Beautiful Darling: The Life and Times of Candy Darling, Andy Warhol Superstar (2010)
Friday, September 17, 2010, 8 p.m.
Andy Warhol, Phoney (1973) ©AWM
Director James Rasin and Producer Jeremiah Newton in person.
Beautiful Darling: The Life and Times of Candy Darling, Andy Warhol Superstar (2010) 85min. Directed and written by James Rasin. With John Waters, Peter Beard, Holly Woodlawn, Bob Colacello, Geraldine Smith, Pat Hackett, Ron Delsener and Jeremiah Newton.
Beautiful Darling, a documentary film, pays tribute to the short but influential life of an extraordinary person — the actress Candy Darling, born James Slattery in a Long Island suburb in 1944. Drawn to the feminine from childhood, by the mid-Sixties James had become Candy, a gorgeous, blonde actress and well-known downtown New York figure. Candy’s career took her through the raucous and revolutionary Off-off-Broadway theater scene and into Andy Warhol’s legendary Factory. There she became close to Warhol and starred in two Factory movies that still shock and amuse today: Flesh and Women in Revolt. Candy used her Warhol fame to land further film roles, and her admirer Tennessee Williams cast her in his play Small Craft Warnings. She dreamed of becoming a Hollywood star, but tragically died of lymphoma in the early Seventies, at only twenty-nine.
Candy’s beauty, humor, and early death, the guts it took to live as a woman, the glamorous parties and the famous friends — most of all the strength of will she demonstrated in her remarkable act of self-creation — moved those who knew her in her lifetime and continue to gather fans today. It’s a story of wild, creative times and of audacious people, but one that has a theme inspiring for anyone, anywhere: whatever the obstacles, be true to yourself.
The film uses both current and vintage interviews, excerpts from Candy’s own diaries and letters, as well as vintage footage of Candy and friends.
A small exhibition titled Beautiful Darling featuring photographs and archival material from an extensive gift to The Warhol from Jeremiah J. Newton, producer of the film, Beautiful Darling. Beautiful Darling the exhibition will be on view September 17, 2010 through December 31, 2011.
Additional Information
Beautiful Darling: The Life and Work of Candy Darling, an exhibition featuring the photographs and papers of Candy Darling from the Jeremiah Jay Newton Collection of The Andy Warhol Museum, will open on September 17, 2010 and be on view through Fall 2011.
