ANITA PALLENBERG

(25 January 1944 - 13 June 2017)

The actress and model Anita Pallenberg, who has died aged 73, garnered most of her celebrity through her association with The Rolling Stones, as girlfriend to both Brian Jones and Keith Richards, having three children by the latter. She also worked with Mick Jagger on Nicolas Roeg and Donald Cammell’s iconic film Performance (1970). Born in Rome to German parents, she was expelled from boarding school and became involved in the art scenes in Rome and New York before becoming a model in Paris. After recovering from drug addiction, she trained as a fashion designer. Her involvement in films began in 1967 in Volker Schlöndorff’s Mord und Totschlag (Degree of Murder), in which she had top-billing. After a brief appearance in Wonderwall, she was in Barbarella, Candy and Dillinger Is Dead. Performance gave everybody concerned a certain notoriety as the film’s release was delayed because of its graphic violence and sexuality. Anita also worked on videos for Madonna, appeared in Absolutely Fabulous on TV, played ‘The Queen’ in Mister Lonely, was ‘Sin’ in Abel Ferrara’s Go Go Tales, and La Copine in Stephen Frears’s Chéri. Her last work was in two pictures by Abel Ferrara, Napoli, Napoli, Napoli and 4:44 Last Day on Earth in 2011.

MICHAEL DARVELL