Celebrity deaths are sad, yes. (Death is sad in general, obviously.) But I'm not normally one to make a big deal out of every last one of them. I don't know these people in person, their death has no direct effect on my own life. Once in awhile, someone I really admired passes on, I mourn and celebrate their life in my own way, and life goes on, as does more death.
However, there are a small handful of famous folks whose influence played a major role in my life. One of those people is/was Tura Satana.
Most who know of Tura Satana know her for her role as Varla in Russ Meyer's "Faster Pussycat, Kill, KILL!!!" This too, was how I was introduced to her. I remember watching the film at midnight on CityTV when I was 16, and seeing this brazen, black-haired, fiery woman clad in a bosom-busting top, kicking ass with her bare hands, her sexuality at once provocative and absolutely dangerous, and something in me was born. Varla changed my life, provoking me into thinking about femininity and my own sexuality in a whole new way. She looked unique, sexy as hell, but had a pair of balls made of titanium.
This may sound cheesy, but I would not be the woman I am today if not for Tura Satana's Varla. No one else could have played that character the way she did; no one could have brought her to life the way she did, made her as powerful, balanced power with sultriness in such a genuine, honest way... and no one could have been as much of a ball-busting sex kitten.
I even copped my look from her. A lot of people have made the Bettie Page comments to me over the last ten years, and I say "Bettie's got nothing on Tura!" My hair, my look, my sexuality, my attitude towards sex and power and men... all of those things were hatched and nurtured by Varla, and Tura. She became my hero, and is an archetype that I keep in my mind always. I didn't want to be a Marilyn, an Audrey, a Britney... I was inspired to be a woman in control of her sexuality in a way that made no apologies, a woman with balls but who retained her femininity, a woman who wouldn't put up with shit from anyone, especially men.
Tura reflected this attitude in her own life as well, and I admire her endlessly.
She died yesterday, February 4th 2011, in Reno, NV, reportedly of heart failure.
Thank you Tura Satana, for showing me how fucking awesome women can be, and for being one of the best role models a girl could ask for.
"Faster Pussycat, Kill, KILL!!!" is still my favourite movie of all time, because of you.
R.I.P.
A montage of Varla clips from FPKK:
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