Claudine Longet

Claudine Longet
We've Only Just Begun (1971) LP.
Background information
Born	29 January 1942 (1942-01-29) (age 67)
Origin	Paris, France
Genres	Pop Bossa nova French pop Standards Soft rock
Occupations	Singer, Actress
Instruments	Voice, Guitar
Years active	1963—75
Labels	A&M, Barnaby Records
Associated acts	Andy Williams Nick De Caro

Claudine Georgette Longet (born 29 January 1942) was a popular singer and recording artist during the 1960s and 1970s. She was also an actress and a dancer.

Born in Paris, France, Longet was married to pop singer Andy Williams from 1961 until 1975. She has maintained a private profile since 1977, following her conviction for misdemeanor negligent homicide^[1] in connection with the death of former Olympic skier "Spider" Sabich.

Marriage to Andy Williams

Longet and Williams met in Las Vegas in 1960 when she was 18 and he was 32. Claudine was experiencing problems with her car and had pulled over to the side of the road. Driving by, Williams stopped to offer assistance. She was the lead dancer of the Folies Bergère revue at the Tropicana Resort & Casino. They married on 15 December 1961 in Los Angeles,^[2] 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^[3] and divorced in January 1975.^[4] According to Williams, they remain "very good friends" to the present day.^[5]

Career

After about a one-year hiatus, Longet resumed her professional career in late 1962. Her first appearances as an actress on television were in two 1963 episodes of the comedy series McHale's Navy. She also acted in the 1964 theatrical feature film of the same title. Many of her acting roles during the 1960s were in episodes of television adventure series that included Twelve O'Clock High, Combat!, The Name of the Game, and The Rat Patrol.

She appeared many times on The Andy Williams Show series and specials. She also occasionally appeared as a singer on other variety and music programs, including those of singers Bobby Darin and Tom Jones. Williams called Longet—a beautiful, athletic, slender, petite sleek brunette with large doe eyes—"my favorite French singer."

Her career breakthrough occurred in 1966. She had a guest-starring role in the season-one finale of the NBC television adventure series Run for Your Life, which starred Ben Gazzara. In the episode "The Sadness of A Happy Time," she mesmerized viewers with her ethereal English-French bilingual rendition of the bossa nova song "Meditation" ("Meditação"), singing with a very soft angelic voice filled with longing and melancholy but also with a cheerful optimism. The episode was first broadcast on 16 May 1966.

A&M Records cofounder Herb Alpert was among the viewers whom Claudine charmed with her performance of "Meditation." When Alpert met Longet by happenstance at a club in New Orleans later in 1966, he offered her a recording contract with his company.^[6] Longet recorded singles, and five albums, for A&M Records between 1966 and 1970.

"Meditation" was Claudine's first single release for A&M. The song is one of many majestic compositions of prolific and legendary Brazilian composer Antônio Carlos Jobim. Claudine loves singing his songs. Other Jobim compositions that she has recorded include "A Felicidade," "How Insensitive" ("Insensatez"), and "Dindi."

In 1968, Longet costarred with Peter Sellers in the MGM motion picture The Party, a box office hit that Blake Edwards wrote, produced, and directed. Elvis Presley reportedly identified The Party as his favorite film.^[7] Longet sang "Nothing to Lose" (music by Henry Mancini and lyrics by Don Black) in the film.

In 1971, she joined Williams' 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 finally appeared on the 1993 compact disc release titled Sugar Me, after the Lynsey de Paul song that Claudine covered in the early 70's but the masters for some of the other songs are missing and presumed lost.

In 1975, she appeared as "The Flower" (a nonsinging role) with Richard Burton, Jonathan Winters, and others, on the children's album The Little Prince, based on the Antoine de Saint Exupéry novel. 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 #11 on the Billboard pop albums chart in the United States. Claudine became a RIAA-certified gold album, selling more than 500,000 copies. Subsequent albums The Look of Love peaked at #33 in 1967 and Love Is Blue peaked at #29 in 1968 on the Billboard pop albums chart in the U.S.

Longet's musical cohort on her charting albums was arranger Nick De Caro. He also arranged her other two albums on A&M, Colours (1968) and Run Wild, Run Free (1970), and We've Only Just Begun on Barnaby.

She also has had hit singles in America on the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart. Her charting singles include "Here, There and Everywhere" (music and lyrics by John Lennon and Paul McCartney), "Hello, Hello" (composed by Terry MacNeil and Peter Kraemer), "Good Day Sunshine" (composed by Lennon and McCartney), "Small Talk" (music and lyrics by Garry Bonner and Alan Gordon), and "Love Is Blue" ("L'Amour Est Bleu") (music by André Popp and French lyrics by Pierre Cour [Pierre Lemaire]). Another song, "Wanderlove" (music and lyrics by Mason Williams), went to #7 on the singles charts in Singapore and still occasionally gets airplay on Asian radio. She remains popular in Japan, where all of her original albums were reissued on compact disc.

Relationship with Robert F. and Ethel Kennedy

Claudine and Andy Williams were close personal friends of Robert F. "Bobby" Kennedy and his wife, Ethel Kennedy. During the mid-1960s, they regularly socialized at Claudine and Andy's residences in Bel Air and Palm Springs and at Bobby and Ethel's residences at Hickory Hill and New York City.^[8] They also took summer cruises on the Salmon River in central Idaho and on the Colorado River.^[9]

On or before 4 June 1968, the day of the 1968 Democratic Party presidential primary in California, Bobby—a contending Democratic presidential candidate—and Ethel made tentative arrangements with Andy and Claudine to visit a trendy local disco called The Factory. According to Andy, Bobby 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.^[8]

Shortly after midnight on 5 June, Claudine and Andy watched Senator Kennedy’s primary victory speech on the television in the bedroom of their Bel Air home. When they saw Kennedy make the "little hand gesture," they got out of bed and began getting dressed. As they were putting on their clothes, they heard loud noises on the television and learned that someone had shot Senator Kennedy.

Claudine and Andy rushed to the hotel and eventually joined Kennedy’s family and close friends at the Good Samaritan Hospital in Los Angeles, where doctors were trying to save the Senator's life. They stayed at the hospital for about 24 hours. After Kennedy died during the early morning hours of 6 June, Claudine and Andy went into his hospital room and saw Ethel asleep near her husband.

Claudine and Andy attended Senator Kennedy’s funeral Mass at St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York City on 8 June. A television camera captured Andy consoling a sobbing Claudine during the Mass. After Bobby's brother Edward M. "Ted" Kennedy delivered a brief and emotional eulogy, Andy and a choir sang "The Battle Hymn of the Republic" in what a Washington Post reporter described as a "hauntingly slow tempo."^[10] Outside the cathedral on the streets of New York, thousands of people were listening to the Mass over loudspeakers. When they heard Andy singing, they began singing with him.^[11]

After the funeral Mass, Claudine and Andy boarded the 21-car funeral train that took Senator Kennedy’s body to Washington, DC and Arlington National Cemetery for burial. Claudine and Andy were with Senator Kennedy’s body, Ethel Kennedy, Ted Kennedy, and other Kennedy family members in the end car of the train. The front page of the 9 June 1968 edition of the Washington Post has a large photograph that depicts Ted Kennedy and Claudine standing together on the rear platform of the funeral train as it passed through North Philadelphia.^[12]

Claudine and Andy named their son Bobby (who was born in August 1969) in remembrance of Bobby Kennedy.

Arrest and trial

Longet was arrested and charged with fatally shooting her boyfriend, Olympic skier Vladimir "Spider" Sabich, at his Aspen, Colorado, home on 21 March 1976. At the sensational trial, Longet said the gun discharged accidentally as Sabich was showing her how it worked. Williams very publicly supported Longet throughout the trial, even escorting her to and from the courthouse.

The Aspen police made two procedural errors that aided Longet's defense: without warrants, they took a blood sample from her and confiscated her diary. 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. In addition, the gun was mishandled by non-weapons experts. Unable to cite any of the disallowed materials, prosecutors did use the autopsy report to suggest that when Sabich was struck he was bent over, facing away, and at least 6 feet (1.8 m) from Longet, which would be inconsistent with the position and relative distance of someone demonstrating the operation of a firearm.

The jury convicted her of a lesser charge—misdemeanor criminal negligence—and sentenced her to pay a small fine and spend 30 days in jail. ^[13] The judge allowed Longet to choose the days she served, believing that this arrangement would allow her to spend the most time with her children, and she chose to work off most of her sentence on weekends. (Critical reaction to the verdict and sentencing was exacerbated when she subsequently vacationed with her defense attorney, Ron Austin, who was married at the time; Longet and Austin later married and still live in Aspen.) After the criminal trial, the Sabich family initiated civil proceedings to sue Longet. The case was eventually resolved out of court, with the proviso that Longet never tell or write about her story.

Recent years

Longet has never performed again; her public appearances since the trial have been limited to writing liner notes for a 2005 CD compilation and providing voiceover (off-camera) commentary for a 2003 A&E Biography documentary about Andy Williams. Interest in her music has resurged in recent years following several CD releases, inclusion of her songs on TV and film soundtracks, and expressions of admiration by several young performers. Her musical legacy is rarely referenced, however, without allusion to the events that took her out of the public eye.

Marriages

• Ron Austin (1 June 1985–present)
• Andy Williams (1961–75) (divorced), 3 children; daughter Noelle Williams and sons Christian Williams and Bobby Williams, who was named for Robert F. Kennedy.

Pop culture references

Lists of miscellaneous information should be avoided. Please relocate any relevant information into appropriate sections or articles. (December 2008)

• Season 1, Episode 12 (18 January 2001) of Gilmore Girls features Rory's friend Lane having bought an eclectic range of CDs. Rory responds, "I must listen to anyone named Claudine Longet." They play Claudine's version of the song "God Only Knows" (composed by Brian Wilson and Tony Asher), and Lorelai, on discovering to whom they are listening, says: "…the chick who shot the skier? Wow, Renaissance woman." Season 5, Episode 22 (15 May 2005 season finale) of the show features Claudine's recording of "I Think It's Going To Rain Today" (composed by Randy Newman, who played piano at the session).^{[citation needed]}

• Longet's version of "Love is Blue," the title song of one of her albums, is heard in the background of a scene in the 2008 film Pineapple Express.

• Season 1, Episode 18 of Saturday Night Live featured a skit titled "The Claudine Longet Invitational," which parodied the shooting incident, showing skiers making runs down the slopes until they are "accidentally" shot by Claudine Longet, resulting in abrupt wipeouts. Longet's attorneys wrote a cease-and-desist letter to Lorne Michaels and an apology was given in the next week's show.^[14]

• Mick Jagger wrote a song about the murder of Spider Sabich in 1980 that was intended to be on the Rolling Stones album Emotional Rescue. The song, titled "Claudine," carried lyrics that painted a graphic picture of some of the more salacious aspects of the affair and killing. However, it was deemed too controversial and it was removed. It can now be found on several bootleg Rolling Stones albums.^[15]

Discography

U.S. albums

Notable foreign albums

Charting U.S. singles

References

External links

• Claudine Longet at Allmusic
• Claudine Longet at the Internet Movie Database
• Cuddle Up with Claudine fansite
• Bang Bang! Who's Afraid of Claudine Longet at Confessions of a Pop Culture Addict
• Blog featuring Longet ephemera