Valerie Perinne, voluptuous actress born September 3, 1943 in Galveston, Texas, passed away from Parkinson's disease in Los Angeles. Her first film was Slaughterhouse-Five in 1972. It was her performance in Lenny that gained her an Oscar nomination and a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress.
She portrayed Lex Luthor's moll Miss Eve Tessmacher in Superman I and Superman II. She had the lead role in Can't Stop the Music with the Village People, which was a spectacular failure at the box office.
She continued acting until her retirement 2016, a year after being diagnosed with Parkinson's disease in 2015.
The disco glam movie Can't Stop the Music was nominated for seven Golden Raspberry awards and took home the award for Worst Movie at the first annual ceremony held March 31, 1981. The Golden Raspberry awards were initiated to celebrate the worst of the film industry. Can't Stop the Music is the reason John J. B. Wilson started the Golden Raspberries.
Can't Stop the Music won Worst Screenplay for Bronte Woodard and Allan Carr. It was nominated for Worst Director for Nancy Walker, Worst Actor for Bruce Jenner, Worst Actress for Valerie Perrine, Worst Supporting Actress for Marilyn Sokol, Worst Original Song for (You) Can't Stop the Music by Jacques Morali.
Xanadu was nominated for six Razzies and won for Worst Director for Robert Greenwald. It also received nominations for Worst Picture, Worst Actor for Michael Beck, Worst Actress for Olivia Newton-John, Worst Screenplay and Worst Original Song for Suspended in Time (seriously?).
Can't Stop the Music was released during a period of rising anti-disco sentiment, which is probably why it received so much hate at the time. However, some 45 years later, opinions toward it have mellowed somewhat and it seems that now it isn't considered to be as terrible as when it was released.
Ray Simpson, born January 15, 1954 in New York City, is best known as the former lead singer and Cop for Village People. He sang backup for the group in its formative years. When the original lead singer Victor Willis left the Village People in 1979, Simpson became the front man. He appeared with the rest of the band in the movie Can't Stop the Music in 1980.
His sister is Valerie Simpson of the duo Ashford & Simpson.
Ray lives in New Jersey with his wife Leslie and daughter Alayna.
