| Confessions of a SupervixenCult legend Tura Satana reflects on her astonishing life | David Dandilloff |
Beyond her cult status, the Japanese-born actress has lived a pretty extraordinary life. Having survived Japanese internment camps, a horrific rape, reform school, a gunshot to the stomach and a brutal car wreck that left her hospitalized for years, Satana has also managed to squeeze in being a gang member, martial artist, burlesque dancer, stunt woman, nurse, police radio operator, bodyguard, wife and mother. Not to mention a couple of legendary off-screen love affairs, with such American luminaries as Elvis Presley and Joe DiMaggio.
At 73, Satana has just completed working on Rob Zombie’s new animated movie The Haunted World of El Superbeasto and is on her way to finishing her autobiography. Here, she takes Gasoline through some of the highlights of her amazing life….
How were you discovered by Russ Meyer and what was your subsequent working relationship like?
Russ Meyer apparently came and saw my dance routine at the Pink Pussycat Club in West Hollywood. Apparently, [ FPKK co-star] Haji told him about me and he came to see me. He contacted my agent, Murry Weintraub, who told me about the audition. Haji had already told me that [Meyer] filmed soft porn, so I told my agent that I didn't do things like that. He said that he already told Russ Meyer that I did not do nudes or porn.
At the time, I was filming Irma la Douce and we were doing the wedding scene from the film. I went to that interview in a hot pink, skintight dress, long pink gloves and a pink hat. I explained to him that I was on my lunch hour from shooting and that I didn't have much time. He and [screenwriter] Jack Moran were there and he handed me the script. The original title of FPKK was The Leather Girl . He asked me to read the part of Varla. When I read for him, he sat there in his chair reading the part of Tommy and I let him have it with both barrels. After we finished the scene, he looked at me and said ‘You are definitely Varla!’ and the other ladies who were there to read for the part were told to go home.
Russ and I had a few arguments during the shooting, but most of the time Russ would let me have a free hand with the dialogue and what pace to move a scene. The only thing that I didn't care for was that he always made me yell a lot. Some of the scenes I would have played a little softer, but then I wouldn't have been the badass chick that everyone sees me as in FPKK . Russ always used to say that the two of us made that picture; I have always been proud of that statement.
Can you tell me about your love affairs with Elvis and Joe DiMaggio?
You are asking about two very private people that I dated. Elvis and I had a very nice and discreet love affair. I met Elvis around 1955 or ’56, in Biloxi, Mississippi. I was working at the Biloxi Beach Club and had just finished my last show of the night. I was walking on the beach, just unwinding when I literally bumped into this guy on the beach. I was a little leery of a man alone on the beach, until I looked up into the most beautiful blue eyes you would ever want to see. I excused myself and begged his pardon for bumping into him and tried to go around him. He said there was nothing to forgive and it was all his pleasure. I just loved the sound of his voice and the southern accent. I looked up again and those eyes had me. He asked if it was okay if he walked with me on the beach. I didn't really know who he was, but I loved his soft spoken ways and gentlemanly manner, so I told him it was fine with me.
We sat on the beach and talked for hours until the sun finally came up. He said that he had to get some rest and I told him I did as well. He told me his name was Elvis and I told him that my name was Tura.
We met again about a year or more later, when I was working at The Follies Theater in Chicago and he was working at the Chicago Theater. He came back stage after my show and asked me if I remembered him. I said, ‘who could forget those eyes’ and they just sparkled with the lights of mirth in them. He asked if he could come and take me out to dinner and I explained that I didn't get off until after 11 p.m. and he said that he would pick me up then. After that, we just were working in the same areas and he would come and see me by himself, which was very unusual for him, but somehow he always managed to get to me alone. He asked me to marry him and gave me a ring, which I carry with me always. When I finally told him that I couldn't ruin his career and that we had to call it quits, he wouldn't take the ring back. He said that I was to keep it to always be a part of him with me. I have the ring still.
As for Joe DiMaggio, I met him about a year or so before Marilyn [Monroe]'s death. I had dated a few other ballplayers and knew most of the Dodger's when they came to L.A. I first met Joe at a party in Beverly Hills at Burt Bacharach's house. It was just a brief meeting because there were a lot of ballplayers there, plus some football players as well. [DiMaggio’s Dodger teammate] Johnny Padre introduced me to Joe.
Joe was getting ready to leave and Johnny and I were just arriving, so Joe initiated the introductions by stopping Johnny and asking a question about the game that day. I was Johnny's date that night, so Joe got his question answered and then asked who I was. Johnny explained that I was a dancer and that he and I were old friends. Johnny happened to mention that I was playing at the time at the Market Street Theater in San Francisco. The next night Joe was there and caught my last show. He asked if I would like to go eat at his restaurant, which I thought was closed. He told me that I wasn't to worry about that, so I said yes and for about three years, off and on, we dated.
Finally, I had to break it off because I couldn’t travel that much and had my children to take care of. I was very sorry to hear that he had been so ill and I hadn't known about it. When he passed away, I was very saddened by it.
Your look in Faster Pussycat Kill! Kill! has inspired a generation of young women within the punk/rockabilly music scene. What do you think of that?
I am a little shocked that I had that much influence over the young women of a couple of generations, but I am also proud. I get letters from young women, and older women, plus men, who have thanked me for having something to do with their getting their lives together and making them more independent and developing confidence in themselves and their abilities.
I remember when I went to Europe in 2002, seeing so many young women who were replicas of Varla. Then I come back to the States—and it was the same thing there. It is a good feeling to know that I have influenced our women into being not only beautiful in their own ways, but being independent and strong in their beliefs and their lives. I can only be proud of what influence I have had on the women of the world and hope that it will continue on for a long time. I also know that I would not be where I am today if it were not for all of my fans, all over the world. I thank them and love them for keeping me in their minds and hearts.
Who would you say is the female equivalency of you in movies today?
There isn’t one. If I had the special effects that they used today and was able to use them back in my films? There wouldn’t be anyone who could even come close.
You’re 73 years old now, have you become more aware of your own mortality?
I know that I am not afraid of death. There are things that scare me and there are things that I would not care for, but then life is full of surprises. Death holds none.
How do you want to be remembered?
I would like to be remembered for my work and for the fact that I am a lady who knew what she was worth and, because of my fans, has stayed on top of my little hill. I hope that my legacy will be shown in the lives of women long after I am gone. That legacy should be the power of women and what they are capable of being and doing. I would love to be remembered as a lovely, strong, independent and feminine woman.