I'm sorry to report, Tura Satana died a few days ago, on February 4. For those who don't recognize the name, she was the star of the Russ Meyer film, Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! I knew nothing about her other than one film role, but I still knew her name. Back in the day (and maybe still) Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! was a sort of hipster rite of passage. So, today I did a little digging. Turns out that she had a crazy life; some good crazy, but a lot of bad crazy.
In grade school, she was hassled on two fronts: one being her Japanese heritage, and the other because she was an early bloomer. She was gang raped at age nine, and sent to a reform school. The rapists were never charged. (Pissed off, she later took up aikido and karate.) At age 13, her dad drove her out to California, and left her. She lied about her age and began dancing and working as a model, for silent film star Harold Lloyd, among others. Unaware of her age, Lloyd encouraged her to try acting. By the time Russ Meyer ran into her, she was already her own boss. She wouldn't do any nudity, and refused to abide by Meyer's rule forbidding extra-curricular sex during the course of film shoots. She did her own costuming and make-up, and added all the martial arts stuff in the fight sequences. After Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!, she was in a couple other films and then retired from acting, becoming a nurse and raising a family. She was 72 when she died.
~ NOTE: ALL MEDIA IS HOSTED BY THE BLOGS & SITES NAMED BELOW ~
The Bostweeds - Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! mp3 at Merry SwanksterFaster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! - 6 trailers and clips at ZML.com
Tura Satana - Interview mp3 at Destroy the Brain
Tura Santana Gallery at Micro Brewed Reviews (added 2/22/11)
Tura Satana profile at Swindle
Tura Satana Official Site
Tura Satana obituary at the New York Times
Tura Satana at Wikipedia
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