Oscar-nominated actress Valerie Perrine, best known for her roles in Superman and Lenny, has died at the age of 82 following a prolonged battle with Parkinson’s disease.
Her longtime partner, Stacey Souther, confirmed her passing in a statement on Facebook on Monday. Perrine passed away at her home in Beverly Hills.
The actress received an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress for her performance in Lenny in 1974. Perrine also played a significant role as Miss Teschmacher, Lex Luthor’s girlfriend, in Richard Donner’s Superman movies.
Cause of death linked to long health battle
Perrine was diagnosed with Parkinson’s in 2015. Stacey said, “She faced Parkinson’s disease with incredible courage and compassion, never once complaining.”
Although Perrine’s Parkinson’s diagnosis was made public in 2015, Souther claims the actress struggled with the illness for over 15 years. Her long-battling illness caused her finances to suffer. Given that, Stacey started a GoFundMe to pay for the funeral Perrine “truly deserves.”
In her GoFundMe page, Stacey detailed that Perrine started seeing signs of Parkinson’s in 2011. “Around 2011, Valerie began experiencing the first signs of essential tremors; involuntary shaking that slowly began to steal the very instrument she’d built her life around.”
Parkinson’s disease is a progressive nervous system disorder that impacts movement and speech over time, often leading to severe complications in later stages.
Perrine’s condition reportedly worsened over the past decade, eventually limiting her ability to eat, speak, and move independently.
Her symptoms cost her the roles she would get in Hollywood. The page read, “As roles dried up, so did the financial security that should have come with a lifetime of extraordinary work. Valerie spent what she had on medical care, determined to fight. She fought for fifteen years.”
The page has raised a total of $6,073 of the target of $35,000 as of Monday afternoon.
Hollywood legacy
Perrine rose to fame in the early 1970s, beginning with Slaughterhouse-Five. She then earned critical acclaim for her portrayal of Honey Bruce in Lenny, which won her a Cannes Best Actress award and a BAFTA honor.
She later became a household name as Eve Teschmacher in the Superman films, starring opposite Christopher Reeve.
In 1973, she costarred with Jeff Bridges in The Last American Hero. In 1973, the late actress became the first woman to purposefully display her breasts on television.
In 1979, she costarred with Robert Redford in The Electric Horseman.
She made an appearance in the 1980 film Can’t Stop the Music alongside Caitlyn Jenner and The Village People.
