Lori Williams
Encyclopedia
Lori Williams is an American
actress who is known for her performance in the 1965 cult film
Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!
.
, made the same year, is a beach musical filmed primarily at Southern California
's Lake Arrowhead
. Lori Williams, whose character is appropriately called "Dancer", is listed second, after James Stacy
, but most of the attention is directed to bikini-clad Raquel Welch
in her film debut. The second and final appearance occurred two years later in another very similar picture, 1967's It's a Bikini World
where, true to its title, she, along with numerous other female cast members, spends the entire film in scanty beach attire. Now listed in eighth place, her character didn't even have a name, being billed simply as "Girl", with her dialogue reduced to only a few lines.
Tom Lisanti, in his 2003 book Drive-In Dream Girls: A Galaxy of B-Movie Starlets of the Sixties, recounted that during 1963-64, Lori Williams drifted into films as an extra and bit player in Elvis Presley
vehicles and AIP
"beach party" musicals which, aimed at a primarily teenage audience, heavily depended on scores of attractive young girls as background distraction. While working as an unbilled bit player in two of Presley's 1964 films, Kissin' Cousins
(released March 6) and Roustabout (released November 11), Lori Williams, then 17, and Elvis Presley became a short-lived couple and, in her recollection, their "courtship was not some bizarre story. It was very sweet and Elvis was the perfect gentleman".
Williams' specialized place in film history was assured the following year when Russ Meyer cast her in what aficionados of the psychotronic
genre consider his most visceral endeavor, Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!. As the trio's only member who appeared to be more fun-loving, rather than depraved or malevolent, she met a grisly end at the hands of the group's vicious leader (Tura Satana
). Despite a few encouraging reviews, Pussycat suffered the fate of all other Meyer films—being shunted to exploitation
grindhouse
s. In the wake of the wholesale conversion of the film and television industry to color at the start of the 1966 TV season, the black-and-white 1965 film was shelved for over a decade until, in 1978, celebrity director John Waters
, notorious for glorifying "cinema of bad taste", gave Pussycat a new lease on life by declaring it to be his favorite film. Other "fringe" and, subsequently, mainstream personalities added their voices to the mix and Pussycats iconic status within the genre was assured.
At that point, however, Lori Williams was no longer in the public eye. After 1967's Bikini World, she seemed to have slowly retreated from performing, although evidence remains of her appearances as an extra or in bit parts within the framing/linking segments of ABC
's hour-long anthology of sitcom sketches, Love, American Style
. The appearances, during the show's first season (1969–70), are fleeting and intermittent and she does not receive billing in the credits, thus making it difficult to discern the extent and time frame of her participation.
After a decade of apparent inactivity, a final uncertain credit for Lori Williams has been listed in the filmed-for-HBO version of the Children's Theater Company & School of Minneapolis 1981 production of The Marvelous Land of Oz
. Her character has no specific, personally directed dialogue and, being shown only as a member of a large group, with no close-up provided, recognition and confirmation cannot be assured.
about the 40th anniversary of the making of the Russ Meyer grindhouse
classic.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
actress who is known for her performance in the 1965 cult film
Cult film
A cult film, also commonly referred to as a cult classic, is a film that has acquired a highly devoted but specific group of fans. Often, cult movies have failed to achieve fame outside the small fanbases; however, there have been exceptions that have managed to gain fame among mainstream audiences...
Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!
Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!
Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! is a 1965 exploitation film directed by Russ Meyer, who also wrote the script with Jack Moran. It stars Tura Satana, Haji, and Lori Williams....
.
Career
A native of Pittsburgh, Lori Williams had, in her late teens and early twenties, a very brief acting career which, in addition to Pussycat, consists of billed roles in only two other films. The first, A Swingin' SummerA Swingin' Summer
A Swingin' Summer is a 1965 comedy film in the beach party genre. It was directed and co-written by Robert Sparr. Raquel Welch stars in her first featured film role and makes her singing debut in the film.-Synopsis:...
, made the same year, is a beach musical filmed primarily at Southern California
Southern California
Southern California is a megaregion, or megapolitan area, in the southern area of the U.S. state of California. Large urban areas include Greater Los Angeles and Greater San Diego. The urban area stretches along the coast from Ventura through the Southland and Inland Empire to San Diego...
's Lake Arrowhead
Lake Arrowhead, California
Lake Arrowhead is an unincorporated community and a census-designated place in the San Bernardino Mountains of San Bernardino County, California, within the San Bernardino National Forest, adjacent to Lake Arrowhead Reservoir...
. Lori Williams, whose character is appropriately called "Dancer", is listed second, after James Stacy
James Stacy
James Stacy is an American actor. A motorcycle crash left him a multiple amputee and took the life of his girlfriend in 1973. After his recovery, he returned to acting in 1975 before retiring in 1991.-Early life and career:...
, but most of the attention is directed to bikini-clad Raquel Welch
Raquel Welch
Jo Raquel Tejada , better known as Raquel Welch, is an American actress, author and sex symbol. Welch came to attention as a "new-star" on the 20th Century-Fox lot in the mid-1960s. She posed iconically in a animal skin bikini for the British-release One Million Years B.C. , for which she may be...
in her film debut. The second and final appearance occurred two years later in another very similar picture, 1967's It's a Bikini World
It's a Bikini World
It's a Bikini World is an American musical comedy film released in 1967 starring Tommy Kirk, Deborah Walley and Bobby "Boris" Pickett of "Monster Mash" fame. The film features cameos by the music groups The Gentrys, The Animals, Pat & Lolly Vegas, The Castaways and R&B girl group The Toys...
where, true to its title, she, along with numerous other female cast members, spends the entire film in scanty beach attire. Now listed in eighth place, her character didn't even have a name, being billed simply as "Girl", with her dialogue reduced to only a few lines.
Tom Lisanti, in his 2003 book Drive-In Dream Girls: A Galaxy of B-Movie Starlets of the Sixties, recounted that during 1963-64, Lori Williams drifted into films as an extra and bit player in Elvis Presley
Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley was one of the most popular American singers of the 20th century. A cultural icon, he is widely known by the single name Elvis. He is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King"....
vehicles and AIP
American International Pictures
American International Pictures was a film production company formed in April 1956 from American Releasing Corporation by James H. Nicholson, former Sales Manager of Realart Pictures, and Samuel Z. Arkoff, an entertainment lawyer...
"beach party" musicals which, aimed at a primarily teenage audience, heavily depended on scores of attractive young girls as background distraction. While working as an unbilled bit player in two of Presley's 1964 films, Kissin' Cousins
Kissin' Cousins
Kissin' Cousins is a 1964 musical film comedy starring Elvis Presley in two roles, one as an American soldier, the other a hillbilly. The screenplay was nominated in the category of best written American musical by the Writers Guild of America...
(released March 6) and Roustabout (released November 11), Lori Williams, then 17, and Elvis Presley became a short-lived couple and, in her recollection, their "courtship was not some bizarre story. It was very sweet and Elvis was the perfect gentleman".
Williams' specialized place in film history was assured the following year when Russ Meyer cast her in what aficionados of the psychotronic
Psychotronic
Psychotronic is a film genre made up of horror films, spaghetti westerns, low-budget independent features, exploitation films that was coined by author Michael J. Weldon, best known for his books, Psychotronic Encyclopedia of Film and Psychotronic Video Guide.Weldon also published the magazine...
genre consider his most visceral endeavor, Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!. As the trio's only member who appeared to be more fun-loving, rather than depraved or malevolent, she met a grisly end at the hands of the group's vicious leader (Tura Satana
Tura Satana
Tura Satana was an American actress and former exotic dancer. She was best known for her role as "Varla" in Russ Meyer's 1965 cult film, Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!.-Early life:...
). Despite a few encouraging reviews, Pussycat suffered the fate of all other Meyer films—being shunted to exploitation
Exploitation film
Exploitation film is a type of film that is promoted by "exploiting" often lurid subject matter. The term "exploitation" is common in film marketing, used for all types of films to mean promotion or advertising. These films then need something to exploit, such as a big star, special effects, sex,...
grindhouse
Grindhouse
A grindhouse is an American term for a theater that mainly shows exploitation films. It is named after the defunct burlesque theaters located on 42nd Street in New York City, where 'bump n' grind' dancing and striptease were featured.- History :...
s. In the wake of the wholesale conversion of the film and television industry to color at the start of the 1966 TV season, the black-and-white 1965 film was shelved for over a decade until, in 1978, celebrity director John Waters
John Waters (filmmaker)
John Samuel Waters, Jr. is an American filmmaker, actor, stand-up comedian, writer, journalist, visual artist, and art collector, who rose to fame in the early 1970s for his transgressive cult films...
, notorious for glorifying "cinema of bad taste", gave Pussycat a new lease on life by declaring it to be his favorite film. Other "fringe" and, subsequently, mainstream personalities added their voices to the mix and Pussycats iconic status within the genre was assured.
At that point, however, Lori Williams was no longer in the public eye. After 1967's Bikini World, she seemed to have slowly retreated from performing, although evidence remains of her appearances as an extra or in bit parts within the framing/linking segments of ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
's hour-long anthology of sitcom sketches, Love, American Style
Love, American Style
Love, American Style is an hour-long TV anthology produced by Paramount Television and originally aired between September 1969 and January 1974...
. The appearances, during the show's first season (1969–70), are fleeting and intermittent and she does not receive billing in the credits, thus making it difficult to discern the extent and time frame of her participation.
After a decade of apparent inactivity, a final uncertain credit for Lori Williams has been listed in the filmed-for-HBO version of the Children's Theater Company & School of Minneapolis 1981 production of The Marvelous Land of Oz
The Marvelous Land of Oz
The Marvelous Land of Oz: Being an Account of the Further Adventures of the Scarecrow and the Tin Woodman, commonly shortened to The Land of Oz, published on July 5, 1904, is the second of L. Frank Baum's books set in the Land of Oz, and the sequel to The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. This and the next...
. Her character has no specific, personally directed dialogue and, being shown only as a member of a large group, with no close-up provided, recognition and confirmation cannot be assured.
Reappearance in the Pussycat documentary
Williams resurfaced in the March 2005 30-minute documentary Go, Pussycat, Go!, reminiscing with co-stars Tura Satana, Haji and Susan BernardSusan Bernard
Susan Bernard was Playboy magazine's Playmate of the Month for its December 1966 issue. Her centerfold was photographed by Mario Casilli and her father Bruno Bernard....
about the 40th anniversary of the making of the Russ Meyer grindhouse
Grindhouse
A grindhouse is an American term for a theater that mainly shows exploitation films. It is named after the defunct burlesque theaters located on 42nd Street in New York City, where 'bump n' grind' dancing and striptease were featured.- History :...
classic.
Filmography
- Get Yourself a College GirlGet Yourself a College GirlGet Yourself a College Girl is a 1964 Metrocolor film comedy in the style of a beach party movie. The plot involves a college co-ed who tries to balance her time writing songs and dealing with her publisher who tries to pursue her. It was directed by Sidney Miller and written by Robert E...
(1964) - A Swingin' SummerA Swingin' SummerA Swingin' Summer is a 1965 comedy film in the beach party genre. It was directed and co-written by Robert Sparr. Raquel Welch stars in her first featured film role and makes her singing debut in the film.-Synopsis:...
(1965) - Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! is a 1965 exploitation film directed by Russ Meyer, who also wrote the script with Jack Moran. It stars Tura Satana, Haji, and Lori Williams....
(1965) - It's a Bikini WorldIt's a Bikini WorldIt's a Bikini World is an American musical comedy film released in 1967 starring Tommy Kirk, Deborah Walley and Bobby "Boris" Pickett of "Monster Mash" fame. The film features cameos by the music groups The Gentrys, The Animals, Pat & Lolly Vegas, The Castaways and R&B girl group The Toys...
(1967)