Patti D'Arbanville

Patti D'Arbanville

American actress Patti D'Arbanville was 13 when she was discovered by "underground" filmmaker Andy Warhol. Wary of Warhol's reputation, D'Arbanville's mother wouldn't permit her daughter to work for the director until the girl was 17 -- at which point she enacted a lesbian love scene in Warhol's Flesh (1968). Unlike many Warhol protegees, D'Arbanville was able to matriculate to mainstream movies, though many of these, particularly the 1977 Bilitis, were obsessed with sex and procreation. The actress endeared herself to middle-America movie fans in the Barbra Streisand/Ryan O'Neal vehicle The Main Event (1979), stealing the show as a girl with a hacking (and hilarious) cough. Other D'Arbanville performances of note include the role of Ken Wahl's lady love on the TV series Wiseguy, and the redoubtable Cathy Smith in the 1989 John Belushi biopic Wired. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide