Rainbeaux Smith

Cheryl ‘Rainbeaux’ Smith Retrospective

Written By: Colleen Wanglund
Mondo Film & Video Guide Feature Contributor

Cheryl “Rainbeaux” Smith was destined to be an actress. Her mother Jayne had a history in the spotlight having been an accomplished Vaudeville performer and dancer who later became a dance and ballet teacher. Cheryl herself was an artistically gifted child and growing up just steps from the circus that was the Sunset Strip in the 1960s and 1970s certainly didn’t hurt her chances. One story says that she gained her nickname Rainbeaux because she was practically a permanent fixture at the famed Rainbow Room; however another says it was because of the colorful vintage clothes she always wore. Either way it would become her professional name for many of her movie roles. Cheryl Smith would ultimately appear in more than thirty films during her career, mostly in B-movies, as well as a few porn films. Unfortunately, Cheryl’s career would end too soon because of a heroin addiction that took her years to get under control.

Cheryl Smith’s first acting role came when a friend’s mother suggested Cheryl for the starring role in THE BIRTH OF APHRODITE by Leland Auslender. APHRODITE is a nine-minute award-winning short about the birth of the Goddess Aphrodite, her rise from the sea and subsequent rise to the heavens as the planet Venus. It played at Cannes in 1971. According to Chris Barbour, Smith described her experience with the film as physically challenging, and said she “both related to, and revered, the mystical qualities of director and photographer Auslander.” The role led to some modeling for Cheryl and in 1972 she was chosen to play the lead role of Lila Lee in Richard Blackburn’s LEMORA: A CHILD’S TALE OF THE SUPERNATURAL (also called LEMORA THE LADY DRACULA). Released in 1973, LEMORA is about the young Lila Lee who returns to her hometown to see her dying father but discovers she has been lured by a female vampire. Lila is a good Christian girl and her father is a murderer so she would be quite a prize for the vampire Lemora. Lila also looks just like a girl named Mary Jo whom Lemora wanted to turn but couldn’t. It’s clear how much Lemora is lusting after Lila.

LEMORA: A CHILD’S TALE OF THE SUPERNATURAL is a weird kind of horror film, seeming to come from a child’s imagination even though it’s a very adult story. There’s nothing slick about it and it has its flaws. There’s also no CGI to speak of….which makes it completely worth watching. Even at her young age Cheryl showed much promise as an actress. According to the press book for the movie, Show magazine dubbed Cheryl “Hollywood’s next star nymphette” and showcased the star on its cover and four of its pages under the name ‘Rainbeaux’. LEMORA has been acknowledged as a cult classic and in 2002 Synapse Films released the movie on DVD, dedicating it to Cheryl Smith. Richard Blackburn had said of Cheryl as an artist, “she had the instinct to be, rather than to act.” And that’s from someone who she seemed to have a rather contentious working relationship with….although he also described her as a “street urchin”.

In 1974 Cheryl would appear in Jonathan Demme’s directorial debut CAGED HEAT, which was produced by Roger Corman and stars Juanita Brown, Erica Gavin and Roberta Collins (another 1970’s exploitation icon). She played Lavelle, an inmate in a women’s prison run by uber-bitch warden Superintendant McQueen (Barbara Steele). CAGED HEAT, a cult classic, basically is about a group of female prison inmates who fight against the repressive and abusive policies of the warden. There’s also the sadistic doctor who is performing illegal electroshock treatments as well as drugging and raping the inmates. While a total exploitation film full of plenty of nudity and violence it also brings across the ideas of feminism and politics although done in a satirical manner. I actually love this movie. It’s definitely one of the most fun exploitation flicks I’ve seen and a great representation of the genre as a whole. The movie also diverted from most others in the genre by having the sadistic warden as a woman, as opposed to the expected man. While Cheryl Smith’s character is supposed to be a criminal her innocence shines through. Jonathan Demme has said that Cheryl had the instincts of a natural actress. Smith would make a brief appearance in Demme’s MELVIN AND HOWARD (1980).

Cheryl would also make a brief appearance as a groupie in Brian De Palma’s cult musical PHANTOM OF THE PARADISE (1974), a mix of Phantom of the Opera, Faust and The Picture of Dorian Gray. It starred Paul Williams as Swan, a music producer and a Satanist who made a pact with the devil to stay young forever. It’s an entertaining film that was nominated for both an Academy Award and a Golden Globe despite less than stellar reviews and its musical score was written entirely by Paul Williams.

In THE SWINGING CHEERLEADERS (1974) Cheryl Smith (credited as Rainbeaux Smith) would star as Andrea, a college cheerleader. Written and directed by Jack Hill the movie is about a college newspaper writer who infiltrates the cheerleading squad to show how demeaning and exploitative cheerleading really is. It’s a comedy/drama that takes full advantage of nudity making it a great example of the sexploitation genre. Jack Hill described Cheryl as “glowing” on film. Two other “cheerleader comedies” that Cheryl would appear in are THE POMPOM GIRLS and REVENGE OF THE CHEERLEADERS, both from 1976. THE POMPOM GIRLS, directed by Joseph Ruben, stars David Carradine as a high school guy trying to get with one of the cheerleaders, but she has a boyfriend. The title is a little deceiving, though as it’s more about high school hijinks on the part of the football players and cheerleaders. There aren’t many pompoms being waved around. While Cheryl’s role is a small one she is easily spotted and is beautiful every time we see her onscreen. REVENGE OF THE CHEERLEADERS, directed by Robert Lerner stars Cheryl as Heather one of the Aloha Cheerleaders and tells about their rivalry with Lincoln High. David Hasselhoff makes an appearance as a guy named Boner. REVENGE is a musical comedy that Cheryl Smith has herself said was her favorite of the cheerleader films. In a letter to Bill George in 1985 Cheryl recounted the making of the film and how much fun she had making it. Cheryl rote of the filming of one particular scene:

“One day actually we’re doing a night shoot in a giant, closed furniture mall. We’re in overtime. The dir. is goin nuts & wants to rap the entire thing. He wasn’t in the best of moods that’s for certain. With our budget overtime wasn’t his favorite time! We were, us cheerleader’s, in a good mood. The more the dir. yelled the more outta hand we became & for the life of us couldn’t stop laughing. “Shut up!” Lerner yelled. “Now when I say action I want you girls to run down this hallway after the guard as fast as you can!” Then, “action!” And we were off running as fast as we could. I’m waddling down the way & start to laugh, back to the camera. “Wait! Wait you guys, you guys…” 10 feet ahead of me, “please! Wait up.” Finally I’m laughing so hard I fall to the ground! The girls turn around & see me way back there & they point at me, look at each other, unable to speak. I’m hysterical laughing, fall down on their knees as well. Lerner goes “That’s a take!” Laughing. “Print it!” “

Cheryl also said when she first met with Lerner she had informed him of the fact she was pregnant. She later received a call from her agent telling her that Lerner wanted her in the movie and wrote the part of a pregnant cheerleader for her to play. That says a lot about her talent and her presence. If the director would go out of his way to write a part specifically for a pregnant Cheryl Smith to play don’t you think you should see the movie?

1976 would also see Cheryl in DRUM that started out being directed by Burt Kennedy until he was fired and replaced by Steve Carver. DRUM is the sequel to MANDINGO (directed by Richard Fleischer {1975}) and both films are based on the novels of the same names by Ken Onstott. They are supposed to be parodies of slavery in the nineteenth century. Cheryl said making the movie DRUM was a “hysterical experience in which millions of dollars were wasted.” DRUM is about a white slave owner (played by Warren Oates) who wanted to stud one of his male slaves, Drum (Ken Norton). Cheryl plays Sophie, the daughter of the slave owner and her character has been described as “Nellie Olsen meets femme fatale wacko”. Cheryl’s performance was so good that she almost managed to steal the film from her costars. While not a grindhouse film DRUM became popular during the grindhouse heyday because of a scene in which a white slave owner’s testicles are ripped off in graphic detail. It’s worth seeing just for that alone, as well as the fact that along with Cheryl, Pam Grier is in it. Besides, you probably can’t go wrong with the tag line “Mandingo was the fuse and Drum is the explosion!”

MASSACRE AT CENTRAL HIGH (1976) would reunite Robert Carradine and Cheryl Smith in this high school revenge flick. Directed by Rene Daalder, a protégé of Russ Meyer, MASSACRE is about transfer student David (Derrel Maury) who discovers his friend Mark (Andrew Stevens) has fallen in with the school bullies. When Mark fails to convince David that he should also be friends with them and David fails to follow the “rules”, the bullies cripple David. David gets his revenge only to discover that others are perfectly willing to step into the vacuum of power left behind. While not a large role for Smith she’s in a great scene where she romps around in the nude before being crushed to death by a boulder. I remember seeing this movie when I was young and I loved it. The story is a little thin, the dialogue is cheesy and the acting is stiff but there’s plenty of death and explosions to keep it interesting. MASSACRE would later inspire the movie HEATHERS (1988). If you can find the Italian version of MASSACRE called SEXY JEANS you’ll see a version with added pornographic scenes.

In 1977 Cheryl Smith would star in the adult film CINDERELLA, which is also a musical comedy. The movie also stars Sy Richardson (SID AND NANCY {1986}, THEY LIVE {1988}, and REPO MAN {1984}) as her “fairy” godmother (wink) who adds a little something to a certain body part so that she can win over Prince Charming. This is another movie I remember seeing when I was younger (yes I’ll admit to seeing porn….I’m no prude) and thought it was really funny and Richardson is hysterical. Even though Cheryl had no problem doing porn, she never took on the “look” of a porn actress. She always managed to get across her sweetness and her charm. Yes it’s soft porn but it’s funny as hell and quite entertaining. If you haven’t seen it, you should.

Cheryl has said of CINDERELLA’s director Michael Pataki “It was something else to work with him. He could get me to do things most dir. couldn’t. Seeing so much of his earlier work, I had mucho respect & trusted him all the way. Pataki’s extremely creative & had more energy than a tornado!” She has also said about doing the movie, “At first I was leery about doing a film w/ so much nudity. I did need work & I felt I needed a leading role. After reading the script–I realized it if were to be an X it would probably be the softest ever made. I found the script very funny & as light as a feather. So when I landed it I rode it through.” In the same letter to Bill George mentioned above, Cheryl talked about the casting call for CINDERELLA:

“My interview was a riot….This was a cattle call if ever I’d seen one! Tons of females crowded in this little office. The air was extremely stuffy & I actually fell asleep waiting for my name to be called. They would never let me live it down. Always joking how enthused I was to get the part!” This was a movie that she obviously enjoyed doing and I think you can see it in her performance.

Cited as a movie she hated because her character was so poorly written, LASERBLAST (1977) starred Cheryl Smith and is a science fiction movie about a teenage loner who finds an alien weapon and goes on a killing rampage after the weapon turns him into an alien monster. Universally panned by critics LASERBLAST has been repeatedly listed as one of the one hundred worst movies on IMDb.com. A much better sci-fi movie with Cheryl from that same year is THE INCREDIBLE MELTING MAN. Written and directed by William Sachs the movie stars Alex Rebar as an astronaut back from a mission to Saturn in which the entire crew was exposed to radiation. All of the crew members died except for Steve (Rebar) but his survival would have major consequences. Steve’s skin is melting off and the only way to keep that from happening is to eat the flesh of others. Steve’s mind has deteriorated and he becomes more and more aggressive and dangerous. Cheryl’s role is a small one—playing a model that discovers one of Steve’s victims—but this is a must-see movie. I think the movie is much more horror than science fiction, full of plenty of blood and gore but with a solid story and great special effects.

In 1978 Smith would be cast in a big co-starring role in Walter Hill’s THE DRIVER which stars Ryan O’Neal, Bruce Dern and Isabelle Adjani. The movie is about a getaway driver who has never been caught but a detective is willing to use a gang to set up the driver to finally get him. Unfortunately the sub-plot involving Cheryl’s character was completely cut out of the movie and none of her scenes could be used. It has been reported that Walter Hill regretted having to cut her out of his film and spoke favorably about her acting skills. Supposedly Walter Hill himself showed the original longer version of his film at a theater in Hollywood with all of Smith’s scenes restored. THE DRIVER has been released to DVD but without any of the restored footage. Maybe someday we will see a director’s cut of the original movie.

Cheryl Smith would make appearances in many other films throughout the 70’s and early 1980’s including SLUMBER PARTY ’57 (1976), FAREWELL MY LOVELY (1975), Cheech and Chong’s UP IN SMOKE (1978) and NICE DREAMS (1981), and in the Steve Martin comedy DEAD MEN DON’T WEAR PLAID (1983) Cheryl played Veronica Lake, even wearing one of Lake’s own dresses. Unfortunately the role was uncredited. Cheryl was loosely associated with the pioneering all-girl band The Runaways playing drums on-screen in the movie WE’RE ALL CRAZEE NOW!(1979), an unauthorized film loosely based on the band’s history, which Joan Jett was contractually obligated to do. Cheryl also played drums and guitar for real for Joan Jett after the band broke up; she played a lot of gigs as a drummer and guitarist in the Los Angeles area and has said that music helped her escape the complexities she was dealing with in her life. Cheryl Smith was also an accomplished painter, working in her later years as a commercial artist. She appeared with Bill Bixby (okay a little weird) in a 1973 issue of Playboy Magazine as well as a 1977 issue in a spread titled Sex in the Cinema.

Cheryl Smith would all but disappear from the screen after 1983 but her status as a cult film icon was already being solidified. In his book Cult Movies (1981) Danny Peary would cite Smith as one of his favorite cult movie stars. She was also interviewed twice in the mid-80s for a book entitled Invasion of the Scream Queens (which to my knowledge has never been published). Film Comment, an arts and entertainment magazine published by the Film Society of Lincoln Center referred to Cheryl as “The Great Rainbeaux Smith” so she has not gone completely unnoticed.

Unfortunately for Cheryl and her fans a heroin addiction begun in the late 1970s would eventually end her career. In the 1980s she was arrested several times and served time in prison twice. She also lost her son Justin to foster care. Cheryl had been hospitalized multiple times for her addiction and was homeless for a period of time, living in a garage that her father rented for a furniture business. Cheryl Smith died October 25, 2002 of complications from liver disease and hepatitis. A few years prior to her death Cheryl had managed to get her addiction under control but the damage to her body had already been done. What’s really sad is that no major news outlet posted an obituary. It seems she had been forgotten after all. According to Marc Edward Heuck less than thirty people attended Cheryl’s funeral; no other actors or directors that she worked with were there. They may have been unaware of her passing.

Since Rainbeaux’s death there have been a few facts about her life that some have gotten wrong. Some sites have listed her date of birth as 1955 but that is not the case. In 1974 while working on PHANTOM OF THE PARADISE Cheryl had to apply for her Screen Actors’ Guild membership. To avoid work rules that would have put restrictions upon her because she was a minor, Cheryl lied and said she was born in ’55 but she was in fact born June 6, 1957. It has also been reported that Cheryl was homeless on the streets of Los Angeles when she died and that also in not true. Having gotten her addiction under control Cheryl worked as an artist to support herself and she was living with a family friend. Cheryl is buried in a quiet and serene spot in Forest Lawn Cemetery in Los Angeles.

According to friends and family Cheryl was a very spiritual person and she collected angels. She has also been described by those who loved her as sweet, sensitive, kind and having a goofy sense of humor. Cheryl loved animals and had adopted a couple of cats in the years prior to her death. Cheryl was thought of quite highly by the people who worked with her over the years and she has a long list of film appearances. In an article for EIniders.com Rusty White described Cheryl as “able to exude sensuality, vulnerability, strength and humor with equal finesse.” She was described as an ethereal beauty and she certainly was beautiful with her long blonde hair and a splash of freckles across her nose. If you’ve never seen one of her movies then get one. If you’ve seen one or some but don’t remember her then watch them again. Cheryl Rainbeaux Smith “became” every character she played no matter how small the role. She was quite a presence onscreen and you should definitely find that out for yourself.

Share this:

This work, unless otherwise expressly stated, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.