Camille Keaton (born July 20, 1947) is an American actress and model. She is best known for her role as
Jennifer Hills in the controversial 1978 film ''
I Spit on Your Grave
''I Spit on Your Grave'' (originally titled ''Day of the Woman'') is a 1978 American rape and revenge horror film edited, written, and directed by Meir Zarchi. The film tells the story of Jennifer Hills (Camille Keaton), a fiction writer based ...
''. She began her career in Italy, making her film debut as Solange Beauregard in the
giallo
In Italian cinema, ''Giallo'' (; plural ''gialli'', from ''giallo'', Italian for yellow) is a genre of mystery fiction and thrillers that often contains slasher, crime fiction, psychological thriller, psychological horror, sexploitation, and, ...
film ''
What Have You Done to Solange?
''What Have You Done to Solange?'' ( it, Cosa avete fatto a Solange?) is a 1972 '' giallo'' film directed by Massimo Dallamano and starring Fabio Testi, Karin Baal, Joachim Fuchsberger, Cristina Galbó, and Camille Keaton. The plot follows a ser ...
'' (1972), and starred in several other Italian horror films through the early 1970s. In 2015, Keaton reprised her role as Jennifer Hills for the film, ''
I Spit on Your Grave: Deja Vu'', which was released in 2019.
Early life
Keaton was born July 20, 1947 in
Pine Bluff, Arkansas
Pine Bluff is the eleventh-largest city in the state of Arkansas and the county seat of Jefferson County. It is the principal city of the Pine Bluff Metropolitan Statistical Area and part of the Little Rock-North Little Rock-Pine Bluff Combin ...
. She attended middle school in
Eudora, Arkansas
Eudora is a city in Chicot County, Arkansas, United States. The population was 2,269 at the 2010 census, down from 2,819 in 2000.
Geography
Eudora is located in southern Chicot County at (33.114608, -91.262653). U.S. Route 65 passes through th ...
until 1960 when her family moved to
Atlanta, Georgia
Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,7 ...
.
In 1969, she was involved in a major car accident that left her with facial scarring.
[ .] Keaton once worked as a hostess for
Amtrak
The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, doing business as Amtrak () , is the national passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates inter-city rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous U.S. States and nine cities in Canada ...
.
Career
Keaton relocated to Italy in 1971,
[ where she had signed with a talent agent, and appeared in several commercials.][ Her debut role was in 1972 playing the role of Solange, a missing woman, in ]Massimo Dallamano
Massimo Dallamano (17 April 1917 – 4 November 1976), sometimes credited as Max Dillman, Max Dillmann or Jack Dalmas, was an Italian director and director of photography.
Life and career
Born in Milan, Dallamano began in the 1940s as camera ...
's movie of the giallo
In Italian cinema, ''Giallo'' (; plural ''gialli'', from ''giallo'', Italian for yellow) is a genre of mystery fiction and thrillers that often contains slasher, crime fiction, psychological thriller, psychological horror, sexploitation, and, ...
genre entitled ''What Have You Done to Solange?
''What Have You Done to Solange?'' ( it, Cosa avete fatto a Solange?) is a 1972 '' giallo'' film directed by Massimo Dallamano and starring Fabio Testi, Karin Baal, Joachim Fuchsberger, Cristina Galbó, and Camille Keaton. The plot follows a ser ...
'' Though a small role, her delicate and fragile physique got immediate attention. Robert Marcucci says of her role as Solange, "She truly steals every scene she's in, simply drifting in and out of each of her scenes, her face and mannerisms mysterious and alluring." The same year, she appeared as the lead in the Italian horror film '' Tragic Ceremony'' (1972).
In November 1972, Keaton was a centerfold in the Italian men's entertainment magazine '' Playmen''. In September 1974, she was on the cover of ''Playmen''. Keaton returned to the United States in 1975, settling in New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
.[ She then appeared as Jennifer Hills, a rape victim who wreaks bloody vengeance on her attackers, in the controversial exploitation film '']I Spit On Your Grave
''I Spit on Your Grave'' (originally titled ''Day of the Woman'') is a 1978 American rape and revenge horror film edited, written, and directed by Meir Zarchi. The film tells the story of Jennifer Hills (Camille Keaton), a fiction writer based ...
'' (1978), directed by her then-husband, Meir Zarchi
Meir Zarchi ( he, מאיר זרחי; born 1937) is an Israeli-American film director, screenwriter and producer.
Career
Zarchi's first professional film credit came from providing the story for the 1962 Israeli drama, ''Nini''.
Zarchi's first fi ...
. For her performance, she won the ''Medalla Sitges en Plata de Ley'' (Sitges Sterling Silver Medal) Best Actress award at the 1978 Sitges - Catalan International Film Festival
The Sitges Film Festival ( ca, Festival Internacional de Cinema Fantàstic de Catalunya, links=no) is an annual film festival held in Sitges, Spain, specialized in fantasy and horror films, of which it is considered one of the world's foremost in ...
.
After the release of ''I Spit On Your Grave'', Keaton moved with husband Zarchi to Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...
, California
California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...
.[
In 2012, Keaton appeared in an uncredited role in Rob Zombie's '' The Lords of Salem'', and has also appeared in the films ''Chop'' (2011) and '']The Butterfly Room
''The Butterfly Room'' is a 2012 American-Italian thriller- horror film directed by Jonathan Zarantonello. It is based on Zarantonello's novel ''Alice dalle 4 alle 5'' (''Alice from 4 to 5''). The film won the Denis-de-Rougemont Youth Award at th ...
'' (2013).
Her most recent films include Samuel Farmer's home-invasion thriller ''The Last House'' (2019), ''Terror in Woods Creek'' (2017), ''Blood River'' (2013), ''Plan 9'' (2015), and writer/director Jake Zelch's reimagining of Keaton's infamous 1993 film ''Savage Vengeance'' (2020).
Personal life
In 1979, Keaton married Israeli filmmaker Meir Zarchi
Meir Zarchi ( he, מאיר זרחי; born 1937) is an Israeli-American film director, screenwriter and producer.
Career
Zarchi's first professional film credit came from providing the story for the 1962 Israeli drama, ''Nini''.
Zarchi's first fi ...
, the director of ''I Spit on Your Grave''; they divorced in 1982. She was married to film producer Sidney Luft from March 20, 1993 until his death on September 15, 2005.
Filmography
Notes
References
Sources
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External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Keaton, Camille
1947 births
American film actresses
Actresses from Atlanta
Actresses from Arkansas
Living people
People from Pine Bluff, Arkansas
21st-century American women