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Adrienne Shelly

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Adrienne Shelly on the DVD cover of The Unbelievable Truth

Adrienne Shelly (June 16, 1966[1] or June 30, 1966[2] – November 1, 2006), sometimes credited as Adrienne Shelley and by her birth name, Adrienne Levine, was an American actress, director and screenwriter.

Biography

Personal life and career

Of Russian Jewish extraction,[3] Adrienne Shelly was born in Queens, New York and raised on Long Island. She began performing when she was about 10[4] at a performing arts camp. She made her professional debut in a summer stock production of the musical Annie[3] while a student at Jericho High School[5] 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.[1] Shelly's career breakthrough came in her starring roles in independent filmmaker Hal Hartley's The Unbelievable Truth (1989) and Trust (1990),[6] [7] 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.[8]

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.[9] [7]

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.[1] In 2005 she co-starred in the film Factotum with Matt Dillon. Her last known work was writing and directing the film Waitress, starring Keri Russell and Nathan Fillion, [10] which she had submitted to the Sundance Film Festival for consideration.[1]

Shelly, who took her professional surname after that of her late father,[3] was married to Andy Ostroy, the chairman and CEO of the marketing firm Belardi/Ostroy ALC.[11] They had a daughter, Sophie, who was three years old at the time of Shelly's death.

Death

At about 5:45 p.m on Nov. 1, 2006, Shelly's husband found her hanging by a bedsheet[12] from a shower rod in the bathtub [11] of an Abingdon Square apartment in the West Village section of Manhattan's Greenwich Village.[12] Shelley, who lived in Tribeca,[11] used the apartment as an office and sublet it as a domicile to a friend.[11] Ostroy had dropped her off at between 10 and 10:30 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 were suspicious of shoe prints in the bathtub that did not match Shelly's shoes. Shelly's husband also indicated that there was money missing from Shelly's wallet.[13]

Press reports on November 6 stated that police had arrested construction worker Diego Pillco, 19, who allegedly confessed to killing Shelly after she complained about the noise he was making in the building. Pillco had made videos implicating himself in the murder of Adrienne Shelley, and as of November 7 was being held without bail for her murder.[14] [15]

Partial filmography (acting)

Filmography (writing and directing)

Notes and references

  1. ^ a b c d The New York Times (Nov. 4, 2006): "Adrienne Shelly, 40, an Actress, Film Director and Screenwriter, Is Dead", by Dennis Hevesi
  2. ^ Hollywood.com: Adrienne Shelly
  3. ^ a b c AOL LLC (2006). AOL Moviefone biography. Retrieved November 6, 2006.
  4. ^ Moviemaker (August 1996): Interview with Shelly:

    I was at a performing arts camp when I was about 10 and we put a show on, and there were agents in the audience who came up to my parents afterward and said your daughter is talented and she could have a career and my father barked at them and put his foot down and said no way. There's actually a line in Sudden Manhattan that was my father's response to the agents. He said, 'I will not have my daughter jumping out a window when she's 30'. That was his idea of what would happen to you. That's kinda my tribute to my father.
  5. ^ Newsday Inc. (2006)."Remembering Talents of a Local Star". By Steven Snyder, with contribution from Rocco Parascandol. Retrived November 5, 2006.
  6. ^ The International Herald Tribune (2006). Actress Adrienne Shelly found dead in New York City office. Retrieved November 3, 2006.
  7. ^ a b Internet Movie Database Inc. (1990-2006). Adrienne Shelly. Retrieved November 3, 2006. Cite error: The named reference "imdbbio" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  8. ^ Internet Movie Database Inc. (1990-2006). Awards for Trust. Retrieved November 5, 2006.
  9. ^ Internet Movie Database Inc. (1990-2006). Awards for I'll Take You There. Retrieved November 3, 2006.
  10. ^ CBC (2006). Actress Adrienne Shelly found dead. Retrieved November 3, 2006.
  11. ^ a b c d e The New York Post: Indie-Film Star 'Suicide' Stunner". Retrieved November 3, 2006.
  12. ^ a b New York Daily News (Nov. 3, 2006): "Actress Found Hanged in Village Apartment" by Alison Gendar and Michael White. Retrieved November 3, 2006.
  13. ^ ABC Inc., WABC-TV New York (2006). "Husband: Actress-wife's death suspicious". Retrieved November 5, 2006.
  14. ^ Newsday Inc. (2006). NYPD questions a person in death of actress Adrienne Shelly. Retrieved November 6, 2006.
  15. ^ WCBS-TV/Associated Press. "Police: Suspect in Custody in Actress' Death
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