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This tall, striking blonde starlet has done impressive, attention-grabbing bits in films directed by her offscreen companion Tim Burton. The New Jersey-born Lisa Marie (nee Smith) was a ballet student as a child, then ran away from her unhappy home life at age 15. She went on to be featured in Bruce Weber's jazz documentary "Let's Get Lost" (1988) and landed a small role as a party guest in Woody Allen's "Alice" (1990). Additionally, she carved a secondary career as a model, posing for photographer Robert Mapplethorpe as well as appearing in Calvin Klein ads. Her first film with Burton was the biopic "Ed Wood" (1994), playing 50s horror show hostess Vampira (nee Maila Nurmi). Decked out in Vampira's trademark black fishtail gown and long wig, eyebrows winging off her forehead, Lisa Marie lurched elegantly through her role. She was even more attention-getting in Burton's "Mars Attacks!" (1996), as a silent and deadly Martian Girl, disguised as a Marilyn Monroe-like sexpot to gain access to the White House. Again, Lisa Marie teetered about in a clinging, skin-tight gown, this time topped by a huge blonde wig, ostensibly to cover her Martian brain. She subsequently acted in Burton's "Sleepy Hollow"...
This tall, striking blonde starlet has done impressive, attention-grabbing bits in films directed by her offscreen companion Tim Burton. The New Jersey-born Lisa Marie (nee Smith) was a ballet student as a child, then ran away from her unhappy home life at age 15. She went on to be featured in Bruce Weber's jazz documentary "Let's Get Lost" (1988) and landed a small role as a party guest in Woody Allen's "Alice" (1990). Additionally, she carved a secondary career as a model, posing for photographer Robert Mapplethorpe as well as appearing in Calvin Klein ads.
Her first film with Burton was the biopic "Ed Wood" (1994), playing 50s horror show hostess Vampira (nee Maila Nurmi). Decked out in Vampira's trademark black fishtail gown and long wig, eyebrows winging off her forehead, Lisa Marie lurched elegantly through her role. She was even more attention-getting in Burton's "Mars Attacks!" (1996), as a silent and deadly Martian Girl, disguised as a Marilyn Monroe-like sexpot to gain access to the White House. Again, Lisa Marie teetered about in a clinging, skin-tight gown, this time topped by a huge blonde wig, ostensibly to cover her Martian brain. She subsequently acted in Burton's "Sleepy Hollow" (1999, as Ichobod Crane's mother) and "Planet of the Apes" (2001, as one of the simians).
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Notes
Not to be confused with the adult movie actress of the 1970s who also billed herself as Lisa Marie.
"Tim was very successful very young, and he was surrounded by gold diggers who would betray and lie a lot. He just lost his faith in people. Then Lisa Marie comes along and she's like a child--very loving and generous and giving. And gradually over the past few years he has healed up to the point where he has lost his distrust of people." --screenwriter Jonathan Gems quoted in Premiere, January 1997.
"I had a feeling that I'd met her before, which is really weird because I don't have those kinds of feelings. Ever. I remember seeing her and, right before my eyes, I saw her as young and the age she was and then old, all in one. It was like a weird kind of hallucination. It was really deep and strong and strange. It's one of those things you kind of hope for in your life but you begin to think it's not possible, to have that kind of connection." --Tim Burton on his first meeting with Lisa Marie in Us, August 1997.
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