Camille Keaton
Quick Facts
Biography
Camille Keaton (born July 20, 1947) is an American actress. She began her career in Italy, making her film debut in the giallo film What Have You Done to Solange? (1972), and starred in several other Italian horror films through the early 1970s.
In 1978, Keaton appeared as the lead in the controversial American exploitation film I Spit on Your Grave, for which she is best remembered.
Early life
Keaton was born in Pine Bluff, Arkansas. She claims that she is a distant cousin of celebrated silent film comedian Buster Keaton. She attended middle school in Eudora, Arkansas until 1960 when her family moved to Atlanta, Georgia.
In 1969, she was involved in a major car accident that left her with facial scarring. Keaton once worked as a hostess for Amtrak.
Career
Keaton relocated to Italy in 1971, where she had signed with a talent agent, and appeared in several commercials. Her debut role was in 1972 playing the role of Solange, a missing woman, in Massimo Dallamano's movie of the giallo genre entitled What Have You Done to Solange? Though a small role, her delicate and fragile physique got immediate attention. Robert Marcucci says of her role as Solange, "She truly steals every scene she's in, simply drifting in and out of each of her scenes, her face and mannerisms mysterious and alluring." The same year, she appeared as the lead in the Italian horror film Tragic Ceremony (1972).
In November 1972, Keaton was a centerfold in the Italian men's entertainment magazine Playmen. In September 1974, she was on the cover of Playmen. Keaton returned to the United States in 1975, settling in New York City. She then appeared as Jennifer Hills, a rape victim, in the exploitation film I Spit On Your Grave (1978), directed by her then-husband, Meir Zarchi. For her performance, she won the Medalla Sitges en Plata de Ley (Sitges Sterling Silver Medal) Best Actress award at the 1978 Catalonian International Film Festival in Spain.
After the release of I Spit On Your Grave, Keaton moved with husband Zarchi to Los Angeles, California.
In 2012 Keaton appeared in an uncredited role in Rob Zombie's The Lords of Salem, and has also appeared in the films Chop (2011) and The Butterfly Room (2013).
Personal life
Keaton married Meir Zarchi, the director of I Spit on Your Grave, in 1979; they divorced in 1982. She was married to film producer Sidney Luft from March 20, 1993 until Luft's death on September 15, 2005.
Filmography
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1972 | What Have You Done to Solange? | Solange Beauregard | |
1972 | Decameron II | Alibech | Italian: Decameron No. 2 – Le altre novelle di Boccaccio |
1972 | Tragic Ceremony | Jane | |
1973 | Il gatto di Brooklyn aspirante detective II | Guendalina Bacherozza de Porcaris | |
1973 | The Witch's Sex | Ann | Italian: Il sesso della strega |
1974 | Madeleine, Study of a Nightmare | Madeleine | Italian: Madeleine, anatomia di un incubo |
1978 | I Spit on Your Grave | Jennifer Hills | |
1982 | Raw Force | Girl in toilet | |
1982 | The Concrete Jungle | Rita Newman | |
1989 | No Justice | Preacher's wife | |
1993 | Savage Vengeance | Jennifer Hills | |
1999 | Holy Hollywood | Betty | |
2010 | Chop | Mrs. Reed | |
2010 | Sella Turcica | Karmen Roback | |
2012 | The Butterfly Room | Olga | |
2012 | The Lords of Salem | Doris Von Fux | Uncredited |
2015 | Cabaret Diabolique | Agent Marcia Wilson | |
2017 | Death House | Kristi Boon | |
2017 | I Spit on Your Grave: Deja Vu | Jennifer Hills |