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She was Susu Creamer when we were both in New Canaan (Connecticut) High School. Her biggest Hollywood moment was probably her Best Supporting nomination for John Huston's FAT CITY. She was in less serious flicks such as John Waters' CRYBABY and that movie about Hell that Danny Elfman and Oingo Boingo starred in. Last time I saw her, if memory serves, was many years ago in her one-woman show, "My Rotten Life: A Bitter Opera." Some years ago, a bout with a rare blood disease necessitated the amputation of both legs below the knees. A few days ago, not having kept in touch, I tried in vain to send her an e-mail to alert her to a TCM broadcast of Ellen Barkiin hosting FAT CITY. This morning I opened up my L.A. Times and read Susan's obituary.
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(Just a bump, to see if something strange in the cyber formatting will disappear.)
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Posted: |
Jun 22, 2012 - 12:51 PM
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By: |
Bob DiMucci
(Member)
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Sad news. Just yesterday, I noticed her name deep in the credits for a 1971 film called THE STEAGLE, which was mentioned in the "obscure movies" thread. In the past few years, I revisited her performance in FAT CITY, and also caught her in ISLANDS IN THE STREAM; SEPTEMBER 30, 1955; and ANOTHER MAN, ANOTHER CHANCE. But the first film I ever saw her in was a 1971 Gregory Peck westerm SHOOT OUT, which I saw at a drive-in. As was typical for her, she played a brothel girl in that film, but it was a major part, as she was fourth billed.
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Posted: |
Jun 22, 2012 - 3:09 PM
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By: |
Bob DiMucci
(Member)
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Have been trying to find a film she was in, CATCH MY SOUL, directed by Patrick McGoohan and shot by Conrad Hall, but it appears to have fallen off of the face of the earth.
CATCH MY SOUL seems to be a musical version of Othello. Susan Tyrrell plays Emilia, Iago's wife and Desdemona's maidservant. The 1974 film doesn't seem to have any official video release, but the song score was released on LP.
CATCH MY SOUL was one of those films distributed by Cinerama Releasing, which are scattered to the four winds. It was produced by Metromedia Producers Corp. (MPC), so perhaps like other MPC films such as 1972's TALES FROM THE CRYPT, the rights now lie with Fox, who bought MPC in 1985.
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My guess is that she moved to Austin to be close to her sister Candy and her brother-in-law Pepper. According to whom, that FAT CITY screening is planned as part of her memorial service.
Ironically, Manderley, Eileen Heckhart was also a resident of New Canaan. Can't tell you guys too much about Susu in high school. She was a couple of years ahead of me, always very grown up for her years, had very little patience for school days and she cetainly hit the ground running once she was free of the school's (and town and family) restraints. (One of her first Hollywood parts, fittingly enough, was as a troubled high school student in a James Franciscus series about a teacher.)
Last saw her perform in person in her one-woman show, "My Rotten Life: A Bitter Opera." Stiill recall her whiskey voice intoning the show's comical running mantra, "C'est la f***ing vie, C'est - la - f*** - ing - vie!"
Peace.
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Incidentally, inasmuch as nobody was posting anything here for a couple of days, it's gratifying today to see that you folks are responding to Susan.
You might want to Google her. No one obit can contain her.
And there's a tragi-comic interview with her at the L.A. Weekly. "The last thing my mother said to me was, 'Susu, your life has been a celebration of the cheap and the tawdry.' I liked that. I've tried to live up to that."
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Posted: |
Sep 15, 2017 - 4:51 PM
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By: |
Bob DiMucci
(Member)
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Have been trying to find a film she was in, CATCH MY SOUL, directed by Patrick McGoohan and shot by Conrad Hall, but it appears to have fallen off of the face of the earth.
LRobHubbard
I hope LRobHubbard has managed to get the recent Blu-ray/DVD release of CATCH MY SOUL. The 1974 film received mixed reviews and worse box office upon its initial release by Cinerama Releasing Corp., and it seems that it was CRC's president Joseph Sugar who kept the film in circulation for as long as he could, as a personal favor to executive producer Charles Fries. The Metromedia film was later given over to New Line Cinema, who released it to drive-ins under the title SANTA FE SATAN, which is the title on the print used for the Blu-ray release. After that, the film disappeared. As I hypothesized in a 2012 post above, the camera negative was with Twentieth Century Fox, and the producers of this video have apparently accessed it for this release.
As for the film itself, it is certainly a curiosity and a relic of its time. It's a musical version of "Othello," with an overlay of religion thrown in for good measure. The songs come from producer Jack Good (who originally created the piece as a 1968 stage show) and singer/actor Tony Joe White ("Polk Salad Annie"). Star Richie Havens (in his acting debut) also adds some songs, and the background score is by Paul Glass. The whole production is the only feature film directed by actor Patrick McGoohan. The music is quite good. It was released on a long-OOP Metromedia LP, but it has not seen a digital reissue.
The acting is also good, given that most of the cast were not professional actors. Vincent Canby of The New York Times said that Havens "is as creditable an Othello as it's possible to be under the nervy circumstances." He adds that "Susan Tyrrell, who was so good in FAT CITY, turns up as Emilia, a woman who talks like Mae West and who dresses as if she had access to the wardrobe of the Madwoman of Chaillot." If you see the film, you'll know that that's not necessarily a diss. As another reviewer noted, Tyrrell is "captivating as the saucy but sincere Emilia with her best moments late in the film expressing her anger at Othello and Iago (Lance LeGault) as well as her remorse."
The film is not for everyone, but if you enjoy these one-off kind of pictures, it's worth a look and a listen. My score: 7/10.
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Posted: |
Sep 17, 2017 - 12:08 AM
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By: |
LRobHubbard
(Member)
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I did get that DVD/Blu-Ray release, Bob... Hall's work is gorgeous, and the film isn't bad - it's certainly a curiousity, seeing that the original show went through two other incarnations (U.S. stage version with Jerry Lee Lewis, William Marshall and Darlene Love as one of the backup singers; a U.K. stage version, then the movie), with entirely different music for each of those. Susan also gets to sing a number.
It's worth a look.
One of Susan's last appearances on video is a special feature on the BUTCHER, BAKER, NIGHTMARE MAKER disc... Very entertaining - and the movie itself isn't bad, with one of her most memorable performances.
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