Spector actress 'was fame hunter'

OMEN · 07-12-2007, 03:40 AM

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Lana Clarkson died at Mr Spector's mansion in 2003
An actress who was found dead at the home of music producer Phil Spector was motivated by fame, a court has heard.

Playwright John Barons, who hired and fired Lana Clarkson shortly before her death, told Mr Spector's murder trial her career "was everything to her".

She once joked that "if you turn 40 in this town and haven't made it, you might as well find a bridge", he added.

Ms Clarkson was 40 when she died from a gunshot at Mr Spector's Los Angeles mansion in 2003. He denies murder.

Mr Barons was called by the defence team, who claim Ms Clarkson committed suicide.

They are attempting to show that the actress was depressed because of a series of career setbacks.

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John Barons said he had found it difficult to work with Ms Clarkson
Mr Barons confirmed he had cast Ms Clarkson as her acting idol Marilyn Monroe in his play, Brentwood Blondes, but fired her before the show opened.

"Her main motivation was to be known," he said. "It's not like she wanted to be in Dostoyevsky and that she wanted to do Shakespeare... The passion was more to be a famous actress."

He said he found it difficult to work with Ms Clarkson because she made demands for costumes he could not afford and at one point told the cast she had helped to rewrite the play.

But she accepted the news of her firing calmly and graciously, he added.

In the aftermath of Ms Clarkson's death, Mr Barons said he left Hollywood and spent a year trying to sort out his reactions.

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Phil Spector produced acts like The Beatles and The Ronettes
"I felt really bad," he told the court. "I wondered what would have happened if she stayed with the play.

"Maybe none of us would have been here."

Ms Clarkson made her big screen debut in 1982 alongside Sean Penn and Jennifer Jason Leigh in Fast Times at Ridgemont High.

But she was better known as the foil of low-budget movie mogul Roger Corman, who gave her the starring role in 1985's Barbarian Queen.

In the 1990s, however, the acting jobs began to dry up and her career consisted of small roles in a handful of films and occasional TV parts.

She was working as a waitress in the House of Blues in West Hollywood when she died from a gunshot wound to her face.

Mr Spector pioneered the "Wall of Sound" recording technique in the 1960s. If convicted, he faces between 15 years and life in prison.

BBC

Spector actress 'was fame hunter'

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