Biography for
Mary Woronov More at IMDbPro »

Date of Birth

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Mini Biography

Mary Woronov was born on December 8, 1943, at the Breakers Hotel in Palm Beach, Florida (some sources cite New York as her birthplace). A surgeon's stepdaughter, she was raised in Brooklyn Heights and attended Cornell University as a sculpting major. After a class trip to Andy Warhol 's Silver Factory, she joined Warhol's entourage and starred in a number of his underground films and appeared as a go-go dancer in the Velvet Underground's Exploding Plastic Inevitable shows. She left the Factory in the late 1960s and, after recovering from a heavy methamphetamine addiction, spent two years in Europe with a friend; during this time, Warhol was shot by Valerie Solanis, and with the altered Factory dynamic, "there was nothing to go back to." She supported herself with work in off-Broadway and off-off- Broadway theater, then "got scared and got married" to director/producer Theodore Gershuny. She appeared in three of his films, Kemek (1970), Silent Night, Bloody Night (1974), and Sugar Cookies (1973). After the marriage broke up, Woronov moved to Los Angeles at the invitation of friend Paul Bartel, where she appeared on the daytime soap "Somerset" (1970) and had a memorable role in Bartel's Death Race 2000 (1975). Her best and most famous role came in 1982, with the part of Mary Bland in Bartel's black comedy Eating Raoul (1982). A major cult figure as an actress, she is also an accomplished painter and writer, having published three books--Wake for the Angels: Paintings and Stories, the autobiography Swimming Underground: My Years in the Warhol Factory, and the novel Snake.

Spouse

Trivia

Was the childhood sweetheart of folk singer/filmmaker Harry Chapin.

Measurements: 34-25-36 (Source: Celebrity Sleuth magazine)

She stayed at the Factory while her classmates went back to Cornell without her. When she returned to Cornell, she started taking the Greyhound bus to New York as often as possible. She eventually left Cornell permanently when Andy Warhol invited her on a trip to California with other Factory regulars in 1966.

Was friends with Hervé Villechaize.

Interviewed in the book "Invasion of the B-Girls" by Jewel Shepard.

Personal Quotes

I knew what was art and what was shit. But sometimes the shit was more interesting.

I'm thrilled to be a cult queen. Cult movie fans are good people. It isn't fair to denigrate them for having no taste or for liking weird films because they're twisted. Actually, the fans have better taste than the general audience. They like movies for very special reasons. And they're immensely loyal and understanding.

[about Andy Warhol] I was interested in art, and he was an artist. I did not think of it as acting. They had just started doing what's now called "performance art",­ then they were called "happenings". I thought of it in that way. I was an object that was being used, not an actress giving a performance. He went for that. That's why everybody thinks of all of us that were in the films as being freaks.

It's great that the fans think I'm sexy. But I'm not a traditional sex symbol by any means. I don't have big tits, an hourglass figure and bubbly blonde hair. In fact, I hardly have any tits at all.

Once upon a time, I thought I would become a star. It took me six months to realize that wasn't going to happen. Eventually, I knew that I would never become a star -- but I would make a lot of films and I would earn little bits of money here and there, which would support me.

I don't know what "respectable" means anymore. I've always been used in odd roles.

Where Are They Now

(2002) Currently lives in Los Angeles acting, writing and painting. She is also a graduate writing instructor at Otis College of Art and Design. Her new independent film, 'The New Women' (directed by Todd Hughes) opened in Canada on March 15, 2002.

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