Pia Zadora | |
|---|---|
| Born | Pia Alfreda Schipani (1954-05-04)May 4, 1954 (age 71) Hoboken, New Jersey, U.S. |
| Occupations |
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| Years active | 1964–present |
| Spouses | |
| Children | 3 |
Pia Zadora (bornPia Alfreda Schipani; May 4, 1954)[1] is an American actress and singer. She debuted as a child actress on Broadway, in regional theater, and in the filmSanta Claus Conquers the Martians (1964). She came to national attention in 1981 when, following her starring role in the highly criticized[2]Butterfly, she won aGolden Globe Award as New Star of the Year[3] while simultaneously winning theGolden Raspberry Award for Worst Actress and theWorst New Star for the same performance.
In the 1980s, her film career failed to achieve critical success, so she focused on music. As a singer, she has released several albums featuring popular standards, often backed by a symphonic orchestra. She was nominated for a Grammy in 1984.
Zadora was born inHoboken, New Jersey. Her father, Alphonse Schipani, was an Italian-American violinist, and her mother, Saturnina Schipani (née Zadorowski), was a Polish-American theatrical wardrobe supervisor for Broadway productions, theMetropolitan Opera and theNew York City Opera.[4][5][6]
She adapted part of her mother's maiden name as her stage name. She appeared as a child actress withTallulah Bankhead inMidgie Purvis, and played the youngest sister (Bielke) in the Broadway production ofFiddler on the Roof (1964–66).
Zadora got her first film role at the age of nine portraying Girmar, a youngMartian girl, in 1964'sSanta Claus Conquers the Martians, widely regarded as one of theworst films ever made.
Zadora's acting career made little progress until, while touring with a musical production in 1972, she metMeshulam Riklis, 30 years her senior. They married on September 18, 1977. Not long after her marriage, Zadora had a breakthrough as theDubonnet Girl, appearing in print and television commercials for theapéritif wine, in whose American distributor Riklis was a shareholder.[7]
She starred withStacy Keach andOrson Welles in the 1982 film ofJames M. Cain's novelButterfly, whose plot involved father-daughter incest. The score features Zadora singing "It's Wrong for Me to Love You". She won that year'sGolden Globe Award as Best New Star of the Year[8] amid charges that Riklis had purchased the award with a promotional campaign that included Zadora's image on Sunset Boulevard billboards,[9] an appearance inPlayboy magazine, and entertaining Golden Globe voters.[10][11] Most critics responded negatively to her performance (for example,The New York Times film criticVincent Canby described Zadora's performance in the film as "spectacularly inept"),[12] and she received the 1982Razzies awards for both Worst New Star and Worst Actress.[13]
Zadora next starred in the 1982 filmFake-Out, also calledNevada Heat, awomen in prisonB-movie comedy co-starringTelly Savalas andDesi Arnaz Jr. In 1983, she appeared in the film adaptation of theHarold Robbins novelThe Lonely Lady, as an aspiring screenwriter who achieves success after surviving sexual assault. For this performance she received the 1983Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Actress.[14] On the basis of multiple nominations by the Golden Raspberry Awards, Zadora was named Worst New Star of the Decade (1980–89) and nominated as Worst Actress of the 1980s.[15]
In 1985, Zadora starred as the object of anextraterrestrial's affections in the musical comedyVoyage of the Rock Aliens. In addition to displaying her comedic side, it showcased her musical talents and featured half of the songs from her 1984 albumLet's Dance Tonight. In 1988 she appeared as abeatnik inJohn Waters's filmHairspray, about which the film criticRoger Ebert wrote: "If nothing else is worth the price of admission to this movie, perhaps you will be persuaded by the prospect of Zadora reading fromAllen Ginsberg'sHowl."[16]
In 2000, Zadora was nominated at the20th Golden Raspberry Awards as Worst Actress of the Century, ultimately losing toMadonna.
Zadora's cover of theShirley Ellis hit "The Clapping Song", recorded for the film score ofThe Lonely Lady in 1983, reached the U.S. top 40 (her only Top 40 hit on theBillboard Hot 100), and in 1984 she had a hit duet withJermaine Jackson titled "When the Rain Begins to Fall" from the movieVoyage of the Rock Aliens. In 1985, she received a nomination for aGrammy Award for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance for the song "Rock It Out," losing to Tina Turner's "Better Be Good to Me." Also in 1985, Zadora releasedPia & Phil, an album of standards with theLondon Philharmonic Orchestra,[17] and recorded a follow-up album in 1986 titledI Am What I Am.[18]
In 1988, Zadora worked with producersJimmy Jam and Terry Lewis on an album titledWhen the Lights Go Out. The album was released only in Europe, and the single "Dance Out of My Head" did not chart despite the top producers and club remixes byShep Pettibone andBen Liebrand. In 1989, Zadora recorded the albumPia Z with producerNarada Michael Walden; this album also failed to chart. The single "Heartbeat of Love" included club remixes by Robert Civillés and David Cole ofC+C Music Factory.Pia Today! (1988) andOnly for Romantics (1991), two additional albums/CDs of standards, received only limited promotional release.[19][deprecated source]Pia—The Platinum Collection, a three-CD compilation, was released in 1993 and sold in the United States via infomercials. The album included repackaged versions ofPia & Phil,I Am What I Am, andPia Today!.[20]
In 1994, Zadora had a cameo appearance in the comedyNaked Gun33+1⁄3: The Final Insult. In her segment of the film, Zadora performed theSteve Allen–penned "This Could Be the Start of Something Big" during a parody of anAcademy Awards musical number.
In 2011, Zadora began a small attempt at a comeback with a cabaret show titledPia Zadora: Back Again, and Standing Tall. In February, she performed at the Eissey Campus Theatre in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida and the Kaye Auditorium in Boca Raton.[21] She took the show to The Rrazz Room in San Francisco on June 8 where it ran for five performances until June 12.[22][23][24][25] Zadora appeared at San Francisco's Rrazz Room's 3rd annual Rrazziversary Gala Celebration and Benefit forSt. Jude Children's Research Hospital on March 17, 2011, and at the Nevada Children's Center's Great Gatsby Gala on April 3, 2011.
In 2012, Zadora performed with the Desert Symphony Orchestra at theMcCallum Theatre in Palm Desert, California,[26] and appeared on the TV showCelebrity Ghost Stories.[27]
As of 2020[update], Zadora has hosted and performedPia's Place at Las Vegas restaurant Piero's Italian Cuisine since 2013.[28]
Zadora married businessmanMeshulam Riklis in 1977, when she was 23 and he was 54. She was amarquee headliner at the Riviera Hotel in Las Vegas during the early 1970s owing to her association with Riklis and Sinatra. Zadora and Riklis bought the Beverly Hills mansionPickfair Manor in January 1988 fromLos Angeles Lakers ownerJerry Buss for almostUS$7 million (equivalent to almost $18.6 million in 2024). They demolished most of the structure while keeping the guest houses, claiming that termites and time had made repairs difficult.[29]
The house, once the shared home ofDouglas Fairbanks andMary Pickford, was demolished and a new 25,000-square-foot (2,300 m2) house was built on the property. Zadora later claimed on a September 2012 episode of BIO'sCelebrity Ghost Stories that Pickfair was razed owing to a troubling apparition that appeared to her and children when her husband was away on business. Riklis commissioned a nude oil portrait of Zadora, which greeted visitors.[9]
With first husband Riklis, she had two children.[30]
Zadora and Riklis divorced in 1993, and Zadora remained in the mansion until late 2005 or early 2006, when she sold it to Korean businessman Corry Hong for US$17.65 million (equivalent to $27.53 million in 2024).[31]
Zadora's second husband was writer-directorJonathan Kaufer. They were married from August 1995 to November 2001, and had one child. In 2010 Kaufer brought a defamation lawsuit against Zadora, alleging that she falsely accused Kaufer of sexually molesting their son. It was dismissed because the presiding judge found Zadora's comments to be protected speech.[32]
Zadora has been married to Michael Jeffries, a detective with the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, since 2005 and resides in Summerlin, Nevada.[33] They met when Zadora contacted the Las Vegas Police to report a stalking incident.[34]
In June 2013, following an altercation with her teenage son, Zadora was charged with domestic violence, battery and coercion, and jailed after a SWAT team surrounded her home.[35] Zadora, who admitted to drinking alcohol before the incident, was ordered by the presiding judge to "stay out of trouble for a year, attend impulse control counseling and follow recommendations of [an] alcohol evaluation."[36]
In September 2014, Zadora was hospitalized in the intensive care unit ofUniversity Medical Center of Southern Nevada due to head and leg injuries sustained in a golf cart accident.[37] By December, she was back to work.[38]
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1964 | Santa Claus Conquers the Martians | Girmar | Debut film |
| 1982 | Butterfly | Kady Tyler | Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year – Actress Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Actress Golden Raspberry Award for Worst New Star |
| Fake-Out | Bobbie Warren | also known asNevada Heat | |
| 1983 | The Lonely Lady | Jerilee Randall | Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Actress |
| 1984 | Voyage of the Rock Aliens | Dee Dee | |
| 1985 | Feel the Motion | Herself | West German Movie |
| 1988 | Hairspray | Beatnik Chick | |
| 1989 | Troop Beverly Hills | Herself | |
| 1994 | Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult |
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1983 | Pajama Tops | Babette Latouche | TV movie |
| 1990 | Mother Goose Rock 'n' Rhyme | Little Miss Muffet | |
| 1995 | Favorite Deadly Sins | Herself | |
| 1999 | Frasier | Jill | Episode: "Dr. Nora" (voice only) |
| Year | Single | Peak chart positions | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US | US Country | AUS[39] | UK[40] | Germany[41] | Netherlands[42] | ||
| 1978 | "Come Share My Love" | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 1979 | "Bedtime Stories" | — | 76 | — | — | — | — |
| "Tell Him"A | — | 98 | — | — | — | — | |
| "I Know a Good Thing When I Feel It" | — | 65 | — | — | — | — | |
| 1980 | "Baby It's You" | — | 55 | — | — | — | — |
| 1982 | "I'm in Love Again" | 45 | — | — | — | — | — |
| 1983 | "The Clapping Song" | 36 | — | — | — | — | — |
| 1984 | "When the Rain Begins to Fall" (withJermaine Jackson) | 54 | — | 63 | 68 | 1 | 1 |
| "Follow My Heartbeat"B | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
| "Let's Dance Tonight" | — | — | — | — | 11 | 24 | |
| "Little Bit of Heaven" | — | — | — | — | 10 | — | |
| "Rock It Out" | 110 | — | — | — | — | — | |
| 1985 | "Come Rain, Come Shine" | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 1986 | "I Am What I Am" | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 1988 | "Dance Out of My Head" | — | — | — | 65 | — | 50 |
| 1989 | "Heartbeat of Love" | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| "If You Were Mine" | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
| Year | Award | Category | Work | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1981 | Golden Globe Awards | New Star of the Year – Actress | Butterfly | Won |
| 1983 | Golden Raspberry Awards | Worst New Star | Won | |
| 1984 | Worst Actress | The Lonely Lady | Won | |
| 1990 | Worst New Star of the Decade | Butterfly,The Lonely Lady | Won | |
| 1990 | Worst Actress of the Decade | Nominated | ||
| 2000 | Worst Actress of the Century | Voyage of the Rock Aliens,Butterfly,The Lonely Lady | Nominated | |
| 1982 | Golden Apple Award | — | Sour Apple | Won |
| 1982 | ShoWest Award | Young Star of the Year | — | Won |
| 1985 | Grammy Awards | Best Rock Vocal Performance Female | Rock It Out | Nominated |
The cult TV seriesMystery Science Theater 3000 had riffed her debut filmSanta Claus Conquers the Martians as a third season episode.[43][44]
