Posted on 06/04/2003 1:32:58 PM PDT by bedolido
Reclusive rock 'n' roll producer Phil Spector has broken his silence about the shooting of a B-movie actress at his mansion - describing how she drunkenly "kissed the gun" and killed herself. "I have no idea why," Spector told Esquire magazine in a rambling interview about Lana Clarkson's mysterious death and his arrest in February.
"I never knew her, never even saw her before that night. I have no idea who she was or what her agenda was."
Spector, 62, was detained after cops responding to a 911 call found Clarkson, 41, lying in a pool of blood in the foyer of his Southern California home.
Released on $1 million bond, the Bronx-born impresario has not been charged. He says he was cleared, but police say the investigation is continuing.
Saying his situation can't be compared with the sensational case of actor Robert Blake, who is jailed on charges he murdered his wife, Bonny Lee Bakley, Spector railed at the cops.
"It's 'Anatomy of a Frameup,'" he fumed. "There is no case. They have no case. I didn't do anything wrong. ... If they had a case, I'd be sitting in jail right now."
He recounted how he met Clarkson at the House of Blues club, where she was a hostess, the night she died.
"She asked me for a ride home. Then she wanted to see the castle," he said, referring to his 10-bedroom hilltop home, Pyrenees Castle.
"She was loud - she was loud and drunk even before we left the House of Blues. She grabbed a bottle of tequila from the bar to take with her."
At his home, "she kissed the gun," Spector said in the rambling interview, which appears in July's issue.
"They have the gun - I don't know where or how she got the gun," he added. "There is no case. She killed herself."
Angry at lawyers
Spector's rage isn't reserved for the police; he's also furious with a friend, lawyer Marvin Mitchelson, for talking about the case with reporters.
Lawyer Robert Shapiro, another close pal, was also showered with scorn for charging Spector more than $1 million to represent him.
"When Robert came in, as a courtesy, as a favor, he shoulda gotten me outta jail. As a courtesy - not for seven figures," Spector said. "I've taken him for $300,000 worth of gifts and rides and plane trips. I wasn't a referral. I was his best friend."
Originally published on June 4, 2003
... and so, at the tender age of 62, Phil finally learned the truth about lawyers and drunken women.
I guess she was trying Darwin's theory of evolution and consumption adaptation, to see if she could actualy reproduce kids in the future who would be able to eat bullets to be big and strong. I guess it did not work.
And now he's taking you for a ride. Seriesly, he should keep his mouth shut. When you have a dead woman who's been shot in the face in your house, you are not in the best legal situation in the world. At least she didn't drive herself to Ft. Marcy Park after she committed suicide, like someone else I've heard of.
You mean Sen. MacSpecter don't you, the well-known Laird O'Pittsburgh?
Yes, it seems like the Vince Foster and Monica Lewinsky scandals rolled into one. The only difference is that this guy could be innocent.
We know Clarkson was a hooker in her youth, that she had fair success as a minor player in a few movies, that her career was in a nosedive (hence the hostess job in a bar), and that she had no kids or family or boyfriend at 40+ years of age. She knew Hollywood. Knew how to make an entrance and an exit. Perhaps, after being suicidal for who knows how long, in a drunken depression she thought it might be perversely cool to kill herself at the home of a legendary psycho, knowing it would be frontpage news for months and seal her status as a "Hollywood story," albeit a posthumous one.
If she took pills and died in her bed at home maybe no one would have noticed. Certainly the headlines wouldn't have happened.
Yes Spector is an angry weirdo by all accounts, who has treated women with violence in the past, as one of his ex-wives avers. But would he really kill a perfect stranger only hours after meeting her?
Somehow the suicide angle sounds more plausible to me.
Phil Spector Says Actress Killed Herself
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Record producer Phil Spector denies that he killed an actress found dead at his mansion, telling Esquire magazine the woman shot herself after grabbing a bottle of tequila.
"She kissed the gun. I have no idea why," Spector, speaking to the media for the first time since the shooting, told the magazine for its July issue. "I never knew her, never even saw her before that night. I have no idea who she was or what her agenda was."
Esquire writer-at-large Scott Raab said Wednesday he believed Spector's "kissed the gun" remark was not literal and meant that Lana Clarkson shot herself. Clarkson was shot in the face.
Spector, 62, was arrested Feb. 3 for investigation of murder in connection with the death of Clarkson. He was released after posting $1 million bail. He has not been charged and authorities say they are investigating.
A sheriff's statement issued in March said investigators had discounted suicide as a possible cause of death.
Spector told Esquire he did not know where Clarkson got the gun.
He said Clarkson was "loud and drunk" before they left the House of Blues club in Hollywood, where she worked as a hostess.
"She asked me for a ride home. Then she wanted to see the castle," Spector said, referring to his suburban mansion.
"She grabbed a bottle of tequila from the bar to take with her. I was not drunk. I wasn't drunk at all. There is no case. She killed herself," he said.
Spector insisted he is innocent. He called the police himself.
"It's 'Anatomy of a Frame-Up,'" Spector said. "I didn't do anything wrong. ... If they had a case, I'd be sitting in jail right now."
Jane Robison, a spokeswoman for the district attorney's office, said she could not comment on the article or the case because the investigation is under way.
Spector, a legendary name in pop music, has worked with such artists as the Beatles, Ike and Tina Turner, Ramones, Shirelles and Ronettes and is credited with creating the distinctive, heavily layered "wall of sound" that gave an orchestra-like feeling to such pop classics as "Da Doo Ron Ron" and "Then He Kissed Me."
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
