Remembering Adrienne Shelly
April 22nd 2008 23:56
If you're a fan of indie flicks, chances are you've seen Adrienne Shelly's face before. A true performer, she starred in a number of independent films including Hal Hartley's The Unbelievable Truth (1989) and Trust (1990), as well as appearing in over two dozen off-Broadway plays. Most recently she wrote, directed and starred in Waitress (2007). It was her untimely death, however, that made headlines.
On 5:45pm on the 1st of November, 2006, Shelly was found hanging by a bedsheet from the shower rod in her bathtub. Her husband Andrew Ostroy denied claims of suicide, saying that the 40-year-old had everything to live for - a great career and her young daughter Sophie. Police were suspicious of muddy footprints found in the bathroom, as Shelly was wearing socks. The prints were matched to 19-year-old Ecuadorean construction worker Diego Pillco, who later confessed to the murder.
The story goes that Shelly complained of construction noise below her apartment, and had an altercation with Pillco that ended with him pushing her against a tabletop, where she knocked her head and fell unconscious. Fearing the worst, Pillco tried to cover up the incident by hanging her from the shower rod, so it appeared to be a suicide. Sadly, the coroner's report found that she died of compression to the neck, not from a head wound: it was the crime's coverup that killed her. Pillco was found guilty of murder and is currently serving a 25-year jail sentence.
Shelly died just days before her film Waitress was accepted into the Sundance Film Festival, a film that drew a standing ovation from the audience. It was bought by Fox Searchlight Pictures for a sum between $4 million and $5 million (reports vary) and grossed $18 million at the box office.
Following his wife's death, Ostroy established the Adrienne Shelly Foundation, a non-profit organization that will award film school scholarships and grants to female filmmakers. In remembering Shelly, Ostroy said that "Adrienne was the kindest, warmest, most loving, generous person I knew. She was incredibly smart, funny and talented, a bright light with an infectious laugh and huge smile that radiated inner and outer beauty...she was my best friend, and the person with whom I was supposed to grow old."
On 5:45pm on the 1st of November, 2006, Shelly was found hanging by a bedsheet from the shower rod in her bathtub. Her husband Andrew Ostroy denied claims of suicide, saying that the 40-year-old had everything to live for - a great career and her young daughter Sophie. Police were suspicious of muddy footprints found in the bathroom, as Shelly was wearing socks. The prints were matched to 19-year-old Ecuadorean construction worker Diego Pillco, who later confessed to the murder.
The story goes that Shelly complained of construction noise below her apartment, and had an altercation with Pillco that ended with him pushing her against a tabletop, where she knocked her head and fell unconscious. Fearing the worst, Pillco tried to cover up the incident by hanging her from the shower rod, so it appeared to be a suicide. Sadly, the coroner's report found that she died of compression to the neck, not from a head wound: it was the crime's coverup that killed her. Pillco was found guilty of murder and is currently serving a 25-year jail sentence.
Shelly died just days before her film Waitress was accepted into the Sundance Film Festival, a film that drew a standing ovation from the audience. It was bought by Fox Searchlight Pictures for a sum between $4 million and $5 million (reports vary) and grossed $18 million at the box office.
Adrienne Shelly in Waitress, which she wrote and directed
Following his wife's death, Ostroy established the Adrienne Shelly Foundation, a non-profit organization that will award film school scholarships and grants to female filmmakers. In remembering Shelly, Ostroy said that "Adrienne was the kindest, warmest, most loving, generous person I knew. She was incredibly smart, funny and talented, a bright light with an infectious laugh and huge smile that radiated inner and outer beauty...she was my best friend, and the person with whom I was supposed to grow old."
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