Valerie Perrine was never just the comic relief girlfriend in Superman, though that's probably what she's most remembered for. As Miss Teschmacher, Lex Luthor's glamorous assistant in the 1978 film, she brought charm and surprising depth to what could have been a throwaway role. But reducing Perrine to that part ignores the fearless, versatile actress she actually was.
Perrine died at 82, and the obituaries will dutifully mention Superman because that's the film that gave her pop culture immortality. But her best work - the work that earned her an Oscar nomination and Best Actress at Cannes - came in Bob Fosse's Lenny (1974).
Playing Honey Bruce, wife of controversial comedian Lenny Bruce, Perrine was raw, vulnerable, unafraid of being unsexy in a role that demanded emotional honesty over Hollywood glamour. It was the kind of performance that showed real range, the kind that should have led to decades of complex roles.
It didn't. Hollywood in the 1970s and 80s wasn't kind to actresses who aged, who didn't fit narrow typecasting, who wanted to do more than be the girlfriend or the bombshell. Perrine worked steadily - The Electric Horseman opposite Robert Redford, Superman II, various TV roles - but she never got the opportunities her talent deserved.
By the 1990s, she had largely stepped away from acting. Later interviews revealed she had been diagnosed with Parkinson's disease, which made performing increasingly difficult. She lived quietly, mostly out of the public eye, occasionally appearing at fan conventions where Superman devotees would line up for autographs.
