Claudine Georgette Longet is a French singer, actress, dancer and recording
artist who was popular during the 1960s and 1970s.
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 in connection with the death of
her boyfriend, former Olympic skier Spider Sabich.
Career 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, The
Rat Patrol and Hogan's Heroes Episode #20: It Takes a Thief ... Sometime.
Longet was cast as Sharhri Javid in the 1965 episode, "The Silent Dissauders",
of the NBC education drama series, Mr. Novak, starring James Franciscus.
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 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 performed her English-French
bilingual rendition of Jobim's bossa nova song "Meditation", 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 Longet 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. Longet recorded singles, and five albums, for A&M Records between
1966 and 1970. "Meditation" was Longet's first single
release for A&M. Other Jobim compositions that she has recorded
include "A Felicidade", "How Insensitive", 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.
Longet sang "Nothing to Lose" 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 Longet 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" 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 and Run Wild, Run Free, 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", "Hello,
Hello", "Good Day Sunshine", "Small Talk", and "Love is Blue". Another song,
"Wanderlove", 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.
Marriage to Andy Williams Longet and Williams met in Las Vegas in
1960 when she was 18 and he was 32. Longet 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, and had three children: Noëlle, Christian, and Robert. They legally
separated in 1970 and divorced in January 1975. According to Williams,
they remained "very good friends". Friendship with Robert F. and Ethel
Kennedy Longet and Andy Williams were close
friends of Robert F. "Bobby" Kennedy and his wife, Ethel Kennedy. During the
mid-1960s, they regularly socialized at Longet's and Williams's residences in
Bel Air and Palm Springs and at the Kennedy residences at Hickory Hill and
New York City. They also took summer cruises on the Salmon River in central
Idaho and on the Colorado River. On or before 4 June 1968, the day of the
1968 Democratic Party presidential primary in California, Kennedy — a
contending Democratic presidential candidate — and his wife made tentative
arrangements with Williams and Longet to visit The Factory. According to
Williams, Robert Kennedy 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. Shortly after midnight on 5 June, Longet
and Williams were watching Senator Kennedy's televised primary victory
speech in Kennedy's suite in his hotel and saw Kennedy make the "little hand
gesture". When Williams rushed down to the hotel ballroom, he heard loud noises
in the hallway and learned that Kennedy had been shot. Longet and Williams
eventually joined Kennedy's family and friends at the Good Samaritan Hospital
in Los Angeles, where doctors labored 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, Longet and Williams went into his hospital room and saw
Ethel Kennedy asleep near her husband. Longet and Williams attended Kennedy's
funeral at St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York City on 8 June. A television
camera captured Williams consoling a sobbing Longet during the Mass. After
Kennedy's brother Edward M. "Ted" Kennedy delivered a brief and emotional
eulogy, Williams and a choir sang "The Battle Hymn of the Republic" in what a
Washington Post reporter described as a "hauntingly slow tempo". Outside the
cathedral on the streets of New York, thousands of people were listening to
the Mass over loudspeakers. When they heard Williams singing, they began
singing with him. After the funeral Mass, Longet and
Williams boarded the 21-car funeral train that took Senator Kennedy's body
to Washington, D.C. and Arlington National Cemetery for burial. Longet and
Williams 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 Longet standing together on the rear platform of the funeral
train as it passed through North Philadelphia.
Longet and Williams named their son Bobby in remembrance of Robert 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 her trial Longet said the gun
discharged accidentally as Sabich was showing her how it worked. Williams
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 they 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. As they were unable
to cite any of the disallowed material, prosecutors used the autopsy report to
suggest that when Sabich was shot he was bent over, facing away, and at least
1.80 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 negligent
homicide and sentenced her to pay a small fine and spend 30 days in jail.
The judge allowed Longet to choose the days to be served, believing this
arrangement would allow her to spend the most time with her children. She chose
to serve most of her sentence on weekends. After the criminal trial, the
Sabich family initiated civil proceedings to sue Longet. The case was
eventually resolved out of court, with the provision that Longet never tell or
write about her story. Marriages
Ron Austin Andy Williams, three children — daughter
Noelle Williams and sons Christian Williams and Bobby Williams.
Pop culture references = In music=
In 1980, Mick Jagger wrote a song about Spider Sabich's death 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 was removed, although it was included on several bootleg
Rolling Stones albums. In November 2011, the track "Claudine" was released on the
Rolling Stones' deluxe reissue of their album Some Girls.
= In television= 1975: 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.
2003: City Confidential episode 4.17, "Aspen: Murder on the Slopes", featured
the city of Aspen and the case. Gilmore Girls:
Season 1, Episode 12 of the show features a song by Longet, her version
of "God Only Knows". Season 5, Episode 22 of the show
features Longet's recording of "I Think It's Going to Rain Today".
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
Blog featuring Longet ephemera