October 1, 1983 | “What is The Lonely Lady?” asked Pia Zadora, an effervescent sprite in a tan jumpsuit. Not waiting for an interviewer’s answer, she provided her own: “Lonely Lady is commercial entertainment. It’s good, trashy fun. And when I say trash, I just mean it’s not artistic. It’s not Macbeth.”
No, it certainly isn’t. Indeed, many folks would argue the film, in which Zadora plays a screenwriter who sleeps her way to the top, isn’t even entertainment. But it’s hard to deny that Lonely Lady, based on a Harold Robbins potboiler, qualifies as entertainment. Just about every time a character opens his or her mouth, the line is good for a laugh.
Zadora indicated she knows just how awful her movie is during a recent visit to Houston. Still, that didn’t stop her from trying, with the sweetest of smiles and the hype of a press agent, to promote the sexy melodrama.
“To me,” Zadora said, speaking of her title role, “she is the female Rocky. She’s the victim, she’s the heroine. And yet, at the end, she turns into a really strong woman -– after she’s been down and out. She comes through, and her values all begin to fall into place.
“I like playing strong women. I like doing films that really are the girl’s films. And I think, because nobody really saw me in Butterfly, I wasn’t really ready to be accepted in a Kramer vs. Kramer. The audience wouldn’t go see me. It would be like if I wanted to sing La Traviata. I’d be great, but nobody would come to see me. Because they, the public, think of me almost as a sex symbol, or whatever, a sex-symbolish character.
“So I thought this would be a film that would give me a certain degree of acceptance, audience-wise. People would come see me in Harold Robbins, because they think of Pia Zadora as a sex symbol.”
Zadora — who in real life resembles everybody’s best friend’s kid sister -– first gained notoriety as a smoldering sexpot in the aforementioned Butterfly, in which she stoked Stacy Keach’s sluggish libido. “Vincent Canby (of The New York Times) said it was a camp classic. And he called me Brigitte Bardot recycled through a kitchen compactor. Which I thought was terrific.”
Many other critics were less kind. Even so, Butterfly enabled Zadora to win a Golden Globe for Most Promising Newcomer. But some gossips cried foul, claiming the award was purchased under the table by Meshulam “Rik” Riklis, Zadora’s very wealthy – and much older – husband.
Zadora, not surprisingly, denies the accusation. She admits, though, that Butterfly attracted more publicity than paying customers.
“It wasn’t released theatrically in a great many places,” she said. “It just wasn’t distributed properly. Analysis was the company that distributed it, and they didn’t have the money. I think they only had two prints of it.
“You see, when we did the film, we intended it to be a low-budget art film, to kind of get my feet wet in the industry. We never expected it to be so commercial. And then, when all the commotion came, and the Golden Globe, and this and that, they didn’t have enough prints.
“That’s why I’m very happy with Lonely Lady. This is really my first feature film that has had a wide distribution. Audiences will come and see me because it’s been publicized.”
A major part of the publicity campaign has been Zadora’s disrobed poses for Penthouse magazine. Isn’t she worried about being permanently branded a sex symbol?
Not at all, Zadora said.
“I’ve always been the sexy type. I’ve never been the 5-foot-10, svelte, sophisticated type. I’ve always been the bubbly, sexy type, since I was 14, 15 years old. And this is something I could give to a character. I couldn’t play another type. I probably wouldn’t be believable.
“I figured, there was an open slot, there was room for a young, sexy actress. So, if sexy is an area that the public accepts me in, I will go into that area. But I’ll also expand. A girl can be sexy and a good actress at the same time.
“You know, I think I’ve been very controversial, to say the least. Which has given me a stronger identity than the normal person, the normal actress. And I really don’t mind it. First of all, I’ve had the background. I know where I’m coming from. I know the nature of the business, and I know how seldom people get recognized by the press. And I always believe in making positives out of everything.
“And also, in a certain sense, I enjoy the challenge. My life has always been very easy for me. I was born with a silver spoon in my mouth. I went into acting as a mistake. Well, no, not a mistake – a coincidence. I was a shy little girl, going to dramatic school because the nuns recommended I do something to bring me out of my shell. And Burgess Meredith discovered me at 6 years old. And I came into my own. I went on stage, and I felt like a fish in water. I was always happier with adults – I never got along with other children. And I needed to be productive somehow. And this gave me something special, set me apart. And it was an escape. Acting for me was a form of expressing myself.”
A showbiz career always seemed inevitable for Zadora. Her father was Skip Schipani, a distinguished violinist. And her mother was Nina Zadora Schipani, a theatrical wardrobe supervisor and consultant.
Little Pia began acting professionally at age 7, when she made her Broadway debut in Fiddler on the Roof. Later, she was seen with Patrice Munsel and Alexis Smith in Applause, with Don Ameche in Henry, Sweet Henry, and with Robert Preston in We Take the Town. Off-Broadway, she replaced Bernadette Peters in the hit musical Dames at Sea.
“Some people find it a contradiction that I’m singing now, and making records, as well as acting. They tend to think of me almost as a machine, just throwing out product, because I can afford to. Bu that’s really not the truth. I started out in musical comedy.”
Zadora, now 27, plans to return to musical comedy for her next film, tentatively titled Attack of the Rock ‘n’ Roll Aliens. “It’s the story of a young girl who falls in love with a guy from outer space,” she said. “It’s kind of a comedy, one step beyond Flashdance. It has musical numbers, and it’s fun. It’s like MTV, like a long MTV video. It’s a new concept in films.”
Alas, it sounds like something else that will make her fair game for the critics. Does she regret some decisions she’s made? Does she wonder if she should have chosen better star vehicles?
“Well, all you can do at any particular time is what you think is best. And do it honestly. And if it comes out wrong, well, life is a crapshoot. Life is betting on a horse. You’ve got to put your all on something, and you have to be convinced.
“When you’re lucky, when things come easy for you, you tend to get lazy. And then, when the odds are against you, you’ve got to get out there and punch. And that’s more fun. I think people operate to their fullest when they’re under stress.
“I don’t regret anything. Life is too short. I believe in looking ahead. And if there’s something you think you could have done better, you do it again.”
So Pia Zadora will keep trying until she gets it right.
