Actress Valerine Perrine dies at 82

Actress Valerie Perrine has died at 82 following a 15-year battle with Parkinson's disease. Perrine is probably best known for her role as Miss Teschmacher in the original Superman and Superman II movies with Gene Hackman and Christopher Reeve.

Before her film career took off, Perrine was a Las Vegas showgirl in 1968. She met an agent at a dinner party who was looking for someone to play Montana Wildhack, a softcore porn actress, in the film Slaughterhouse-Five, and that was how she broke into the business. Following that film debut, Perrine appeared in two TV movies and a filmed adaptation of the Off-Broadway play Steambath for PBS in 1973, which is thought to feature the first instance of bare breasts on broadcast television.

In 1974, she became an 'overnight star' with her role as Lenny Bruce's stripper wife in Bob Fosse's Lenny, opposite Dustin Hoffman, earning an Oscar nomination and winning at Cannes for her performance. In 1976 she won good notices for her role as W.C. Fields' mistress, Carlotta Monti, in W.C. Fields and Me opposite Rod Steiger. Her signature role of Lex Luthor's girlfriend, Eve Teschmacher, came in 1978's Superman, which she reprised in Superman II (1980).

Her next major role came in 1979's The Electric Horseman, opposite Robert Redford, but her career came to a screeching halt in 1980 after appearing in the musical bomb (now camp cult classic), Can't Stop the Music, opposite Bruce Jenner and Village People, earning her a Razzie nomination. Perrine was so embarrassed by the film she moved to Europe.

Despite the setback to her career, Perrine continued to work in movies and television. Her TV movie credits include Marian Rose White, Malibu, When Your Lover Leaves, Sweet Bird of Youth, and TV miniseries The Secrets of Lake Success. Perrine starred with Harvey Korman in the short-lived series Leo & Liz in Beverly Hills in 1986, which lasted for just six episodes. Her other TV series credits include Faerie Tale Theatre, The George Burns Half-Hour Comedy Hour, Northern Exposure, Ghostwriter, Burke's Law, Homicide: Life on the Street, ER, Nash Bridges, The Practice, Walker, Texas Ranger, Just Shoot Me!, Family Law, The Beast, Grounded for Life, Third Watch and Lights Out. Perrine also appeared in eight episodes of the daytime soap As the World Turns in the late 1990s.

Perrine never had another starring role in a film after 1980, but she did continue in smaller roles with credits that include The Border, Water, Maid to Order, Bright Angel, Boiling Point, Girl in the Cadillac, The Break, 54, What Women Want, The Amateurs (aka The Moguls), The Californians, and Silver Skies, her final role in 2016.

In 2020, her friend Stacey Souther directed a 36-minute documentary, Valerie, detailing Perrine's career and battle with Parkinson's. Perrine is survived by her brother Kenneth, who has also been diagnosed with Parkinson's. Souther has set up a GoFundMe page to help defray funeral costs stating:

“Valerie Perrine gave everything she had to her craft, her fans, and her life — with grace, humor, and an indomitable spirit that Parkinson’s itself could never fully extinguish. Let’s make sure her final chapter is written with the same dignity and love that she gave to all of us.”