Andrea Feldman
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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Andrea Feldman (April 1, 1948 – August 8, 1972) was an American actress and Warhol Superstar. She committed suicide in 1972.
Career
Andrea Feldman was a native New Yorker. She attended Quintano's School for Young Professionals, a high school for the performing arts. She starred in three Warhol films; Imitation of Christ, Trash and Heat. A regular in the back room of Max's Kansas City, she pioneered a performance which she called "Showtime", in which she performed a strip tease on the round table, at the center of the room. She became known for her dependence on drugs, particularly amphetamines.
Feldman was featured in a 1970 documentary called Groupies, where she referred to herself by a nickname given to her by the Warhol crowd; Andrea "Whips" Feldman. She also often referred to herself as "Andrea Warhol". She was known by her friends as "Crazy Andy".
"A lot of people in the Warhol scene pretended to be crazy, but Andrea really was. She had endless money for everything but mental health. When she had nervous breakdowns, her parents would send her to state hospitals. Just before Heat came out and she knew—she was about to be a star, she had a nervous breakdown, and her physician told her parents that what she needed was a job. I remember her saying “What am I supposed to do? Be a waitress?!”
Death
In August 1972, several days after returning from Europe, Feldman summoned several ex-boyfriends, including poet Jim Carroll, to the New York City apartment of her parents to witness what she called her "final starring role". "She left a note that said, “I’m headed for the big time. I'm on my way up there with James Dean and Marilyn Monroe.”"
Holding a Bible in one hand and a crucifix in the other, Feldman jumped from the fourteenth floor of 51 Fifth Avenue.
Her suicide preceded the release of Warhol's Heat, in which she had a much larger role than in previous Warhol films, by only three weeks. Feldman's performance garnered positive reviews. Judith Crist, a critic for New York magazine wrote:
- "The most striking performance, in large part non-performance, comes from the late Andrea Feldman, as the flat-voiced, freaked-out daughter, a mass of psychotic confusion, infantile and heart-breaking."
Filmography
- Imitation of Christ (1967) - Son's girlfriend
- **** (Four Stars) aka 24 Hour Movie (1967)
- Groupies (1970, documentary) - Herself
- Trash (1970) - Rich Girl
- Heat (1972) - Jessica Todd (Last appearance)
