HONEY HARLOW BRUCE Died Sep. 12, 2005 Honey Bruce, the widow of comedian Lenny Bruce died at age 78 after a lengthy illness. Ms. Bruce was working as a stripper using the stage name Honey Harlow when she met and web famed comedian Lenny Bruce. The couple was married for six tumultuous years. Her former husband died of a heroin overdose in 1966. Ms. Bruce won a pardon for her late husband nearly 40 years after his conviction on obscenity charges. Actress Valerie Perrine received a Best Supporting Actress Oscar nomination for her portrayal of Ms. Bruce in Bob Fosse?s biopic "Lenny." Ms. Bruce appeared as Honey Harlow in the films "Dance Hall Racket" and "Princess of the Nile."
A noteworthy COMMENT So: loud, giant hosannas to Valerie Perrine, whose performance in Bob Fosse's carelessly structured and dramatically limited Lenny is yet another home-run in a truly unbelievable field. Perrine outdoes such recent, accomplished avatars as Elisabeth Shue in Leaving Las Vegas, Sharon Stone in Casino, and Courtney Love in The People vs. Larry Flynt—superb performances all of them—in playing a shapely woman for show, a randy, excitable, frequently naked woman who is voluptuous both in figure and emotion, and she convinces us in record time that she is not just loyal but attracted to pint-sized Dustin Hoffman as Lenny Bruce (who, for his part, does a more than credible job in their courtship scenes of looking like the luckiest schlub in the world). Perrine's Honey Bruce strips for a living, she eventually goes to prison for drug possession, and she even gets saddled with Scene 3A.1.9 from movies like this: the tearful phone call from jail. Also 3A.2.16, the melancholy conversation through the thick glass of the inmate visitation booth. She nails both of them, and she's absolutely stunning in a lively, poignant, and very funny sequence when Lenny introduces his blushing, buxom, shiksa wife to his flamboyant, protective mother. As great as Shue, Stone, and Love are, you occasionally catch them playing ideas about their characters rather than the women themselves: a minor slip, and occasionally a fruitful one, and yet Perrine never once invites the charge. It's a much less showy performance than most actors would give in the same part, and yet it bespeaks unflagging energy, and enough interesting rhythm in her line readings, her gestures and postures, and the subtle cloud-drifts in her facial expressions that even Alan Heim's merciless editing doesn't diminish its power. The later, lucid, more settled Honey she creates in the interview scenes, plashed through the film as a temporally unspecific framing device—a structure directly purloined for Shue's benefit in Leaving Las Vegas—is both a very different woman and palpably the same woman, so much so that watching Perrine is like enjoying two rounded, polished, gleaming performances for the price of one.Perrine won the Best Actress prize at Cannes for this performance, and she was anointed Best Supporting Actress by both the National Board of Review (who gave their lead prize to Rowlands) and the New York Film Critics Circle (who fêted Liv Ullmann up top for Scenes from a Marriage). In truth, I think Perrine's probably is a supporting performance, even though she's afforded a hefty amount of screen time; Honey is indispensable to the movie, but much of the story transpires far away from her, especially in its middle and end sections, which emphasize Lenny's arrests and obscenity trials. The NBR and NYFCC may well have given Perrine the Supporting prize for the very reason that Best Actress was so crowded; if 1974 were today, her agent, noting the slim field that earned Ingrid Bergman a wholly unnecessary trophy for a virtual cameo in Murder on the Orient Express, would surely have pushed for the same treatment, and Perrine might well have won. Then again, since strippers and hookers are even more ubiquitous in the Supporting races than in the Lead category, Perrine handily distinguished herself by landing in such plum company. Too, she was still living down that little tidbit about being the first actress to bare her nipples on PBS, only a year earlier. So it must have felt pretty durned good, sitting there with Gena and Ellen and Diahann and Faye.http://www.nicksflickpicks.com/2006/05/robert-langdon-moment .html
CREDITSFilm AppearancesLas Vegas showgirl, Diamonds Are Forever (also known as Ian Fleming's "Diamonds Are Forever"), Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, 1971Montana Wildhack, Slaughterhouse-Five, Universal, 1972Marge, The Last American Hero (also known as Hard Driver),Twentieth Century-Fox, 1973Honey Bruce, Lenny, United Artists, 1974Carlotta Monterey (some sources cite Carlotta Monti), W. C. Fields andMe, Universal, 1976Rosie Jones, Mr. Billion (also known as The Windfall), Twentieth Century-Fox, 1977Eve Teschmacher, Superman (also known as Superman: The Movie), Warner Bros., 1978Charlotta Steele, The Electric Horseman, Columbia, 1979Zeftel, The Magician of Lublin (also known as Der Magier and Ha-Kosem Mi'Lublin), Cannon, 1979Samantha Simpson, Can't Stop the Music, Associated Film Distributors, 1980Brenda Wilcox, Agency (also known as Mind Games, L'agence de la peur, and Les espions dans la ville), Jensen Farley, c. 1980Eve Teschmacher, Superman II, Warner Bros., 1981Marcy, The Border, Warner Bros., 1982Pamela, Water (also known as Water: The Movie), Handmade Films, 1986Georgette Starkey, Maid to Order, New Century/Vista, 1987Maria, Mask of Murder (also known as The Investigator), Master Films, 1989Aileen Russell, Bright Angel, Hemdale Releasing, 1990Caterina, Riflessi in un cielo scuro (also known as Reflectionsin a Dark Sky), Starlet Film, 1991Mona, Boiling Point (also known as L'extreme limite), Warner Bros., 1993Delores Smith, The Break, Trimark Pictures, 1995Tilly Baker, Girl in the Cadillac, Overseas FilmGroup, 1995Elaine's patron, 54 (also known as Fifty-Four), Miramax, 1998Marguerita Hansen, Brown's Requiem, Avalanche Releasing, 1998Rita Lindross, My Girlfriend's Boyfriend, Enlightenment Productions, 1998Picture This, 1999Margo, What Women Want, Paramount, 2000Gloria Vassick, Directing Eddie (also known as Project: Indie), Kaldor Productions, 2001Mrs. Duncan, The End of the Bar, Carbonated Films/Sub Q Films, 2002Lenora Tripp, The Californians, Fabrication Films, 2005V, The Moguls (also known as The Amateurs), Bauer MartinezStudios, 2006Some sources cite appearances in other films, including Doppio sogno, 1990; Men in Heels, Women in Tights, 1996; and Claudine's Return (also known as Fire of Love and Kiss of Fire), Jazz Pictures, c. 1997.Television AppearancesSeriesLiz Green, Leo & Liz in Beverly Hills, CBS, 1986Dolores Pierce, As the World Turns, CBS, 1998-99MiniseriesDee Staufer, Malibu, NBC, 1983Honey Potts Atkins, The Secrets of Lake Success (also known as Great Escapes and Lake Success), NBC, 1993MoviesJennifer Allen, The Couple Takes a Wife, ABC, 1972Lillian Lorraine, Ziegfeld: The Man and His Women, NBC, 1978Stella White, Marian Rose White, CBS, 1982Ronda Thompson, When Your Lover Leaves, 1983Isabelle, Mountain of Diamonds (also known as Burning Shore, Gluehender Himmel, La montagna dei diamanti, and La montagne de diamants), 1990(Uncredited) Monica Gilroy, Curtain Call, Starz!, 1998Estelle, A Place Called Truth, The Movie Channel, 1999Maura's mother, Shame, Shame, Shame (also known as Climax),The Movie Channel, 1999SpecialsMeredith, Steambath, PBS, 1972Female team captain, Celebrity Challenge of the Sexes, CBS, 1977Circus of the Stars, CBS, 1977Circus of the Stars #2, CBS, 1977The Making of "Superman: The Movie," 1978Circus of the Stars #3, CBS, 1979Cohost, Allan Carr's "Magic Night" (also known as Magic Night), 1980Ringmaster, Circus of the Stars #5, CBS, 1980It's Not Easy Bein' Me: The Rodney Dangerfield Show, ABC, 1982Miss Lucy, Tennessee Williams's "Sweet Bird of Youth" (also knownas Sweet Bird of Youth), NBC, 1989Awards PresentationsPresenter, The 51st Annual Academy Awards, ABC, 1979EpisodicGuest, The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (also known as The Best of Carson), NBC, 1972, 1973, 1976Marlene, "When the Girls Came Out to Play," Love Story, NBC, 1973Guest, Omnibus, ABC, 1980Tina, "The Three Little Pigs," Faerie Tale Theater (also known asShelley Duvall's "Faerie Tale Theater"), Showtime, 1982"The Couch," George Burns Comedy Week, CBS, 1985Jackie Vincoeur, "The Bad Seed," Northern Exposure, CBS, 1992Suzanne Dubonet, "Who Killed the Romance?," Burke's Law, CBS, 1994Brigitta, "Law and Disorder," Homicide: Life on the Street (also known as H: LOTS and Homicide), NBC, 1995Cookie Lewis, "And Baby Makes Two," ER (also known as EmergencyRoom), NBC, 1995Cookie Lewis, "Motherhood," ER (also known as Emergency Room), NBC, 1995Mrs. Nassiter, "The Brothers McMillan," Nash Bridges (also known as Bridges), CBS, 1996Mrs. Nassiter, "Internal Affairs," Nash Bridges (also known as Bridges), CBS, 1996The widow, "Key Witness," Nash Bridges (also known as Bridges), CBS, 1996Jane Elaine, "Hide and Seek," The Practice, ABC, 1997Marge Wyman, "Eyes of a Ranger," Walker, Texas Ranger, CBS, 1998Barbara Silberger, "The Delivery," The Beast, ABC, 2001Carol, "Where's Poppa?," Just Shoot Me!, NBC, 2001Helen, "The Gay Divorcee," Family Law, CBS, 2001Herself, "Dick Van Patten: The Sure Bet," Biography (also known asA&E Biography: Dick Van Patten), Arts and Entertainment, 2001Maureen Bustamante, "I Fought the In-Laws," Grounded for Life, Fox, 2002Merlene, "Welcome Home," Third Watch, NBC, 2005PilotsLaura (title role), Lady Luck, NBC, 1973Molly, "Changing Patterns," CBS Summer Playhouse, CBS, 1987Some sources cite an appearance in Some Nerve!, c. 1999.OtherRose (also known as The Story of Rose), 1986Rosa, Rosa, quattre storie di donne, 1987Una casa a Roma (also known as Un'americana a Roma), 1987Stage AppearancesSteel Magnolias, 1992The Man Who Came to Dinner, 1995Later Life, Merrimack Repertory Theatre, Lowell, MA, 1997Performed as a showgirl at various venues.
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