Preyed on by Hollywood, Theresa Russell was never a victim

While Russell, born in 1957, has largely faded from the spotlight, she was once admired as Hollywood’s intellectual femme fatal and put through some of the sleaziest hoops that actresses had to deal with. However, Russell’s strength, openness, and refusal to compromise have kept her grounded and triumphant. Here’s her incredible story.

Russell's discovery was nothing new, but she was blunt about what was really going on. She said that, at age 12, when she was hanging out at a mall, she was 'discovered' by a "h 0 r n y photographer." She made him meet her mom and she started modeling, though the older photographer "was madly in love with her." In grade 10, she dropped out of high school and began acting.

Image: Russell's 1973 high school yearbook photo, Burbank High School Yearbook, Burbank, California (1973) / Wikimedia

At 16, she was introduced to Hollywood heavy-weight Spiegel (left). "Sam [Spiegel] loved to be seen with child-girls on his arm. I was 16 years old and still living at home, and he took me to the Bistro and tried to stick his tongue down my throat. He thought he could buy and sell people," said Russell, decades before the Me Too movement. Although she slapped off his advances, he gave her a role in the film 'The Last Tycoon.'

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Amid the elderly man's sexual advances, he tried to get Russell to sign a long-term film deal with him. "I asked him, 'If I sign your contract, what if I want to do some role in some other picture?' He said, 'You'll have to come to my boat in the South of France.' Yeah, and what happens then?" said Russel. She refused and said that as revenge, Spiegel erased her from the movie's publicity.

Image: Russell in 'The Last Tycoon'

Despite gaining the ire of the top director, her performance was noticed and she starred across Dustin Hoffman in 'Straight Time' (1978) and Art Garfunkel in 'Bad Timing' (1980). The latter was rated X and slammed by some for its depiction of se x ual violence. Some critics loved it and especially praised Russell's performance.

As Roger Ebert put it: "If you think of Theresa Russell in the movies, chances are you think, not long afterwards, of s e x." She openly discussed being in charge and accepting of her desires. And she was smart and candid. An adult magazine later called her "the thinking man's s e x symbol."

The Who's song 'Athena' was written after Pete Townshend met Russell and was totally smitten. She rejected him. But the song, originally called 'Theresa,' was a pretty big hit. "She's just a girl/ She's a bomb."

While filming 'Bad Timing,' she, aged 22, fell for the director Nicolas Roeg, who was 51. She said she seduced him. He got a divorce. Then the two got married in 1982, moved to London, and had two kids all while working together.

Throughout their relationship, they made six films together, though they were more experimental and not Hollywood mainstream. In 1985, she played Marilyn Monroe in 'Insignificance' and in 1983 she starred in his psychological drama 'Eureka.'

In her Hollywood 'comeback', Russell co-starred in the neo-noir film 'Black Widow.' She portrays a confident scam artist who kills rich men she married for their money.

Roger Ebert said her performance in 'Black Widow' showed she could be a mainstream star, but she had mixed feelings about it. "Hollywood is notorious for exploiting people who will do anything for fame and fortune. Of course, having money is nice. It gives you freedom. Specifically, the freedom to tell people to stuff it," she said in an interview around the same time.

Amid other films with her husband and without, in 1990 she starred in the first film directed by a female 'Impulse.' It was a psychological neo-noir that showed how police sometimes have a healthy obsession with crime. It was gritty and not everyone loved it, but Siskel and Ebert, the most important critics of the time, gave it two thumbs-up. The film, however, didn’t get widespread distribution due to Clint Eastwood allegedly sabotaging his ex-girlfriend, the director Sandra Locke.

After one more big and failed Hollywood attempt (the film 'W h 0 r e'), Russell had enough of the industry and returned to independent films, again collaborating with her husband throughout the 1990s. She also co-starred in Steven Soderbergh's experimental film 'Kafka.' She also played the mom in the steamy cult film 'Wild Things' in 1998.

In the late 1990s, Russell divorced Roeg and moved back to Los Angeles, joking that she'd "do anything for a paycheck." Soon after, she starred in the critically acclaimed Nazi drama 'The Believer.' "It is exactly the kind of cutting-edge material that Russell has always been attracted to, but it has been a while since she got her teeth into something this substantial – or this disturbing," wrote the Independent.

Since the turn of the millennium, she's acted in a few more low-budget indie films, but also was cast in the HBO miniseries 'Empire Falls' and even had a role in 'Spider Man 3,' but she began acting less and less.

In a 2011 interview with Criterion, aged 54, she complained about the lack of good roles for older women. "They just don't write them. But I'm never bored. I don't miss acting a s **, I really don't. I miss acting doing something wonderful, but if it's not coming my way, then I don't sit around moping about it, that's for sure," she said.

So instead of moping, she's embraced her voice and has converted into a bonafide jazz singer, performing with the late jazz pianist Mike Melvoin. "Singing these jazz songs feels so exposed and vulnerable as me, as Theresa. When you are singing, you are expressing yourself; you're not hiding behind a character," she added.

Image: Theresa Russell sings with Jazz Legend Mike Melvoin, Taking a Chance on Love, TheresaRussell4Real / Youtube

True to her brand she doesn't have any active public social media, but back in 2011, she posted this Dr. Suess quote that is an excellent summary of how she approached Hollywood and fame. No matter how nasty things got, she was able to take refuge in her confidence and be true to herself.

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