Illusions of a Lady

This is the film that Christa Helm claimed to have co-written and produced. She was living with director Jonas Middleton at the time and according to one published newspaper report at the time left him when he insisted on adding hardcore footage to what apparently had been meant to be a softcore film. Her name appears nowhere in the credits. There is some question as to whether Christa had been meant to star in it originally but in the end she was replaced by future Disco Diva Andrea True. I finally found a copy of ILLUSIONS OF A LADY recently and it's hard to imagine it as anything but what it is. A few years ago, I exchanged a couple of emails with director Middleton who made only one more film, the haunting hardcore ghost story THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS. He sent me his cell phone number and consented to be interviewed but it was almost immediately lost, along with his email, in a computer crash. If anyone knows how to get back in touch with him, I would appreciate any tips. Thanks!

More News Clippings

New Photos

A couple of new to us photos of Christa from 1974 courtesy of Grammy-winning music producer Joel Diamond, who appears in both and who wrote the theme for LET'S GO FOR BROKE.

RIP-Michael Sarrazin

By most accounts, he was the one man in Christa's life that she genuinely cared about. It may have been pure coincidence but, after her death, his career dwindled to almost nothing from what had been above the title starring roles in major Hollywood releases. Michael Sarrazin--Rest In Peace.

http://omg.yahoo.com/news/horses-star-michael-sarrazin-dies-at-70/60874

RIP Christa Helm-Feb 12th, 1977

Christa Article Back Online

Although it was down for a while, my article with author John O'Dowd on Christa is back online and can be found at: http://hollywoodstarletbarbarapayton.com/helm/index.html

The Linda Blair/Lennie Barrin Connection

Fans of my regular blog know that I am a big fan of actress/activist Linda Blair. Awhile back, I noticed an odd connection between Linda and Christa when I saw the name Lennie Barrin credited as costume designer on her film HELL NIGHT. Lennie was, of course, Christa's friend and partner in a clothing business in New York City. Lennie was also alleged to be the one who had Christa's apartment cleaned out after her murder.

Now I find that the connection with Linda Blair was much stronger in that the two of them once had a regular series of short Internet episodes on design, floral arrangement, etc. entitled LINDA 'N' LENNIE. Here's one of the episodes from YouTube!