Claudine Longet, the French singer and actress who became the focus of a notorious manslaughter trial following the fatal shooting of her boyfriend, Olympic skier Vladimir "Spider" Sabich, has passed away at the age of 84.
Family Announcement
Her nephew, Bryan Longet, announced her death in a social media post on Thursday. "You have been a true inspiration in my life and you will always be," he wrote. "Another star in the sky. Thank you for everything, my aunt." Reached by phone by The Associated Press, he confirmed Longet's death but did not disclose the cause.
Career and Personal Life
Longet was born in Paris and began acting as a child. She appeared in numerous television shows, recorded hit albums such as "Claudine," and was well known for the bossa nova-style ballad "Nothing to Lose," a highlight of the 1968 film "The Party" starring Longet and Peter Sellers.
At the time, she was married to singer Andy Williams, whom she met in the early 1960s while dancing in a Las Vegas revue. By the mid-1970s, they were divorced, and she was living near Aspen, Colorado, with Sabich, who had competed for the United States in the 1968 Winter Olympics.
The Shooting and Trial
On March 21, 1976, Longet shot Sabich at their home with a Luger pistol. She claimed he had been showing her the weapon and that it discharged accidentally. Sabich, 31, died from a single gunshot wound to the abdomen. Longet accompanied him in the ambulance to the hospital.
Her trial in Aspen drew worldwide attention. Andy Williams attended, escorting her to and from court, paying her legal fees, and supporting his former wife and mother of their three children. "I thought it was unfair, I thought she was innocent, I thought it was an accident," Williams told "CBS This Morning" in 2009.
Longet was charged with reckless manslaughter, but law enforcement made critical errors, including taking a blood sample from her without a warrant. After four days of deliberation in January 1977, the jury found her guilty of negligent homicide. She received two years' probation, a $250 fine, and a 30-day jail sentence, which she served on dates of her choosing.
Aftermath and Legacy
Longet's entertainment career effectively ended. She became the subject of mockery in popular culture, from a skit on "Saturday Night Live" to the Rolling Stones song "Claudine," which featured the taunting refrain, "Claudine's back in jail again" (the song was unreleased for decades).
Longet later married her defense attorney, Ron Austin, and lived with him in Aspen. After Sabich's family filed a $1.3 million lawsuit in 1977, the two sides reached a settlement that barred Longet from ever discussing Sabich or the trial.
Associated Press writer Samuel Petrequin in London contributed to this report.
