Pia Zadora (born Pia Alfreda Schipani, May 4, 1954) is an American actress and singer. After working as a child actress on Broadway, in regional theater, and in the film ''

Santa Claus Conquers the Martians ''Santa Claus Conquers the Martians'' is a 1964 American science fiction comedy film directed by Nicholas Webster, produced and written by Paul L. Jacobson, based on a story by Glenville Mareth, that stars John Call as Santa Claus. It also feat ...

'' (1964), she came to national attention in 1981 when, following her starring role in the highly criticized ''Butterfly'', she won a

Golden Globe Award The Golden Globe Awards are accolades bestowed by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association beginning in January 1944, recognizing excellence in both American and international film and television. Beginning in 2022, there are 105 members of t ...

as New Star of the Year while simultaneously winning the Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Actress and the Worst New Star for the same performance. When in the 1980s Zadora's film career failed to achieve critical success, she switched her focus to music. As a singer, Zadora has released several albums featuring popular standards, often backed by a symphonic orchestra. She was nominated for a Grammy in 1984.

Early life

Zadora was born Pia Alfreda Schipani in

Hoboken, New Jersey Hoboken ( ; Unami: ') is a city in Hudson County in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the city's population was 60,417. The Census Bureau's Population Estimates Program calculated that the city's population was 58,690 i ...

. Her father, Alphonse Schipani, was an Italian-American violinist, and her mother, Saturnina Schipani (née Zadorowski), was a Polish-American theatrical wardrobe supervisor for Broadway productions, the

Metropolitan Opera The Metropolitan Opera (commonly known as the Met) is an American opera company based in New York City, resident at the Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center, currently situated on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. The company is operat ...

and the New York City Opera. She adapted part of her mother's maiden name as her stage name. Zadora appeared as a child actress with Tallulah Bankhead in ''Midgie Purvis.'' She played the youngest sister (Bielke) in the Broadway production of ''

Fiddler on the Roof ''Fiddler on the Roof'' is a musical with music by Jerry Bock, lyrics by Sheldon Harnick, and book by Joseph Stein, set in the Pale of Settlement of Imperial Russia in or around 1905. It is based on ''Tevye and his Daughters'' (or ''Tevye the ...

'' (1964–66).

Career

Film

Zadora's first film role was Girmar, a young Martian girl, in 1964's ''

'', widely regarded as one of the

worst films ever made The films listed below have been cited by a variety of notable critics in varying media sources as being among the worst films ever made. Examples of such sources include Metacritic, Roger Ebert's list of most-hated films, ''The Golden Turkey ...

. Zadora's acting career made little headway until, while touring with a musical production in 1972, she met Meshulam Riklis, 30 years her senior. The couple married on September 18, 1977. Not long after her marriage, Zadora had a breakthrough as the Dubonnet Girl, appearing in print and television commercials for the apéritif wine, in whose American distributor Riklis was a shareholder. Zadora starred alongside Stacy Keach and

Orson Welles George Orson Welles (May 6, 1915 – October 10, 1985) was an American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter, known for his innovative work in film, radio and theatre. He is considered to be among the greatest and most influential f ...

in the 1982 film of

James M. Cain James Mallahan Cain (July 1, 1892 – October 27, 1977) was an American novelist, journalist and screenwriter. He is widely regarded as a progenitor of the hardboiled school of American crime fiction. His novels ''The Postman Always Rings Twice ...

's novel ''

Butterfly Butterflies are insects in the macrolepidopteran clade Rhopalocera from the Order (biology), order Lepidoptera, which also includes moths. Adult butterflies have large, often brightly coloured wings, and conspicuous, fluttering flight. The ...

,'' the plot for which involved father–daughter incest. The musical score featured Zadora singing "It's Wrong for Me to Love You." She won that year's

as Best New Star of the Year amid charges that Riklis had purchased the award with a promotional campaign that included Zadora's image presented prominently on Sunset Boulevard billboards, an appearance in ''Playboy'' magazine, and entertaining Golden Globe voters. Most critics, however, responded negatively to Zadora's performance (for example, ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' film critic

Vincent Canby Vincent Canby (July 27, 1924 – October 15, 2000) was an American film and theatre critic who served as the chief film critic for ''The New York Times'' from 1969 until the early 1990s, then its chief theatre critic from 1994 until his death in ...

described Zadora's performance in the film as "spectacularly inept"), and she received the 1982

Razzies The Golden Raspberry Awards (also known as the Razzies and Razzie Awards) is a parody award show honoring the worst of cinematic under-achievements. Co-founded by UCLA film graduates and film industry veterans John J. B. Wilson and Mo Murphy, ...

awards for both Worst New Star and Worst Actress. Zadora next starred in the 1982 film ''

Fake-Out ''Fake-Out'' (also released as ''Nevada Heat'') is a 1982 American crime comedy film directed by Matt Cimber, written by Cimber and John F. Goff, and starring Pia Zadora, Telly Savalas, Desi Arnaz Jr., and Larry Storch. Cast *Pia Zadora as Bobb ...

,'' also called ''Nevada Heat,'' a women in prison

B-movie A B movie or B film is a low-budget commercial motion picture. In its original usage, during the Golden Age of Hollywood, the term more precisely identified films intended for distribution as the less-publicized bottom half of a double featur ...

comedy co-starring Telly Savalas and

Desi Arnaz Jr. Desiderio Alberto Arnaz IV (born January 19, 1953), known professionally as Desi Arnaz Jr., is an American actor and musician. He is the son of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz. Early life Arnaz was born on January 19, 1953, at Cedars-Sinai Medical ...

In 1983 she appeared in the film adaptation of the

Harold Robbins Harold Robbins (May 21, 1916 – October 14, 1997) was an American author of popular novels. One of the best-selling writers of all time, he wrote over 25 best-sellers, selling over 750 million copies in 32 languages. Early life Robbins was b ...

novel ''

The Lonely Lady ''The Lonely Lady'' is a 1983 American drama film directed by Peter Sasdy, adapted from Harold Robbins' 1976 novel of the same name, believed to have been based on Robbins' memories of Jacqueline Susann. The film stars Pia Zadora in the title r ...

,'' portraying an aspiring screenwriter who achieves success after surviving sexual assault. For this performance she received the 1983 Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Actress. On the basis of being multiply recognized by the Golden Raspberry Awards, Zadora was named Worst New Star of the Decade (1980–89) and nominated as Worst Actress of the 1980s. In 1985, Zadora starred as the object of an

extraterrestrial Extraterrestrial refers to any object or being beyond ( extra-) the planet Earth ( terrestrial). It is derived from the Latin words ''extra'' ("outside", "outwards") and ''terrestris'' ("earthly", "of or relating to the Earth"). It may be abbrevia ...

's affections in the musical comedy '' Voyage of the Rock Aliens.'' In addition to displaying her comedic side, the film showcased her musical talents and featured half of the songs from her 1984 album ''Let's Dance Tonight.'' In 1988 she appeared as a

beatnik Beatniks were members of a social movement in the 1950s that subscribed to an anti-materialistic lifestyle. History In 1948, Jack Kerouac introduced the phrase "Beat Generation", generalizing from his social circle to characterize the undergr ...

in John Waters's film ''

Hairspray Hairspray may refer to: * Hair spray, a personal grooming product that keeps hair protected from humidity and wind * ''Hairspray'' (1988 film), a film by John Waters ** ''Hairspray'' (1988 soundtrack), the film's soundtrack album ** ''Hairspray ...

,'' about which the film critic

Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert (; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American film critic, film historian, journalist, screenwriter, and author. He was a film critic for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, Ebert beca ...

wrote "If nothing else is worth the price of admission to this movie, perhaps you will be persuaded by the prospect of Zadora reading from

Allen Ginsberg Irwin Allen Ginsberg (; June 3, 1926 – April 5, 1997) was an American poet and writer. As a student at Columbia University in the 1940s, he began friendships with William S. Burroughs and Jack Kerouac, forming the core of the Beat Gener ...

's ''

Howl Howl most often refers to: *Howling, an animal vocalization in many canine species *Howl (poem), a 1956 poem by Allen Ginsberg Howl may also refer to: Film * ''The Howl'', a 1970 Italian film * ''Howl'' (2010 film), a 2010 American arthouse b ...

.''" In 2000, Zadora was nominated at the

20th Golden Raspberry Awards The 20th Golden Raspberry Awards were held on March 25, 2000 at the Sheraton Hotel in Santa Monica, California to recognize the worst the film industry had to offer in 1999. Included with the normal Golden Raspberry categories to mark the dawn o ...

as Worst Actress of the Century, ultimately losing to

Madonna Madonna Louise Ciccone (; ; born August 16, 1958) is an American singer-songwriter and actress. Widely dubbed the " Queen of Pop", Madonna has been noted for her continual reinvention and versatility in music production, songwriting, a ...

Music

Although as an actress, Zadora's performances have generated critical hostility, she has attained greater critical success as a singer. Zadora's cover of the Shirley Ellis hit "

The Clapping Song "The Clapping Song" is an American song, written by Lincoln Chase, originally arranged by Charles Calello and recorded by Shirley Ellis in 1965. The single sold over a million copies, and peaked at number eight in the United States and number six ...

," recorded for the film score of ''

'' in 1983, reached the U.S. top 40 (her only Top 40 hit on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100), and in 1984 she had a hit duet with Jermaine Jackson titled "

When the Rain Begins to Fall "When the Rain Begins to Fall" is a 1984 song written and composed by Peggy March, Michael Bradley, and Steve Wittmack, recorded by singers Jermaine Jackson and Pia Zadora, and released as a US single at the beginning of 1985 (In Europe in Octo ...

" from the movie ''Voyage of the Rock Aliens.'' In 1985, she received a nomination for a

Grammy Award for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance The Grammy Award for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance was an award presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards, to female recording artists for works (songs or albums) conta ...

for the song "Rock It Out," losing to Tina Turner's "Better Be Good to Me." Also in 1985, Zadora released ''Pia & Phil,'' an album of standards with the

London Philharmonic Orchestra The London Philharmonic Orchestra (LPO) is one of five permanent symphony orchestras based in London. It was founded by the conductors Sir Thomas Beecham and Malcolm Sargent in 1932 as a rival to the existing London Symphony and BBC Symphony ...

, and recorded a follow-up album in 1986 titled ''I Am What I Am''. In 1988, Zadora worked with producers Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis on an album titled '' When the Lights Go Out.'' The album was released only in Europe, and the single "Dance Out of My Head" did not chart despite the top producers and club remixes by

Shep Pettibone Robert "Shep" Pettibone (born 10 July 1959) is an American record producer, remixer, songwriter and club DJ, one of the most prolific of the 1980s. Career Shep Pettibone surfaced after his work with Arthur Baker on Afrika Bambaataa & the Jazz ...

and Ben Liebrand. In 1989, Zadora recorded the album ''

Pia Z ''Pia Z'' is a studio album by the American singer-actress Pia Zadora, released in 1989. It was produced by Narada Michael Walden. Zadora supported the album with a North American tour. "Heartbeat of Love" was released as the first single. "If You ...

'' with producer

Narada Michael Walden Narada Michael Walden ( ; Michael Walden; born April 23, 1952) is an American musician, singer, songwriter and record producer. He acquired the nickname Narada from Sri Chinmoy. He began his career as a drummer, working primarily in the jazz ...

; this album also failed to chart. The single "Heartbeat of Love" included club remixes by Robert Civillés and David Cole of C+C Music Factory. ''Pia Today!'' (1988) and ''Only for Romantics'' (1991), two additional albums/CDs of standards, received only limited promotional release. ''Pia—The Platinum Collection,'' a three-CD compilation, was released in 1993 and sold in the United States via infomercials. The album included repackaged versions of ''Pia & Phil,'' ''I Am What I Am,'' and ''Pia Today!''. In 1994, Zadora had a cameo appearance in the comedy '' Naked Gun : The Final Insult.'' In her segment of the film, Zadora performed the Steve Allen–penned "This Could Be the Start of Something Big" during a parody of an

Academy Awards The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...

musical number. According to her website, in 2020 Zadora released a new album featuring American standards, entitled ''All or Nothing At All''.

Cabaret

In 2011, Zadora began a small attempt at a comeback with a cabaret show titled ''Pia Zadora: Back Again, and Standing Tall.'' In February, she performed at the Eissey Campus Theatre in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida and the Kaye Auditorium in Boca Raton. She took the show to The Rrazz Room in San Francisco on June 8 where it ran for five performances until June 12. Zadora appeared at San Francisco's Rrazz Room's 3rd annual Rrazziversary Gala Celebration and Benefit for

St. Jude Children's Research Hospital St. Jude Children's Research Hospital is a pediatric treatment and research facility located in Memphis, Tennessee. Founded in 1962, it is a 501(c)(3) designated nonprofit medical corporation which focuses on children's catastrophic diseases, pa ...

on March 17, 2011, and at the Nevada Children's Center's Great Gatsby Gala on April 3, 2011. In 2012, Zadora performed with the Desert Symphony Orchestra at the

McCallum Theatre The McCallum Theatre is a 1,127-seat theatre and concert venue located on the southern edge of the campus of College of the Desert in Palm Desert, California Palm Desert is a city in Riverside County, California, United States, in the Coachel ...

in Palm Desert, California, and appeared on the TV show ''

Celebrity Ghost Stories ''Celebrity Ghost Stories'' is an American paranormal reality television series that debuted on October 3, 2009, with the pilot airing on September 26, 2009. Its first four seasons aired on The Biography Channel with the fifth airing on Lifetime Mo ...

.'' Since 2013, Zadora has hosted and performed ''Pia's Place'' at Las Vegas restaurant Piero's Italian Cuisine.

Personal life

Zadora married businessman Meshulam Riklis in 1977, when she was 23, and he was 54. She was a marquee headliner at the Riviera Hotel in Las Vegas during the early 1970s owing to her association with Riklis and Sinatra. Zadora and Riklis bought the Beverly Hills mansion Pickfair Manor in January 1988 from

Los Angeles Lakers The Los Angeles Lakers are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles. The Lakers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference Pacific Division. The Lakers play their ...

owner

Jerry Buss Gerald Hatten Buss (January 27, 1933 – February 18, 2013) was an American businessman, investor, chemist, and philanthropist. He was the majority owner of the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association (NBA), winning 10 l ...

for almost US$7 million. They demolished most of the structure while keeping the guest houses, claiming that termites and time had made repairs difficult. The mansion, which drew its name of Pickfair from having once been the shared home of Douglas Fairbanks and

Mary Pickford Gladys Marie Smith (April 8, 1892 – May 29, 1979), known professionally as Mary Pickford, was a Canadian-American stage and screen actress and producer with a career that spanned five decades. A pioneer in the US film industry, she co-founde ...

, was torn down and a new mansion was built on the property. Zadora later claimed on a September 2012 episode of BIO's ''

'' that Pickfair was razed owing to a troubling apparition that appeared to her and children when her husband was away on business. Riklis commissioned a nude oil portrait of Zadora, which greeted visitors. With first husband Riklis, she had children Kady Zadora (born 1985) and Kristofer Barzie (born 1987). Kady was named after Zadora's film character in ''Butterfly,'' which later inspired the call letters for station KADY-TV in Oxnard, California, after Riklis acquired it in 1988. After he divested himself of his ownership, it changed its call letters to KBEH. Zadora and Riklis divorced in 1993, and Zadora remained in the mansion until late 2005 or early 2006, when she sold it to Korean businessman Corry Hong for US$17,650,000. Zadora's second husband was writer–director Jonathan Kaufer. They were married from August 1995 to November 2001, and had one child, Jordan Maxwell Kaufer. In 2010 a defamation lawsuit brought by Kaufer against Zadora, which alleged that Zadora falsely accused Kaufer of sexually molesting their son, was dismissed because the presiding judge found Zadora's comments to be protected speech. Zadora has been married to Michael Jeffries, a detective with the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, since 2005 and currently resides in Summerlin, Nevada. Zadora and Jeffries met after Zadora contacted the Las Vegas Police to report a stalking incident. In June 2013, following an altercation with her teenage son Jordan, Zadora was charged with domestic violence battery and coercion, and jailed after a SWAT team surrounded her home. Zadora, who admitted to drinking alcohol before the incident and confirmed the cause of the altercation, was later ordered by the presiding judge to "stay out of trouble for a year, attend impulse control counseling and follow recommendations of nalcohol evaluation." In September 2014, Zadora was hospitalized in the intensive care unit of

University Medical Center of Southern Nevada University Medical Center of Southern Nevada (UMCSN) is a non-profit (teaching) government hospital in Las Vegas, Nevada. It is the only government run hospital owned and operated by the Clark County Commission. Overview The hospital was founded i ...

due to head and leg injuries sustained in a golf cart accident. By December, she was back to work.

Filmography

Film

Television

Theater

*''The Garden of Sweets'' (1961) *''Midgie Purvis'' (1961) *''A Gift of Time'' (1962) *''We Take the Town'' (1962) *''

'' (1965) *''

Henry, Sweet Henry ''Henry, Sweet Henry'' is a musical with a book by Nunnally Johnson and music and lyrics by Bob Merrill. Based on the 1964 novel ''The World of Henry Orient'' by Johnson's daughter Nora and the subsequent film of the same name, the plot focuse ...

'' (1967) *'' Dames at Sea'' (1968) *''

Little Mary Sunshine ''Little Mary Sunshine'' is a musical that parodies old-fashioned operettas and musicals. The book, music, and lyrics are by Rick Besoyan. The original Off-Broadway production premiered November 18, 1959 at the Orpheum Theatre in New York Ci ...

'' (1970) *''

Applause Applause (Latin ''applaudere,'' to strike upon, clap) is primarily a form of ovation or praise expressed by the act of clapping, or striking the palms of the hands together, in order to create noise. Audiences usually applaud after a performance ...

'' (1972) *'' Promises, Promises'' (1973) *''

Damn Yankees ''Damn Yankees'' is a 1955 musical comedy with a book by George Abbott and Douglass Wallop, music and lyrics by Richard Adler and Jerry Ross. The story is a modern retelling of the Faust legend set during the 1950s in Washington, D.C., during ...

'' (1976) *'' Funny Girl'' (1991) *'' Crazy for You'' (1995) *'' Pippin'' (1995)

Discography

Albums

*1982: ''Pia'' *1984: ''Let's Dance Tonight'' *1985: ''Pia & Phil'' *1986: ''I Am What I Am'' *1988: '' When the Lights Go Out'' *1989: ''

'' *1989: ''Pia Today!'' (promo only until it was issued as part of ''The Platinum Collection'') *1993: ''Only for Romantics'' (promo only) *1993: ''The Platinum Collection'' (included ''Pia & Phil'', ''I Am What I Am'', and ''Pia Today!'') *2020: ''All Or Nothing At All''

Singles

*^A

B-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph records and cassettes; these terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or record compan ...

to "Bedtime Stories" *^B

to "When the Rain Begins to Fall"

Awards and nominations

Golden Globe Awards

*Won: New Star of the Year, ''Butterfly'' (1981)

Golden Raspberry Awards

*Won: Worst New Star, ''Butterfly'' (1983) *Won: Worst Actress, ''The Lonely Lady'' (1984) *Won: Worst New Star of the Decade, ''Butterfly'' and ''The Lonely Lady'' (1990) *Nominated: Worst Actress of the Decade, ''Butterfly'' and ''The Lonely Lady'' (1990) *Nominated: Worst Actress of the Century, ''Voyage of the Rock Aliens'', ''Butterfly'', and ''The Lonely Lady'' (2000)

Golden Apple Award

*Won: Sour Apple (1982)

Grammy Awards

*Nominated: Best Rock Vocal Performance Female, for "Rock It Out" (1985)

ShoWest Award

*Won: Young Star of the Year (1982)

In popular culture

The cult TV series ''

Mystery Science Theater 3000 ''Mystery Science Theater 3000'' (abbreviated as ''MST3K'') is an American science fiction comedy film review television series created by Joel Hodgson. The show premiered on KTMA-TV (now WUCW) in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on November 24, 1988. ...

'' had riffed her debut film ''Santa Claus Conquers the Martians'' as a third season episode. Her appearance on the aforementioned ''Hairspray'' was referenced on an earlier episode of ''MST3K'', this time ''

First Spaceship on Venus ''Milcząca Gwiazda'' (german: Der schweigende Stern), literal English translation ''The Silent Star'', is a 1960 East German/Polish color science fiction film based on the 1951 science fiction novel ''The Astronauts'' by Polish science fiction wri ...

''.ShoutFactoryTV: Watch Mystery Science Theater 3000 Episode: First Spaceship on Venus
/ref>

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Zadora, Pia 1954 births Living people Actresses from New Jersey American child actresses American dance musicians American film actresses American people of Italian descent American people of Polish descent American women country singers American women pop singers American stage actresses American television actresses Singers from New Jersey New Star of the Year (Actress) Golden Globe winners Musicians from Hoboken, New Jersey Traditional pop music singers Songwriters from New Jersey People from Summerlin, Nevada Country musicians from New York (state) Country musicians from New Jersey 21st-century American women