), also known as Tom Jobim (), was a Brazilian composer, pianist, guitarist, songwriter, arranger, and singer. Considered as one of the great exponents of Brazilian ...
's '' bossa nova'' song " Meditation" ("''Meditação''"). The episode was broadcast on 16 May 1966.
A&M Records A&M Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group and functions as a branch of Interscope Geffen A&M Records, Interscope-Geffen-A&M. Established in 1962 by Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss, the label initially operated independent ...
cofounder
Herb Alpert Herb Alpert (born March 31, 1935) is an American trumpeter, pianist, singer, songwriter, record producer, arranger, conductor, painter, sculptor and theatre producer, who led the band Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass (sometimes called "Herb Alpe ...
was among the viewers whom Longet charmed with her performance of "Meditation". When Alpert met Longet at a club in New Orleans in 1966, he offered her a recording contract with his company. Longet recorded singles, and five albums, for
A&M Records A&M Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group and functions as a branch of Interscope Geffen A&M Records, Interscope-Geffen-A&M. Established in 1962 by Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss, the label initially operated independent ...
between 1966 and 1970. "Meditation" was Longet's first single release for A&M. Other Jobim compositions that she has recorded include "'' A Felicidade,''" " How Insensitive" ("''Insensatez''"), and " Dindi". In 1968, Longet co-starred with Peter Sellers in '' The Party'', a box-office hit that
Blake Edwards Blake Edwards (born William Blake Crump; July 26, 1922 – December 15, 2010) was an American film director, producer and screenwriter. Edwards began his career in the 1940s as an actor, but he soon began writing screenplays and radio scripts ...
wrote, produced, and directed. Longet sang the Henry Mancini and Don Black song "Nothing to Lose" in the film. In 1971, she joined Williams's Barnaby Records label. She released singles and two albums for Barnaby: ''We've Only Just Begun'' in 1971 and ''Let's Spend the Night Together'' in 1972. She also recorded songs for a projected third album for Barnaby that went unreleased. Many of the songs for the planned third album appeared on the 1993 CD titled ''Sugar Me'', after the Lynsey de Paul song that Longet recorded in the early 1970s, but the masters for some of the other songs are missing and presumed lost. In 1975, she appeared as the Flower (a non-singing role) on the children's album ''The Little Prince'', based on the novel by
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry Antoine Marie Jean-Baptiste Roger, vicomte de Saint-Exupéry (29 June 1900 – 31 July 1944), known simply as Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (, , ), was a French writer, poet, journalist and aviator. Born in Lyon to an French nobility, aristocratic ...
. The album won the Grammy Award for Best Album for Children in 1976. She has enjoyed success on the music popularity charts. Her 1967 debut album, '' Claudine'', peaked at number 11 on the ''Billboard'' pop albums chart in the US. ''Claudine'' became a RIAA-certified gold album, selling more than 500,000 copies. Subsequent albums '' The Look of Love'' peaked at number 33 in 1967 and ''Love Is Blue'' peaked at number 29 in 1968 on the ''Billboard'' pop albums chart in the U.S. Longet's musical cohort on her charting albums was arranger Nick DeCaro. He also arranged her other two albums on A&M, ''Colours'' (1968) and ''Run Wild, Run Free'' (1970), as well as ''We've Only Just Begun'' (1971) on Barnaby. She had hit singles in America on the ''Billboard'' Adult Contemporary chart. Her charting singles include her version of " Here, There and Everywhere" (music and lyrics by
John Lennon John Winston Ono Lennon (born John Winston Lennon; 9 October 19408 December 1980) was an English singer-songwriter, musician and activist. He gained global fame as the founder, co-lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of the Beatles. Lennon's ...
and
Paul McCartney Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained global fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and the piano, and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John ...
), " Hello, Hello" (composed by Terry MacNeil and Peter Kraemer), " Good Day Sunshine" (composed by
John Lennon John Winston Ono Lennon (born John Winston Lennon; 9 October 19408 December 1980) was an English singer-songwriter, musician and activist. He gained global fame as the founder, co-lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of the Beatles. Lennon's ...
and
Paul McCartney Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained global fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and the piano, and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John ...
), "Small Talk" (music and lyrics by Garry Bonner and Alan Gordon), and " Love is Blue", a 1967 Eurovision Song Contest entry that gained fourth place (music by André Popp and French lyrics by Pierre Cour). Another song, "Wanderlove" (music and lyrics by Mason Williams), went to number seven on the singles charts in Singapore. She remains popular in Japan, where all of her original albums were reissued on CD.


Marriage to Andy Williams

Longet and Williams met in Las Vegas in 1960 while she was dancing lead in the Folies Bergère revue at the Tropicana Resort & Casino. Longet was having trouble with her car and had pulled over to the side of the road. Driving by, Williams stopped to offer assistance. She was 18 and he was 32. They married on 15 December 1961 in Los Angeles and had three children: Noëlle (born on 24 September 1963), Christian (born on 15 April 1965), and Robert ("Bobby") (born on 1 August 1969). They legally separated in 1970 and divorced in January 1975. According to Williams, they remained "very good friends."


Friendship with Robert F. and Ethel Kennedy

Longet and Andy Williams were close friends of Senator Robert F. Kennedy and his wife, Ethel Kennedy. During the mid-1960s, the couple hosted the Kennedys at their residences in Bel Air, California, and Palm Springs, California, and spent time at the Kennedy residences at Hickory Hill and New York City. They took summer cruises together on the Salmon River in central Idaho and on the Colorado River. On or before 4 June 1968, the day of the 1968 Democratic Party presidential primary in California, Kennedy—a contending Democratic presidential candidate—and his wife made tentative arrangements with Williams and Longet to visit Los Angeles's The Factory nightclub. According to Williams, Robert Kennedy told them that he would make a hand signal at the conclusion of his televised speech at the Ambassador Hotel to confirm their get-together. Shortly after midnight on 5 June, Longet and Williams were watching Senator Kennedy's televised primary victory speech in Kennedy's suite at The Ambassador. When Williams rushed down to the hotel ballroom, he heard loud noises in the hallway and learned that Kennedy had been shot. Longet and Williams eventually joined Kennedy's family and friends at Good Samaritan Hospital, where doctors labored to save the senator's life. They stayed at the hospital for 24 hours. Longet and Williams attended Kennedy's funeral at St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York City on 8 June. A television camera captured Williams consoling a sobbing Longet during the mass. After Kennedy's brother Edward M. "Ted" Kennedy delivered a brief and emotional eulogy, Williams and a choir sang "
The Battle Hymn of the Republic The "Battle Hymn of the Republic" is an American patriotic song written by the abolitionist writer Julia Ward Howe during the American Civil War. Howe adapted her song from the soldiers' song " John Brown's Body" in November 1861, and sold ...
". After the funeral mass, Longet and Williams accompanied Ethel Kennedy, Ted Kennedy, and other Kennedy family members on the 21-car funeral train that took Senator Kennedy's body to Washington, D.C., and
Arlington National Cemetery Arlington National Cemetery is the largest cemetery in the United States National Cemetery System, one of two maintained by the United States Army. More than 400,000 people are buried in its 639 acres (259 ha) in Arlington County, Virginia. ...
for burial. The front page of the 9 June 1968 edition of the ''Washington Post'' featured a large photograph of Ted Kennedy and Longet standing together on the rear platform as the train passed through North Philadelphia. Longet and Williams named their son Robert (born in August 1969) after Robert F. Kennedy.


Arrest and trial

Longet was arrested and charged with fatally shooting her boyfriend, Olympic skier Vladimir "Spider" Sabich, at his home in
Aspen, Colorado Aspen is the List of municipalities in Colorado#Home rule municipality, home rule city that is the county seat and the List of municipalities in Colorado, most populous municipality of Pitkin County, Colorado, United States. The city population ...
, on 21 March 1976. At her trial, Longet claimed the gun accidentally discharged as Sabich was showing her how it worked. Williams publicly supported Longet throughout the trial, paid for her legal defense team, and escorted her to and from the courthouse. Asked later about his unwavering support of his ex-wife, Williams said, "She is the mother of my children and we never stopped being friends. We just didn't want to be married anymore." The
Pitkin County Pitkin County is a county in the U.S. state of Colorado. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 17,358. The county seat and largest city is Aspen, Colorado, Aspen. The county is named for Colorado Governor Frederi ...
Sheriff's Office and 9th Colorado Judicial district's investigative office made two procedural errors that aided Longet's defense: They took a blood sample from her without first obtaining a warrant, and they seized her diary without a warrant. According to prosecutors, the sample showed the presence of cocaine in her blood, and her diary reportedly contradicted her claim that her relationship with Sabich had not soured. To further muddle the prosecution's case, the gun was mishandled by weapons non-experts. As they were unable to cite any of the disallowed material, prosecutors used the autopsy report to suggest that when Sabich was shot, he was bent over, facing away, and at least from Longet, which would be inconsistent with the position and relative distance of someone who is demonstrating the operation of a firearm.Chermak and Bailey, ''Crimes of the Centuries'', ''op. cit.'' The jury convicted her of
negligent homicide Negligent homicide is a criminal charge brought against a person who, through criminal negligence, allows another person to die. Other times, an intentional killing may be negotiated down to this lesser charge as a compromised resolution of a mur ...
and sentenced her to pay a small fine and spend 30 days in jail. The trial judge, George E. Lohr, allowed Longet to choose the days to be served, believing this arrangement would allow her to spend time with her children. She decided to serve most of her sentence on weekends. Critical reaction to the verdict and sentencing was exacerbated when she subsequently vacationed with her defense attorney, Ronald D. Austin, who was married then. Longet and Austin later married. , they still live in Aspen. After the criminal trial, the Sabich family initiated civil proceedings to sue Longet. The case eventually was resolved out of court, with the provision that Longet never discuss or write about the killing or the settlement.


Marriages

*Ron Austin (1 June 1985–present) *
Andy Williams Howard Andrew Williams (December 3, 1927 – September 25, 2012) was an American singer. He recorded 43 albums in his career, of which 15 have been gold certified and three platinum certified. He was also nominated for six Grammy Awards. He hos ...
(1961–1975) (divorced), three children — daughter Noëlle Williams and sons Christian Williams and Robert Williams. As an adult, Christian Williams moved to Costa Rica and started a teak tree farm. He died in Costa Rica on July 23, 2019.


Discography


U.S. albums


Selected foreign albums


Charting singles


Filmography

*1963: '' McHale's Navy'' (TV series), season 1, episode 17, "The Big Raffle", and episode 24, "One Enchanted Weekend", both as Yevette Gerard *1964: ''
McHale's Navy ''McHale's Navy'' is an American sitcom starring Ernest Borgnine that aired 138 half-hour episodes over four seasons, from October 11, 1962, to April 12, 1966, on the American Broadcasting Company, ABC television network. The series was filmed i ...
'' (film) as Andrea Bouchard *1964: '' Combat!'', season 3, episode 5, "Silver Service" as Claudette *1965: '' Twelve O'Clock High'', season 2, episode 1, "The Loneliest Place in the World," as Suzanne *1966: ''Twelve O'Clock High'', season 2, episode 18, "Underground," as Liane Golet *1966: '' The Rat Patrol'', season 1, episode 15, "The last harbor raid" as Marianne (one of three episodes that were also shown as a film, ''Massacre Harbor'') *1966: '' Hogan's Heroes'', "It Takes A Thief... Sometimes", season 1, episode 20 as Michelle *1966: '' Combat!'', season 5, episode 25, "The Partisan" as Babette *1968: '' The Party'', film, as Michele Monet *1970: '' Love American Style'', "Love and the Minister", season 1, episode 24 as Susan *1971: ''How to Steal an Airplane'' (NBC TV movie), as Michelle Chivot *1973: '' Streets of San Francisco'', season 1, episode 16, "The Set-Up" as Michelle Carl


In popular culture


In music

*In 1980,
Mick Jagger Sir Michael Philip Jagger (born 26 July 1943) is an English musician. He is known as the lead singer and one of the founder members of The Rolling Stones. Jagger has co-written most of the band's songs with lead guitarist Keith Richards; Jagge ...
and
Keith Richards Keith Richards (born 18 December 1943) is an English musician, songwriter, singer and record producer who is an original member, guitarist, secondary vocalist, and co-principal songwriter of the Rolling Stones. His songwriting partnership wi ...
wrote a song about Spider Sabich's death that was intended to be on the
Rolling Stones The Rolling Stones are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for over six decades, they are one of the most popular, influential, and enduring bands of the Album era, rock era. In the early 1960s, the band pione ...
album '' Emotional Rescue''. The song, titled "Claudine", had lyrics that painted a graphic picture of some of the more salacious aspects of the affair and killing. It was deemed too controversial and was removed, although it was included on several bootleg Rolling Stones albums. In November 2011, the track "Claudine" was released on the deluxe reissue of their album '' Some Girls''. *
The Geraldine Fibbers The Geraldine Fibbers were an alt-country band founded in 1994 by Carla Bozulich. Initially, band members included Bozulich, Daniel Keenan, Julie Fowells, William Tutton and Kevin Fitzgerald.Strong, Martin C.:"The Great Alternative & Indie Disc ...
recorded a song called "Claudine" on their 1997 album ''Butch''. Although an instrumental, the credits show vocals courtesy of Spider Sabich Memorial Choir.


In television

*1976: season 1, episode 18 of ''
Saturday Night Live ''Saturday Night Live'' (''SNL'') is an American Late night television in the United States, late-night live television, live sketch comedy variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Michaels and Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC. The ...
'' featured a Weekend Update segment about "The Claudine Longet Invitational Ski Championship." It showed skiers making runs down the slopes until they are "accidentally" shot by Longet, resulting in abrupt wipeouts. Longet's attorneys wrote a cease-and-desist letter to
Lorne Michaels Lorne Michaels (born Lorne David Lipowitz; November 17, 1944) is a Canadian and American television writer and film producer. He created and produced ''Saturday Night Live'' (1975–1980, 1985–present) and produced the ''Late Night (franchise) ...
and an apology was given in the next week's show. *2001: ''
Gilmore Girls ''Gilmore Girls'' is an American comedy drama television series created by Amy Sherman-Palladino, starring Lauren Graham and Alexis Bledel. The show debuted October 5, 2000, on The WB and became a flagship series for the network. The show ran fo ...
'' episode 1.12, " Double Date" (January 18, 2001), references Longet in a conversation between Rory, Lane, and Lorelai while her music plays in the background. *2003: '' City Confidential'' episode 4.13, " Aspen: Murder on the Slopes" (29 July 2003), featured the city of Aspen and the case.


In art

*2012: Artist Josh Agle created a piece titled "Love, Spider" for the Denver Modernism Show depicting a Colorado scene with a brunette in the foreground wearing a cast signed with a heart by "Spider".


References


External links

* * *
Cuddle Up with Claudine fansite

Blog featuring Longet ephemera
{{DEFAULTSORT:Longet, Claudine 1942 births Living people A&M Records artists American television actresses American women pop singers French-language singers of the United States French emigrants to the United States French television actresses Actresses from Paris Traditional pop music singers 20th-century American actresses 20th-century French actresses 20th-century French women singers Longet, Claudine 20th-century American women singers 20th-century American singers 20th-century American criminals Prisoners and detainees of Colorado 21st-century American women