Genevieve Waite | |
---|---|
Born | Genevieve Joyce Weight 13 February 1948 Cape Town, South Africa |
Died | 18 May 2019 | (aged 71)
Occupation(s) | Actress, singer, model |
Spouse(s) | Matthew Reich (m. 1968; div. 19??) Norman Buntaine (separated) |
Children |
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Genevieve Waite (born Genevieve Joyce Weight,[3] 13 February 1948 – 18 May 2019) was a South African actress, singer, and model.[3][4] Her best known acting role was the title character in the 1968 film Joanna.[5] She was a muse to photographer Richard Avedon, who photographed her several times for Vogue in the early 1970s.[3][5] In 1974, she recorded her only album as a singer, which was produced and written by her husband, John Phillips of the Mamas and the Papas.[3][5] Her singing voice has been described as "Betty Boop crossed with Billie Holiday".[3] That same year, she starred in a short-lived Broadway musical, Man on the Moon, which she co-wrote with John Phillips; it was produced by Andy Warhol.[3]
Waite married Matthew Reich, who appeared in Andy Warhol’s film ‘Bad’ and was known latterly by the nickname ‘Crazy Matty’ in the ‘Andy Warhol Diaries’, on 10 December 1968;[6] They later divorced. Waite then married John Phillips, on 31 January 1972, at a Chinese restaurant in Los Angeles' Chinatown by a one-legged Buddhist priest.[3] They had two children: Tamerlane Phillips (b. 1971) and actress Bijou Phillips (b. 1980).[3][5] They divorced in 1985. She then married Norman Buntaine; they later separated.[6][7]
Waite's 1974 album Romance Is on the Rise, released on John Phillips label Paramour, featured a cover image of Waite as a Vargas girl shot by Richard Avedon. A 2011 release of the album on CD includes her cover version of the Velvet Underground song "Femme Fatale" as a bonus track.[8]
On 18 May 2019, Waite died in her sleep in Los Angeles, California.[1] Her daughter, Bijou, announced her mother's death several days later.[1] She is interred at Forest Lawn Cemetery in Cathedral City, near Palm Springs, along with her ex-husband John Phillips.