Don't Say a Word - Star's Suicide Was Killer Cover-Up

Last night I accidentaly stumbled across some very distressing and certainly old news: Adrienne Shelley, who starred in two of Hal Hartley’s first (and best) movies:, “The Unbelievable Truth” and “Trust”, had been murdered.

Small and gorgeous with the longest, beautiful hair. I adored her.

“At about 5:45 pm on November 1, 2006, Shelly’s husband found her hanging by a bedsheet from a shower rod in the bathtub of an Abingdon Square apartment in the West Village section of Manhattan’s Greenwich Village, in what first appeared to be a suicede. Shelly, who lived in Tribeca used the apartment as an office. Ostroy had dropped her off at 9:30 am that day, and as the building’s doorman told journalists, “He hadn’t heard from her and he said it was odd not to hear from her, so he was nervous. And he asked me to go up to the apartment with him, so we went to the front door, and it was unlocked.”

"An autopsy was performed the following day. The New York City Police Department was suspicious of sneaker prints in the bathtub that did not match Shelly’s shoes (she was found wearing only socks). Shelly’s husband also indicated that there was money missing from Shelly’s wallet. He vigorously denied allegations that she could have committed suicide."

"Press reports on November 6, 2006 stated that police had arrested construction worker, Diego Pillco, a 19-year-old illegal immigrant from Ecuador who confessed to killing Shelly after she complained about the noise he was making in the apartment below hers. Pillco said that he “was having a bad day.” Police said Pillco had made videos implicating himslef in the murder, and as of November 7, 2006 was being held without bail for her murder.”

“On February 16, 2007, the NBC crime drama series, Law & Order broadcast and episode, “Melting Pot”, that was a thinly-veiled dramatization of Shelly’s murder. Shelly herself had guest-starred on the show in the 2000 episode, “High & Low”.

"Shelly died before her film, “Waitress”, was accepted into the 2007 Sundance Film Festival. The film, starring Keri Russell, Nathan Fillion, Cheryl Hines, Jeremy Sisto, Andy Griffith and Shelly herself, was bought during the festival by Fox Searchlight Pictures for somewhere between $4 and $5 million, with a final box-office draw of $18 million and an 89% “fresh” rating on Rotten Tomatoes.”

"At the time she was a mom of a three year old daughter, Sophie, happily married, she was murdered a few months after her 40th birdthday. In order to honor the memory of his wife, Andy Ostroy, prominent business man & CEO, decided to create the Adrienne Shelly Foundation, a nonprofit foundation that will benefit female filmmakers, awarding film school scholarships and grants. Ostroy announced his intention to create this foundation 13 days after Shelly's murder."

I am struck by the fact that I was actually in Greenwich Village at the time. This would have occurred the day after Sam, Mitz and I photographed the Greenwich Village Halloween Parade. Our hotel was in Greenwich Village near Washington Square Park and we were always heading out to the West Village - including for the parade. Of course, when travelling, I rarely take the time to keep up with the news, still, I feel remiss for not knowing of this tragedy until now.

The point that lingers is why she was killed - for complaining about the noise. Indeed, these days, it might be best to Not Say a Word. I have yet to find reference to Pilco’s trial.

Click on The Adrienne Shelly Foundation to read about who she was from people who knew her.

Here’s a link to a loving memory story from Adrienne's long-time friend and fellow film-maker.

"Maybe it's enough to say that she was the kind of person who could make you feel that making a film about a singing frog was a good idea."

“They don’t get us - they don’t get silly” Adrienne remarked to her filmwriter friend, both of whose endeavors didn’t initially take off with the critics.

Another viewpoint can be found here.

An in-depth interview with Adrienne can be found here.

One final link to the CBC provides further details of the crime.

Despite the fact that I had caught little of her work after her beginnings with Hal Hartley, Adrienne was actually very active writing, directing, producing and acting and her credits include:

Acting:

Waitress (2007)
Factotum (2005)
Tiger: His Fall & Rise (2004)
Revolution #9 (2001)
The Shadows of Bob & Zelda (2000)
Dead Dog (2000)
Law & Order “High & Low” (2000)
Rock the Boat (2000) (TV)
I’ll Take You There (1999)
Oz “Ancient Tribes” (1998)
Wrestling with Alligators (1998)
Early Edition “Phantom at the Opera” (1997)
Grind (1997)
Sudden Manhattan (1997)
The Regulars (1997)
Kalamazoo (1995)
Sleep with Me (1994)
The Road Killers (1994)
Homicide: Life on the Street “ A Many Splendored Thing (1994)
“Sleeping with Strangers” (1994)
Opera No. 1 (1994)
Teresa’s Tattoo (1994)
Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me (1993)
Hexed (1993)
Big Girls Don’t Cry ... They Get Even (1992)
Lonely in America (1991)
Trust (1990)
The Unbelievable Truth (1989)

She played major roles in over two dozen off-Broadway plays, often at Manhattan’s Workouse Theater.

Writer:

Serious Moonlight (2009)
Waitress (2007)
The Shadows of Bob & Zelda (2000)
I’ll Take You There (1999)
Sudden Manhattan (1997)
Lois Lives a Little (1997)
Urban Legend (1994)

Director:

Waitress (2007)
The Shadows of Bob and Zelda (2000)
I’ll Take You There (1999)
Sudden Manhattan (1997)
Lois Lives a Little (1997)
Urban Legend (1994)

Soundtrack:

Waitress (2007) (Baby Don’t You Cry”)

Producer:

Revolution #9 (2001)

Self:

Downtown Film Festival (2006) (Host)
Searching for Debra Winger (2002)
--- this is a very interesting documentary interviewing many contemporary acttresses of a “certain age” - an extremely intelligent discussion of the opportunities and, more specifically, the lack of opportunities for actresses as they get older.

Pies:
Creator of all 200+ elaborate and elaborately named pies in “Waitress”

Comments

[Naomi]

I'd read about Waitress and knew that someone integral to the film had been murdered, but at the time of reading about it I simply marvelled at how brave everyone seemed to be about it, the show must go on and all that, her name & face weren't familiar to me. Quite a shock for you, my dear, seeing that. And realizing that you were nearby at the time, too.

The description here seemed to point straight to the husband, but I guess not, eh? So the murderer had to listen to her complaint about noise. That's all. She didn't ruin his life, sleep with his wife, molest his children, torment or stalk him, yammer at him unceasingly for over a decade. Gawd. It's horrible,
but I must confess to marvelling at the same time about the curtain rod. I have two, one for the liner and one decoratively further out into the room for cloth curtains, and honestly, I can't get either one to stay up properly for more than a month at a time, they tilt or fall all the time, with no stress at all on them. Feeling rather lucky about that at the moment.

[J. Claire]

I know that you are Hal Hartley fan but can't recall if you saw any of the early ones. "Unbelievable Truth" (both Hal's and Adrienne's first as well as Martin Donovan who was almost an enticing male - not quite if ya know what I mean) is about and available but I have yet to find "Trust" on video or DVD. The other good one is "Simple Men" but Adrienne's not in that one.

I too pondered the supestrong curtain rod (she was tiny). Maybe all females should never complain about anything ever - you never know who is "having a bad day"

I am looking forward to watching "Waitress" And I guess you heard that Javier Bardem won the Oscar last night. Yeah!

Nice to hear from you, my dear!

[Naomi]

I have YOUR copy of The Unbelievable Truth! Yes, I do. You gave me a bunch of movies, on DVD & VHS, but I still haven't watched that one. I'm a huge fan of Henry Fool, though, and a new huge fan of Fay Grim which carries on the story.

Trouble with the award is that now EVERYBODY'S going to want to give Javier a tongue bath. But I have faith in him; he's been a star in his own country for years and has managed to stay real. If anyone can resist the dubious charms of Hollywood, it's him.