Count Dooku

TRUST is on IFC right now.

Adrienne Shelley is so freakin beautiful.
That gorgeous red hair, the pouty lips, the delicate features, porcelean skin.



I know she was this New York actress who was making independent films, but looking at her in all her glory of 15 years ago, I'm surprised we didn't hear more from her.

Any other fans of this redheaded beauty out there?

And despite what I've titled the thread, any other actresses that you expected to be bigger who went nowhere?

tofu

I always thought Gabrielle Anwar and Madchen Amick were going to be the next big things.

Fielding Mellish

Count,

I was thinking the very same thing as I caught her on IFC last weekend. Eerie.


EDIT: According to her IMDB entry, she's been doing quite a bit of theatre work and a few short films. And even more writing and directing.

devilpants

I don't remember the last movie I saw her in ("Sudden Manhattan?"), but she cut her hair short and wrinkled up pretty fast. According to imdb, she'll be in the Matt Dillon Bukowski movie, so she'll be getting some attention soon.

Jazzbutcher

http://www.nypost.com/seven/11032006...dan_mangan.htm

INDIE-FILM STAR 'SUICIDE' STUNNER
HUBBY FINDS GAL, 40, HANGED IN VILLAGE APT.
By PHILIP MESSING, MARK BULLIET and DAN MANGAN
TRAGIC BEAUTY: Adrienne Shelly hanged herself in the bathroom of her Greenwich Village apartment, cops say.November 3, 2006 -- The body of a beautiful, talented actress was found hanging from a shower rod in the bathtub of a Greenwich Village apartment by her horrified husband, who cried out, "Why? Why?" cops and witnesses said.

Adrienne Shelly, 40, who was also a director and screenwriter, apparently killed herself, cops said, but added they're examining some mysterious aspects of the case.

In a shockingly prophetic interview, Shelly told a magazine in 1996 how her father rebuffed talent agents hoping to sign her up as a child actress by telling them, "I will not have my daughter jumping out of a window when she's 30."

And in 2002, she told an interviewer she had "gone through life with this feeling that life could end at any given moment," adding she would not accept delays in producing her film projects "because in my way of thinking, I might not live another seven years."

Shelly, who appeared earlier this year in the film "Factotum," starring Matt Dillon, was on the verge of releasing her latest directorial effort, a film called "Waitress," when she died Wednesday.

The petite blonde, who was born Adrienne Levine, was best known for her deadpan comic delivery and early lead roles in two Hal Hartley-directed films set on her native Long Island - "The Unbelievable Truth" and "Trust," both cult classics.

Law-enforcement sources said they are inclined to believe Shelly's death - which for now remains unclassified by the medical examiner - was a suicide, noting there was no sign of struggle or forced entry in the fourth-floor apartment.

But she left no note and cops were investigating sneaker prints in the bathtub that did not match Shelly's shoes.

A TriBeCa resident who used the Village apartment as an office, Shelley had a 3-year-old daughter named Sophie. In recent months, she spoke of her hopes to have another child with her marketing-executive husband, Andrew Ostroy.

EdTheRipper

I read about her death yesterday. Too bad.

wergo

Hmmm. I have 'Unbelievable Truth' on DVD, but I'm still impatiently waitng for 'Trust' (which I acually preferred).


Skipping over the depressing news of her death to the original poster's question; how about Natasha Gregson Wagner? Why didn't she become a megastar? Haven't seen her since 'Pasadina' went off the air. By all the myriad gods of Kobol, that girl was gorgeous!

rkndkn

Wow, that's very shocking about Adrienne Shelley.

As for Natasha Gregson Wagner, she's a semi-regular on "The 4400".

Perkinsun Dzees

The hubby's behavior sounds a bit suspicious to me, like he was trying to make a big show to the doorman about how concerned he was about her. He might've wanted the doorman to accompany him to the apartment so that he'd have a witness to see him discover the body.

Then again, maybe I'm watching too much CSI.

=========================================================

A TriBeCa resident who used the Village apartment as an office, Shelley had a 3-year-old daughter named Sophie. In recent months, she spoke of her hopes to have another child with her marketing-executive husband, Andrew Ostroy.

Shelly's death stunned family and friends who said there was no indication she was troubled.

A family source said Shelly "wasn't on any medication. She doesn't drink and she was a pretty happy person. Everyone is having trouble accepting this as a suicide."

A doorman at the Abingdon Square building - where Shelly sublet the apartment to a friend - told The Post that Ostroy arrived there just before 6 p.m. Wednesday, and "said he was really worried about her. He said he dropped her off that morning at 10 or 10:30.

"He hadn't heard from her and he said it was odd not to hear from her, so he was nervous. And he asked me to go up to the apartment with him, so we went to the front door, and it was unlocked," the doorman said.

"He ran into the apartment . . . Once he got to the back of the apartment, he just started screaming . . . and crying, 'Why? Why?' - asking himself, or just asking her," the doorman said. "I immediately called 911."

Law-enforcement sources said they are inclined to believe Shelly's death - which for now remains unclassified by the medical examiner - was a suicide, noting there was no sign of struggle or forced entry in the fourth-floor apartment.

But she left no note and cops were investigating sneaker prints in the bathtub that did not match Shelly's shoes.

cfloyd3

Trust is my favorite film ever and I am an avid Hartley supporter so Shelley's death is pretty tough to believe. I am pretty shocked. I know its a death that isn't really apart of my family or anything but this is awful to read. I don't know what to say, I've watched Trust so many times and oggled over her (and mainly her performance and beauty).....

Fielding Mellish

Holy shit.

mr899

Posted on Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adrienne_Shelly

Death

At about 5:45 p.m on Nov. 1, 2006, Shelly's husband, Andy Ostroy, found her hanging by a bedsheet[6] from a shower rod in the bathtub [7] of their Abingdon Square apartment in the West Village section of Manhattan's Greenwich Village.[6] An autopsy was performed the following day. Although an apparent suicide, no note was found and the New York City Police Department is investigating shoe prints in the bathtub that do not match Shelly's shoes.[1] [8] Shelly is survived by her husband and their 3-year-old daughter, Sophie.

Geno

Maybe you are. Maybe you aren't. Your thoughts were mine also.

Whatever happened to this wife, his second?



November 1, 1998

Monica Felice Vitenson and Andrew Bennett Ostroy were married last evening at the TriBeCa Grill in Manhattan. Justice Karla T. Moskowitz of State Supreme Court in Manhattan officiated.

Mrs. Ostroy, 31, is a graduate of George Washington University. In June, she received a master's degree in physical therapy from Columbia University.

Her father, Dr. Jack Henri Vitenson of Franklin Lakes, N.J., is the chairman of the urology department at the Hackensack (N.J.) University Medical Center, and practices with the Urologic Institute of New Jersey, a medical group in Hackensack. Her mother, Odette Petersen of Manhattan, is the telephone help-line coordinator at Share, a breast and ovarian cancer support organization in Manhattan. The bride is a stepdaughter of Lois Ann Vitenson and of Henrik T. Petersen.

Mr. Ostroy, 39, is a partner in ALC of New York, a direct marketing services firm in Manhattan. He graduated from Brooklyn College. He is a son of Mildred and Solomon H. Ostroy of Wantagh, N.Y. The bridegroom's mother retired as an administrator at the Mid-Island Agency, an insurance brokerage concern in Baldwin, N.Y. His father, who is retired, owned and operated a limousine service in Wantagh. The bridegroom's previous marriage ended in divorce.

Geno

Looks as if doubts about 'suicide' are popping up already.

http://www.nypost.com/php/pfriendly/...dd_venezia.htm

By KIERAN CROWLEY, PHILIP MESSING and TODD VENEZIA

November 4, 2006 -- The mother of indie-film star Adrienne Shelly broke down in grief yesterday, insisting that she cannot accept that her beautiful actress daughter hanged herself inside a Greenwich Village apartment last week.

"What a terrible thing to say - my daughter would never kill herself," exclaimed a teary-eyed Elaine Langbaum, as family members tried to hold her back from speaking to the press at her home in Jericho, L.I.

Shelly's husband Andrew Ostoy told WABC/Channel 7 that he doesn't believe the suicide theory either.

"My wife, Adrienne Shelly, did not kill herself," said Ostoy. "I am doing everything I can, everything humanly possible to find out exactly what happened."

Police sources said detectives were still investigating the death yesterday, but that they had not found any evidence to indicate Shelly's death was anything other than a suicide.

They will not close the case, however, until after a medical examiner's report is completed. That process could take days or weeks, sources said.

The body of the 40-year-old mother and film star, who appeared in the 1990 cult classic "Trust," was found Wednesday dangling from a shower rod in an apartment she used as an office.

Her husband, a marketing executive who is known in political circles for a political blog and public access talk show, found her at about 6 p.m.

Ostroy, who has a 3-year-old daughter with Shelly, was questioned by cops for nearly five hours, police sources said.

A police source said there was no history of domestic violence between the couple. Police sources also said detectives believe there was a suicide note, but that it may have been removed.

. A cousin of Shelly told The Post on Thursday that she seemed happy and gave no indication she wanted to kill herself.

A source at the building where she died told The Post yesterday that he was the last person to see her alive. He agreed she did not look suicidal.

"She was happy, really happy," said the man. "We talked for a bit about Halloween mostly. I said 'How was your Halloween?' She said 'It was great, I took my daughter [Sophie] trick-or-treating. She was Cinderella.' "

[email protected]

Fielding Mellish

This one just gets weirder by the minute.

Tragic, if it's true.

Groucho

Never heard of her. Tragic story, nonetheless.

wergo

Christ. Remind me to never complain to my neighbors when they're too loud, huh?

JesseCuster

F*ck. I've actually never seen one of her films through but she was a lovely woman and an important Indie film actress.

Brooklyn

So, was she actually dead from the hit, or could it have been the attempted coverup
(hanging) afterwards that killed her?

Charlie Goose

Such a tragedy. At the very least, her family has a small bit of relief that she did not commit suicide.

The Antipodean

A bit of relief, but sadly it was reported all over the world already that it was, and that's what a lot of people will remember.

wergo

further info:


http://www.nypost.com/seven/11072006... n_mangan.htm


By LARRY CELONA, MURRAY WEISS and DAN MANGAN

November 7, 2006 -- In a stunning turnaround, a construction worker yesterday confessed to killing indie actress Adrienne Shelly, whose death in a Greenwich Village apartment last week was first thought to be suicide, cops said.

"I was having a bad day," illegal immigrant Diego Pillco, 19, allegedly told cops. "I didn't mean to kill her. But I did kill her."

Pillco told detectives that he punched Shelly, 40, last Wednesday afternoon outside the Abingdon Square apartment she was using as an office after she yelled at him about the noise he was making while working in a vacant apartment below.

Pillco, who is from Ecuador and speaks only Spanish, also claimed that Shelly slapped him first.

After seeing she was unconscious and believing she was dead, Pillco claimed, he dragged Shelly into her apartment, wrapped a bed sheet around her neck and attached it to a shower rod in the bathroom to make it appear she had hanged herself, sources said. The medical examiner has not yet released autopsy results.

Shelly's marketing-exec husband, Andrew Ostroy, found her body just before 6 that evening.

Pillco was nabbed early yesterday at his Brooklyn apartment after detectives matched several Reebok sneaker prints from the toilet seat in Shelly's bathroom to a print they found in the apartment downstairs.

Pillco's boss told detectives the laborer had been wearing sneakers while working.

Reebok Allen Iverson-model sneakers found at Pillco's home matched the prints, sources said.

The suspect's stunned boss, contractor Louis Hernandez, called his employee "a good kid."

"I don't know what happened. I don't think he did it," he said.

But investigators said Pillco was sly enough to try to mask his deadly deed.

"He tried to cover his tracks, but he ended up leaving his tracks," one police source said of Pillco, who entered the United States from Ecuador on July 7, and who now is charged with second-degree murder. "It was the tenacity of the investigators that led to an arrest. It had all the appearances of a suicide, but they didn't give up."

Shelly's family and friends had insisted all along that the loving wife and mother had no reason to kill herself.

"The entire family knew this was a murder from the outset," one relative said yesterday.

Shelly's family had been so convinced that they had hired renowned forensic pathologist Dr. Michael Baden, who performed a second autopsy on her Saturday at a funeral home, under the watch of two detectives.

After yesterday's development, Ostroy said in a statement: "We are incredibly grateful to the New York City Police Department for their dedication, professionalism and tenacity in following up on every lead in this case. We hope everyone will respect that this is a difficult and private time for our families."

Ostroy and Shelly, a TriBeCa resident who first gained notice for her performances in two classic independent films - "The Unbelievable Truth" and "Trust" - have a 3-year-old daughter, Sophie.

Earlier this year, Shelly, a Long Island native, appeared in the film "Factotum" with Matt Dillon, and at the time of her death was on the verge of releasing a movie called "Waitress," which she directed and wrote.

Additional reporting by Philip Messing and Jana Winter

Perkinsun Dzees

According to this story, Adrienne Shelly was still alive when her assailant strung her up to make it look like a suicide.

========================================================

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/08/ny...08actress.html

NY Times

November 8, 2006

Actress Was Killed in Hanging Meant as Cover-Up, Officials Say

By THOMAS J. LUECK and AL BAKER

He told detectives that he had hit her in the face and had thought she was dead. So, the police said, he wrapped a sheet around her neck and hanged her from a shower curtain rod, figuring that the police would think suicide. But he was wrong on both counts.

It was the hanging that killed Adrienne Shelly, a Manhattan actress and a mother, the authorities said yesterday. And it was the ruse of a fake suicide that ultimately led detectives to the man charged with killing her.

Such was the courtroom revelation at the arraignment of Diego Pillco, 19, an illegal immigrant from Ecuador who is charged with second-degree murder in the death of Ms. Shelly, 40, last week. The case has given pause to even the most experienced police investigators, who call it one of the most macabre killings in memory.

“This woman did not die from a strike to the head,” said Marit DeLozier, an assistant Manhattan district attorney, speaking at the arraignment before Judge Brenda S. Soloff in Manhattan Criminal Court.

“The medical examiner has made it crystal clear that the victim died from compression to the neck,” Ms. DeLozier said.

Ellen Borakove, a spokeswoman for the city medical examiner, said that a final determination of the cause of death would require further study. She said she was not contradicting what Ms. DeLozier said in court, but just pointing out that additional scientific analysis was necessary.

“As we frequently do in homicide investigations, we are providing guidance to the police and the prosecutors to enable them to determine what further steps they may need to take,” she said. She said that work may be completed as soon as today.

A veteran homicide investigator, who was not authorized to comment on the case and spoke on the condition of anonymity, said: “It’s really kind of bizarre. Usually, if it’s something they’re going to try to hide, they’re pretty sure the person is dead.

“And he almost got away with it, too,” the investigator said.

Mr. Pillco, a construction worker who speaks little English, entered no plea, and did not utter a word before Judge Soloff. A slight man, dressed in jeans, sneakers and a sweatshirt, he was remanded without bail to Rikers Island.

He was represented at the arraignment by Thomas Klein, a lawyer with the Legal Aid Society. After the hearing, Mr. Klein declined to comment on the case.

The court appearance came six days after the body of Ms. Shelly, who was also a screenwriter and director, was found by her husband in the bathroom of a West Village apartment that she used as an office. A bedsheet had been tied around her neck, and she had been hanged from a shower curtain rod.

Investigators at first suspected suicide, a theory rejected by Ms. Shelly’s family and friends, who said that her life was filled with promise and that she was devoted to her 3-year-old daughter.

Ultimately, investigators said, Mr. Pillco admitted under questioning by detectives that he had been working in a third-floor apartment beneath Ms. Shelly’s, that she had complained about construction noise, and that their confrontation had convulsed into violence, ending in Ms. Shelly’s death.

Yesterday, details of the case emerged, including the chain of events that detectives say was described to them by Mr. Pillco. They include Mr. Pillco’s account of being slapped by Ms. Shelly and pleading with her not to call the police before he hit her in the face, dragged her into the bathroom and strung her from the shower curtain rod.

Acquaintances of Mr. Pillco, who had been living in Greenwood Heights, Brooklyn, described him as an energetic and respectful young man who was struggling with the physical rigors of his job and the disorientation of his illegal immigrant status.

“I still don’t think he could do something like this,” said Frank Diaz, a resident of the building on Prospect Avenue where Mr. Pillco lived in a cramped basement space with two other Ecuadorean construction workers.

Ms. Shelly, a native of Queens, had appeared in several films, including “The Unbelievable Truth,” “Trust” and “Factotum,” and used the apartment where she was killed, at 15 Abingdon Square, as a base for film writing and other projects.

According to a law enforcement official, detectives responding to the scene of the killing last Wednesday saw no signs of a struggle, but seized upon one clue that could not be explained: a footprint on the cover of a toilet beneath the curtain rod where Ms. Shelly had been hanged.

The official said detectives thought the footprint might have been left by a firefighter or emergency responder, but no match could be found. After canvassing the building, and finding that the apartment below Ms. Shelly’s was being renovated, he said, the detectives encountered a worker who said he thought Mr. Pillco had been working there.

After tracking down Mr. Pillco, he said, the detectives found a Reebok sneaker in his apartment that matched the crime scene footprint, and brought him in for questioning.

According to Mr. Pillco’s account, the police official said, the confrontation with Ms. Shelly began about 9:30 a.m. after she went downstairs to complain about the noise. Sharp words were exchanged, and Mr. Pillco threw a hammer, but it did not hit Ms. Shelly, the official said.

Then, Ms. Shelly stormed up the stairs with Mr. Pillco following her, warning her not to call the police. At her door, Mr. Pillco grabbed Ms. Shelly, and she responded by slapping him in the face, the official said he told investigators.

When Mr. Pillco struck back, she fell, banging her head and losing consciousness. Then, Mr. Pillco took her into the bathroom and used a bedsheet to hang her, the official said.

“He tries to stage this thing because he is trying to make it go away,” the official said.

The police said yesterday that they did not believe that Mr. Pillco had a criminal record in Ecuador.

According to acquaintances in Brooklyn, Mr. Pillco was working for a construction contractor, Louis Hernandez, who owns the Prospect Avenue apartment building. The acquaintances said Mr. Pillco shared his basement quarters with his brother and a cousin.

They said the quarters had been hastily vacated, and all beds and furniture removed, before dawn on Monday. The two men who had lived with Mr. Pillco, also illegal immigrants from Ecuador, have not been seen since, the acquaintances said, apparently fearing they would be deported if they spoke to the police.

Mr. Hernandez, in a statement provided by a member of his staff, said yesterday that Mr. Pillco had been working for him “for the past few months as a construction helper.”

He said that Mr. Pillco, a part-time employee, and had demonstrated “respectful, well-mannered, decent and responsible behavior.”

Mr. Hernandez’s statement appeared to include an admission that he had illegally employed an undocumented immigrant. Marc Raimondi, a spokesman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said he could not comment on the case.

Nina Bernstein, Daryl Khan and Colin Moynihan contributed reporting.

Tenacious D

I've never seen any of her movies, but what a shocking story. The guy damned near got away with it too.

reverie

I've never really heard of her, but this is an extremely sad story. I really hope the murderer gets what's coming to him.. a hanging of his own.