Valerie Perrine guest starred on 'ER' in 1995 in episodes directed by Quentin Tarantino, "He has an honest-to-God true love and appreciation for actors...He likes us, he really likes us!" In 1993, Valerie could be seen in 'The Secrets of Lake Success', about a New England family from the town of Lake Success who owned a major pharmaceutical company. Valerie played Harriet "Honey" Potts Atkins. Ryan Phillipe played Stew. At the time, Valerie enthused, "If the series goes, yes, she could be the next Alexis." Douglas S. Cramer was the producer.
Valerie crossed the bridge to stardom in the 1974 movie, 'Lenny' playing Honey Harlow. She recounted, "I worked with Bob Fosse, the director...I did the telephone scene from 'Lenny'. That's when I found out I could act. All of a sudden these things came out of me, things I didn’t know I had in me. All this serious drama – crying, laughing, acting...It opened up a whole new career...Those tears I cried in 'Lenny', they weren’t hard to manage. I just started thinking of my wedding that never came off, and the flood gates opened."
As a "Virgo – Mother Earth. That's me, all right," Valerie said, "I get involved in all my friends' affairs, and boy, can that get you into trouble!...I'm Scots-Irish and French...I grew up in Japan...I was born an Army brat and traveled all over the U.S., Japan and the Philippines. I used to speak fluent Japanese and Spanish and French. I've forgotten it all now, but I still like to look at Japanese movies on TV and can understand a few words. I like living abroad...I taught myself French, read philosophy ('I bet you didn't think a show girl would read Schopenhauer and Nietzsche, did you?') and psychology, studied religion, and went to the University of Nevada. I could talk 20 hours on my philosophy."
She said, "I believe in karma. Whatever I’m doing, that is what God has given me to flow with, cope with, and enjoy. Every experience is a learning experience...I was engaged to a man who accidentally killed himself a month before we were to marry. That's when I turned to religion and it helped." At the 47th Academy Awards held in April 1975, Valerie was nominated for Best Acting. She confessed for 3 weeks before the Awards night, she went to see a psychiatrist, "I didn't even have a vague expectation of winning the Oscar. I was sure it would go to Gena Rowlands (in 'A Woman Under the Influence') or Ellen Burstyn (in 'Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore'), yet I was understandably nervous about the event, and decided to tell the shrink about a dream I'd had about the awards. I'd dreamed my name had actually been announced as Best Actress, but when I rushed to the stage and grabbed the Oscar, it started melting in my hands, and became just a piece of molten lead. But it didn't bother me. I just smiled out at the audience, went into a sexy stance, then doing a Mae West Imitation, I said, 'Thank you, all you big boys', and marched to my seat. He said it proved I was healthy. I guess he figured this former Happy Hippie had learned to cope."
By 1993, Valerie insisted, "I don't breakfast, I don't lunch, I love tea. I run my life with my laptop. I'm a computer natural. Trouble is, I sit at my computer for 8 hours and don't realize it, so I had to have surgery for repetitive thumb motion." She also shared, "After 'Lenny', I went through a period of not being me. Part of Honey stuck to me. For a long time there, I said a lot of things just to shock people. There were many nutty stories in the papers about me because of that. I told a lot of untrue things, just to be different. Oh, well. Time heals all wounds. So I’ve gone back to being sweet little Valerie from the convent." She stressed, "I would say that 99% of the things you read about me that sound scandalous or stupid some reporter made up because he'd decided that I was scandalous and stupid. Now I don’t mind when they make me sound scandalous but when they make me sound stupid, or they quote me as saying something that is improper English or the sentence structure is all wrong, that makes me mad."
Of movie stardom, Valerie acknowledged, "I wasn't prepared for it, and I couldn’t cope with it. Out of the blue, it seemed, everyone was suddenly recognizing me, photographers were chasing me, pressures were being put upon me. It had become a Me, Me, Me world – and for a while the only way I could handle it was with tranquilizers and booze...Sexiness is something I play. It's not the real me. If you want to look through my clothes, you'll find nothing sexy in there. I wear flannel nightgowns in California. God forbid there's an earthquake and I don't have something on. But if a camera crew is around, that's different." It was pointed out by 1974 "Marilyn Monroe would be denounced by Gloria Steinem for perpetuating sexual stereotypes, picketed by gays for unfair competition and relegated to the role of serving beer to Robert Redford and Paul Newman as they planned their next caper."
In 1979, Valerie starred in the Menahem Golan's movie 'The Magician of Lublin'. She made the observation, "Obviously I’m not Jewish and, since I don’t really understand what it means to be Jewish, I’m looking at this role from a woman's point of view. Hell, I could be an Arab, you know. Zeftel (her role) is in love with Yasha (played by Alan Arkin), the magician, and she can't get him. Unrequited love? It's the same wherever you come from, whatever your color. But I’m glad I don’t have to do a Jewish accent. I really like Zeftel, although she has one line I could never say to any man and that is: 'Don’t leave me. You're the only hope I have.'"
When it came to men, Valerie made known, "I’ve got no preference. I've never gone with 2 men of the same type. They can be young, old, rich, poor. I really don't care...Money isn't important. I'm making money on my own." For a time Valerie dated Jamal Kanafani whom she met at El Morocco in New York, "His family in Beirut...He is Lebanese and a Moslem and he lives in Saudi Arabia...He speaks 8 languages...Jamal and I try to spend a month together every 2 months. We'll go to St. Tropez and Egypt – I want to see the Pyramids...In Lebanon, the wife gets only 2% of the husband's property when they divorce." On reflection, Valerie voiced, "Sometimes I think I would be better off if I shut up. But it just isn't in me. I'm too emotional. I'm a screamer, and I’m a crier. I'm the world's greatest crier, particularly in movies. When I saw 'Doctor Zhivago' I couldn’t get out of my seat when the lights went on again. I was still crying. And every time I heard 'Lara’s theme' on the radio, I'd start crying all over again."
Valerie crossed the bridge to stardom in the 1974 movie, 'Lenny' playing Honey Harlow. She recounted, "I worked with Bob Fosse, the director...I did the telephone scene from 'Lenny'. That's when I found out I could act. All of a sudden these things came out of me, things I didn’t know I had in me. All this serious drama – crying, laughing, acting...It opened up a whole new career...Those tears I cried in 'Lenny', they weren’t hard to manage. I just started thinking of my wedding that never came off, and the flood gates opened."
As a "Virgo – Mother Earth. That's me, all right," Valerie said, "I get involved in all my friends' affairs, and boy, can that get you into trouble!...I'm Scots-Irish and French...I grew up in Japan...I was born an Army brat and traveled all over the U.S., Japan and the Philippines. I used to speak fluent Japanese and Spanish and French. I've forgotten it all now, but I still like to look at Japanese movies on TV and can understand a few words. I like living abroad...I taught myself French, read philosophy ('I bet you didn't think a show girl would read Schopenhauer and Nietzsche, did you?') and psychology, studied religion, and went to the University of Nevada. I could talk 20 hours on my philosophy."
She said, "I believe in karma. Whatever I’m doing, that is what God has given me to flow with, cope with, and enjoy. Every experience is a learning experience...I was engaged to a man who accidentally killed himself a month before we were to marry. That's when I turned to religion and it helped." At the 47th Academy Awards held in April 1975, Valerie was nominated for Best Acting. She confessed for 3 weeks before the Awards night, she went to see a psychiatrist, "I didn't even have a vague expectation of winning the Oscar. I was sure it would go to Gena Rowlands (in 'A Woman Under the Influence') or Ellen Burstyn (in 'Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore'), yet I was understandably nervous about the event, and decided to tell the shrink about a dream I'd had about the awards. I'd dreamed my name had actually been announced as Best Actress, but when I rushed to the stage and grabbed the Oscar, it started melting in my hands, and became just a piece of molten lead. But it didn't bother me. I just smiled out at the audience, went into a sexy stance, then doing a Mae West Imitation, I said, 'Thank you, all you big boys', and marched to my seat. He said it proved I was healthy. I guess he figured this former Happy Hippie had learned to cope."
By 1993, Valerie insisted, "I don't breakfast, I don't lunch, I love tea. I run my life with my laptop. I'm a computer natural. Trouble is, I sit at my computer for 8 hours and don't realize it, so I had to have surgery for repetitive thumb motion." She also shared, "After 'Lenny', I went through a period of not being me. Part of Honey stuck to me. For a long time there, I said a lot of things just to shock people. There were many nutty stories in the papers about me because of that. I told a lot of untrue things, just to be different. Oh, well. Time heals all wounds. So I’ve gone back to being sweet little Valerie from the convent." She stressed, "I would say that 99% of the things you read about me that sound scandalous or stupid some reporter made up because he'd decided that I was scandalous and stupid. Now I don’t mind when they make me sound scandalous but when they make me sound stupid, or they quote me as saying something that is improper English or the sentence structure is all wrong, that makes me mad."
Of movie stardom, Valerie acknowledged, "I wasn't prepared for it, and I couldn’t cope with it. Out of the blue, it seemed, everyone was suddenly recognizing me, photographers were chasing me, pressures were being put upon me. It had become a Me, Me, Me world – and for a while the only way I could handle it was with tranquilizers and booze...Sexiness is something I play. It's not the real me. If you want to look through my clothes, you'll find nothing sexy in there. I wear flannel nightgowns in California. God forbid there's an earthquake and I don't have something on. But if a camera crew is around, that's different." It was pointed out by 1974 "Marilyn Monroe would be denounced by Gloria Steinem for perpetuating sexual stereotypes, picketed by gays for unfair competition and relegated to the role of serving beer to Robert Redford and Paul Newman as they planned their next caper."
In 1979, Valerie starred in the Menahem Golan's movie 'The Magician of Lublin'. She made the observation, "Obviously I’m not Jewish and, since I don’t really understand what it means to be Jewish, I’m looking at this role from a woman's point of view. Hell, I could be an Arab, you know. Zeftel (her role) is in love with Yasha (played by Alan Arkin), the magician, and she can't get him. Unrequited love? It's the same wherever you come from, whatever your color. But I’m glad I don’t have to do a Jewish accent. I really like Zeftel, although she has one line I could never say to any man and that is: 'Don’t leave me. You're the only hope I have.'"
When it came to men, Valerie made known, "I’ve got no preference. I've never gone with 2 men of the same type. They can be young, old, rich, poor. I really don't care...Money isn't important. I'm making money on my own." For a time Valerie dated Jamal Kanafani whom she met at El Morocco in New York, "His family in Beirut...He is Lebanese and a Moslem and he lives in Saudi Arabia...He speaks 8 languages...Jamal and I try to spend a month together every 2 months. We'll go to St. Tropez and Egypt – I want to see the Pyramids...In Lebanon, the wife gets only 2% of the husband's property when they divorce." On reflection, Valerie voiced, "Sometimes I think I would be better off if I shut up. But it just isn't in me. I'm too emotional. I'm a screamer, and I’m a crier. I'm the world's greatest crier, particularly in movies. When I saw 'Doctor Zhivago' I couldn’t get out of my seat when the lights went on again. I was still crying. And every time I heard 'Lara’s theme' on the radio, I'd start crying all over again."
