Adrienne Shelly

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Adrienne Shelly

Adrienne Shelly on the DVD cover of The Unbelievable Truth
Born June 24, 1966(1966-06-24)
Queens, New York
Died November 1, 2006 (aged 40)
Manhattan, New York

Adrienne Shelly (June 24, 1966 – November 1, 2006), sometimes credited as Adrienne Shelley, was an American actress, director, and screenwriter.

Contents

[edit] Biography

[edit] Early life

Of Russian Jewish descent,[1] Shelly was born Adrienne Levine in Queens, New York, to Sheldon M. Levine and Elaine Langbaum. She had two brothers, Jeff and Mark, and was raised on Long Island. She began performing when she was about 10[2] at Stagedoor Manor Performing Arts Training Center. She made her professional debut in a summer stock production of the musical Annie[1] while a student at Jericho High School[3] in Jericho, New York. She went on to Boston University, majoring in film production, but dropped out after her junior year and moved to Manhattan.[4]

[edit] Career

Shelly's career breakthrough came in her starring roles in independent filmmaker Hal Hartley's The Unbelievable Truth (1989) and Trust (1990),[5][6] the latter of which was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival, where Hartley's script tied for the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award.[7]

She appeared in a number of films during the 1990s, and as she segued toward a behind-the-camera career she wrote and directed others, including 1999's I'll Take You There, in which she appeared along with Ally Sheedy. She won a U.S. Comedy Arts Festival Film Discovery Jury Award in 2000 for direction of the film, and Prize of the City of Setúbal: Special Mention, at the Festróia (Tróia International Film Festival) held in Setúbal, Portugal for best director.[8][6]

She also guest-starred in a number of television series including Law & Order, Oz, and Homicide: Life on the Street. She played major roles in over two dozen off-Broadway plays, often at Manhattan's Workhouse Theater.[4] In 2005 she co-starred in the film Factotum with Matt Dillon. Her last known work was writing, directing and starring in the film Waitress, starring Keri Russell and Nathan Fillion, [9] which premiered at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival.[10]

[edit] Personal life

Shelly, who took her professional surname after her late father's given name,[1] was married to Andrew Ostroy, the chairman and CEO of the marketing firm Belardi/Ostroy ALC.[11] They had a daughter, Sophie, who was two years old at the time of Shelly's death.[12]

[edit] Murder

At about 5:45 p.m on November 1, 2006, Shelly's husband found her hanging by a bedsheet[13] from a shower rod in the bathtub[11] of the Abingdon Square apartment in Manhattan's West Village that Shelly used as an office.[11] It initially appeared to be a suicide.[13] Ostroy had dropped her off at 9:30 a.m. that day, and as the building's doorman told journalists, "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."[11]

An autopsy was performed the following day. The New York City Police Department was suspicious of sneaker prints in the bathtub that did not match Shelly's shoes (she was found wearing only socks). Shelly's husband also indicated that there was money missing from Shelly's wallet. He denied allegations that she could have committed suicide.[14]

Press reports on November 6, 2006 stated that police had arrested construction worker Diego Pillco, a 19-year-old Ecuadorian illegal immigrant[15] who confessed to killing Shelly after she complained about the noise he was making in the apartment below hers. Pillco said that he "was having a bad day."[15] Police said Pillco had made videos implicating himself in the murder, and as of November 7, 2006 was being held without bail for her murder.[16][17]

Diego Pillco entered his guilty plea February 14, 2008. He said that, contrary to his original story, Shelly had not complained about noise, but rather had found him stealing money from her purse and had threatened to call the police. Pillco received 25 years in prison without parole when he was sentenced on March 6.[18][19]

At Pillco's sentencing on March 13, 2008, Shelly's husband, along with family members said that they would never forgive him.[20] Andy Ostroy had said of Pillco "...you are nothing more than a coldblooded killer" along with a comment to "rot in jail."[20]

In remembering Shelly, Ostroy said that "Adrienne was the kindest, warmest, most loving, generous person I knew. She was incredibly smart, funny and talented, a bright light with an infectious laugh and huge smile that radiated inner and outer beauty...she was my best friend, and the person with whom I was supposed to grow old."[20]

[edit] Legacy

Following his wife's death, Ostroy established the Adrienne Shelly Foundation,[21] a non-profit organization that will award film school scholarships and grants to female filmmakers.[22]

On February 16, 2007, the NBC crime drama series Law & Order broadcast an episode, "Melting Pot", that was a thinly-veiled dramatization of Shelly's murder.[23][24] Shelly herself had guest-starred on the show in the 2000 episode "High & Low."[25]

Shelly's film, Waitress, had been accepted into the 2007 Sundance Film Festival[26] before her murder. The film, starring Keri Russell, Nathan Fillion, Cheryl Hines, Jeremy Sisto, Andy Griffith and Shelly herself, was bought during the festival by Fox Searchlight Pictures for the sum of an amount between $4 million and $5 million, as news accounts on the actual amount vary, with a final box-office draw of $18 million and an 89% "fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes.[27]

[edit] Filmography

[edit] Acting

[edit] Writing

[edit] Writing and directing

  • Urban Legend (1994) (26-minute short film)[29]
  • Lois Lives a Little (1997)
  • Sudden Manhattan (1997)
  • I'll Take You There (1999)
  • The Shadows of Bob and Zelda (2000)
  • Waitress (2007)

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c AOL LLC (2006). AOL Moviefone biography. Retrieved November 6, 2006.
  2. ^ MovieMaker Magazine (2006). Moviemaker interview with Shelly: "Suddenly Adrienne Shelly" by Tim Rhys, August 1996. Retrieved November 6, 2006.
  3. ^ Newsday Inc. (2006)."Remembering Talents of a Local Star". By Steven Snyder, with contribution from Rocco Parascandol. Retrieved November 5, 2006.
  4. ^ a b Dennis Hevesi. "Adrienne Shelly, 40, an Actress, Film Director and Screenwriter, Is Dead", The New York Times, 2006-11-04. Retrieved on 2007-10-07. 
  5. ^ "Actress Adrienne Shelly found dead in New York City office", The International Herald Tribune, 2006-11-03. Retrieved on 2006-11-03. 
  6. ^ a b Internet Movie Database (1990-2006). Adrienne Shelly. Retrieved November 3, 2006.
  7. ^ Internet Movie Database (1990-2006). Awards for Trust. Retrieved November 5, 2006.
  8. ^ Awards for I'll Take You There at the Internet Movie Database. Retrieved November 3, 2006.
  9. ^ "Actress Adrienne Shelly found dead", CBC, 2006-11-03. Retrieved on 2004-11-03. 
  10. ^ Sundance Film Festival 07 (2006). Sundance Film Festival Announces Films in the Premiers, Spectrum, New Frontier, Park City at Midnight and From the Sundance Collection Series (pdf). Retrieved December 18, 2006.
  11. ^ a b c d Philip Messing; Mark Bulliet; Dan Mangan. "Indie-Film Star 'Suicide' Stunner", New York Post, November 3, 2006. 
  12. ^ Alison Gendar; John Lauinger; Barbara Ross; Corky Siemaszko. "Killer Staged Her 'Suicide'", New York: Daily News, November 7, 2006. 
  13. ^ a b Alison Gendar; Michael White. "Actress Found Hanged in Village Apartment", New York Daily News, November 3, 2006. 
  14. ^ ABC Inc., WABC-TV New York (2006). "Husband: Actress-wife's death suspicious". Retrieved November 5, 2006.
  15. ^ a b Larry Celona; Murray Weiss; Dan Mangan. "Star's Suicide was Killer Cover-up", New York Post, November 7, 2006. Retrieved on 2006-11-13. 
  16. ^ Newsday (date n.a.): "NYPD questions a person in death of actress Adrienne Shelly"
  17. ^ CBS Broadcasting Inc. (2006). WCBS-TV/Associated Press. "Brooklyn Man Charged With Murder Of Actress". Retrieved November 7, 2006.
  18. ^ "Guilty Plea in Adrienne Shelly Killing", Associated Press, 2008-02-14. 
  19. ^ Entertainment Weekly; February 29, 2008; Page 18.
  20. ^ a b c 'ROT,' BASTARD! Hubby damns Shelly Slayer in court. New York Post (March 14, 2008). Retrieved on 2008-03-14.
  21. ^ Adrienne Shelly Foundation. Retrieved on 2008-03-14.
  22. ^ Adrienne Shelly Foundation Established. Multichannel Merchant (November 14, 2006). Retrieved on 2006-11-14.
  23. ^ John Freeman Gill. "Murder, They Wrote", The New York Times, February 11, 2007. Retrieved on 2007-02-17. 
  24. ^ TV Guide Online, Inc. (2007). Episode Detail: Melting Pot. Retrieved February 17, 2007.
  25. ^ CNET Networks, Inc. (2007). tv.com summary for Adrienne Shelly. Retrieved February 17, 2007.
  26. ^ David Carr. "Sundance Dream Most Notable for an Absence", The New York Times, 2007-01-19. 
  27. ^ Waitress (2007). Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved on 2008-01-08.
  28. ^ Cooper, Chet. Cheryl Hines Interview. Ability Magazine. Retrieved on 2008-02-23.
  29. ^ Adrienne Shelly biography. Yahoo! Inc. Retrieved on 2008-03-15.

[edit] External links