Claudine Longet is a former actress and singer that never really caught a break during her time
in the spotlight. Instead, she caught homicide charges! Despite having appeared alongside famous
comedic actor Peter Sellers in the 1968 film The Party and having released a hit album with
A&M Records, not much ever came of Claudine’s career in the entertainment industry. Instead,
she ended up retreating into a private life outside of show business after being charged with
the murder of her romantic partner. Join Facts Verse as we explore how beautiful Claudine Longet
got away with murder, and take a look at where she is now.
Claudine Longet’s Early Life Claudine Longet was born on January 29,
1942, in France’s capital city of Paris. Although her mother and father were both in
the medical profession, Claudine started showing interest in becoming a performer from a young age.
Claudine’s father was a doctor, while her mother worked in the manufacturing of
X-ray machines. Of course, Claudine would end up straying fairly far from her parents’ paths when
she made her entrance into show business. During her late teen years, Claudine could be found
working as a professional dancer at a popular cabaret joint by the name of Folies Bergère,
which was located in her home city of Paris. During her days dancing in Paris, Claudine caught
the attention of a man by the name of Lou Walters. Lou owned a club in Las Vegas,
and he invited Claudine out to the popular American city to become one of his dancers.
After receiving her life-changing invitation from Lou Walters to come and dance in Las Vegas,
Claudine officially arrived in America! Though she started out as a dancer for Lou,
she quickly grew in popularity until she was on her way to becoming a star. In 1961,
Claudine married pop-music legend Andy Williams. 1961 was also the year that Breakfast at Tiffany’s
was released, and the movie made famous use of Andy’s song “Moon River”. Claudine was
thrilled to be married to a celebrity, though she wasn’t content with just being the wife of one.
Claudine still had her sights set on becoming a star herself, and Andy would help her do it!
In addition to having popular songs featured in hit movies, Andy Williams was also the host of
his own variety show for much of the 1960s. That variety series was appropriately titled The Andy
Williams Show, and it was the vessel that turned Claudine Longet into a celebrity.
The show came on the air in 1962, shortly after Claudine and Andy had gotten married. Andy wasn’t
afraid to give Claudine a chance to shine on his variety series, and she certainly did so!
How Claudine Got Her Record Contract Shortly after doing some breakout work
as both a singer and an actress on her husband’s variety series,
Claudine Longet was offered the chance to sign a record contract with A&M Records. Andy was
friends with popular musician Herb Alpert, of the band Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass.
Herb also happens to be one of the founders of A&M Records, and
his and Andy’s friendship helped secure Claudine her record contract with the label. It also didn’t
hurt that Claudine’s television performances up until that point had been very popular,
with hordes of fans calling up after each of the burgeoning star’s appearances to see who she was.
While many nowadays think of Claudine Longet primarily as a former actress, the former star
actually had a bigger singing career than she did an acting career. Claudine’s acting career was
mostly relegated to a handful of appearances in popular television shows. Comparatively,
she released five records through A&M Records alone! Following her days with A&M Records,
Claudine has continued releasing music into the new millennium. The reason that she left
A&M Records behind was because her husband Andy had opened up his own record label,
and Claudine became one of that label’s first big stars.
Though Claudine Longet has released innumerable albums over the course of her singing career,
none of those albums have been quite as big of hits as her first one. Claudine’s first album
was called Claudine, and it was released on the aforementioned label of A&M
Records. The record is said to have sold over a million copies and yielded a handful of
hits that entered into the popular music charts. Claudine was released in 1967,
and the popular star entered into the 1970s with the hope that she was going to have
a long and successful career in the entertainment industry ahead of her.
Despite her hopes, Claudine Longet ended up losing much of her celebrity status over the
course of the 1970s, and a good amount of this loss of popularity stemmed from
the actress’s murder charges. If you’re enjoying this video so far, be sure to
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Claudine’s Marriage to Andy Williams Ended Amicably
After marrying Andy Williams in 1961, Claudine Longet and
her new husband went on to have several children over the course
of the 1960s. The pair had three children in all, though these three children weren’t enough to keep
the couple satisfied within the parameters of their marriage. By the end of the 1960s, it has
been said that Claudine and Andy had experienced enough of each other. However, it seems that the
pair’s breakup was mutual, and that there were no hard feelings that came from the separation.
Though Claudine and Andy’s marriage was essentially over by the start of the 1970s, their
divorce wasn’t finalized until 1975. By this point, Claudine had already moved
on to, and in with, another man. That man was an Olympic skier by the name of Spider Sabich,
and Claudine would be charged with murdering him by the time the decade was
up. By the time of the finalization of Claudine and Andy’s divorce, Claudine had moved herself
and her three children in with the Olympic skier. Sadly, things would soon turn tragic.
One thing about Claudine Longet is that she’s always loved skiing. Some have
suggested that Claudine and Andy met while skiing, though there seems to be a handful of different
stories about how the two met. After separating from Andy and long before the finalization of
their divorce, Claudine moved her and her kids to Aspen, Colorado, in the early 1970s. Claudine did
this so that she could be close to the slopes, and this is how she ended up meeting Spider Sabich.
Following the finalization of Claudine and Andy’s divorce, the two remained great friends up until
Andy’s death in 2012. This greatly helped the two co-parent their children, with one of their kids
claiming that he was barely even aware of the fact that his parents were divorced while growing up.
Claudine’s Romance with Spider Sabich Ended in Tragedy
As a result of their shared passion for skiing, Claudine Longet and Spider Sabich fell quickly in
love. This is how the two ended up moving in together, though their relationship would end
in tragedy one night when Claudine apparently shot her new romantic partner at point-blank range with
a pistol. According to Claudine, Spider was trying to show her how to use a firearm and the gun went
off on accident. However, Spider’s family has never been satisfied with the story that Claudine
gave. Though it seems that Claudine and Spider never had much domestic trouble
during their relatively short-lived relationship, Spider’s family has always
felt that Claudine’s side of the story has never added up. The gunshot killed Spider,
and Claudine was charged with his murder. However, she ended up getting away with it!
Although Spider Sabich’s family didn’t take Claudine Longet’s word for it that the gunshot
that killed the Olympic skier was a complete accident, the courts ended up being another
story. The courts could find no motive for Claudine to have killed her romantic partner
and were led to believe that the murder had truly been an accident. Because of this,
though Claudine was convicted of the crime, she only ended up having to serve around a month in
total. Not only that but Claudine was apparently given the option to serve this month's sentence
over the course of several weekends, while she was allowed to go home during the weekdays!
Many people considered Claudine to be guiltier than she let on, and those people
were understandably perturbed that the star essentially got off scot-free with the murder
of a famous Olympic athlete. Some such perturbed parties included Spider’s aforementioned family,
though they would go on to get their due in civil court following Claudine’s sentencing.
After Claudine was given such a light sentence for murdering her romantic partner, the family of that
romantic partner ended up taking Claudine to civil court. In this case,
Spider Sabich’s family was said to have asked for upwards of a million dollars! However,
the matter ended up being settled out of court for an undisclosed sum. Part of the settlement
dictated that Claudine could never talk about the crime again, and she’s made good on that
promise! Following Claudine serving out her sentence, she has refused to talk about the
murder, and has essentially stayed completely out of the public spotlight for the past four decades.
Claudine Longet and Her Lawyer Got Each Other Off A shockingly short sentence is not the only happy
ending that came for Claudine during her murder trial. Claudine’s attorney during
the case was a local Aspen lawyer by the name of Ron Austin. During the trial, Claudine and
Ron ended up falling in love! Some may assume that Claudine seduced her lawyer because she
thought it would help with her case, but the fact of the matter is that it seems that the
two were actually legitimately attracted to each other. The two ended up tying the knot in 1985,
and are still together to this day! Of course, the two still reside in Aspen, Colorado.
Claudine Longet definitely murdered Olympic skier Spider Sabich, but the world will likely never
know whether or not she did it on purpose. Now it’s time to hear from you: did you know
that Claudine Longet was convicted of homicide and that she only had to serve a month in jail for
it? As always, like this video to show your support, subscribe, and hit the notification bell
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