Posted on 08/28/2020 11:38:10 AM PDT by nickcarraway
Cathy Smith, the onetime girlfriend of singer-songwriter Gordon Lightfoot who might have been best remembered for inspiring the hit song “Sundown” had she not met up with John Belushi at the Chateau Marmont on March 5, 1982, died Aug. 18 at the age of 73.
Her death was reported by Canada’s The Globe and Mail. The longtime resident of Maple Ridge, British Columbia, had been on oxygen and in failing health the past few years, the newspaper said.
Smith, who had been a back-up singer (and occasional drug supplier) to the Canadian rockers who would later become The Band (she claimed “The Weight” was inspired by her), admitted to injecting Belushi with the heroin and cocaine that led to his death at age 33. In a 1986 plea bargain, she pleaded no contest to involuntary manslaughter and several drug charges and served a 15-month prison sentence at California Institution for Women. Upon release, she was deported to her native Canada, where she reportedly took a job in Toronto as a legal secretary.
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
She killed Bluto!!
I remember sweaty, sniffy John Belushi in Animal House and the Blues Brothers, and he looked high to me in those movies.
I guess it was ‘Over’ when somebody else said it was?
“Cathy Smith – “The Weight”
Richard Manuel, the pianist, offered to marry her but she graciously declined. At that point in her life, Cathy was not cut out for monogamy. She was a larger than life character leading an outrageous rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle. She has even been immortalized by a brief mention in the lyrics to The Band’s biggest hit, and one of the greatest rock songs of all time, “The Weight.””
Probably was. I still love Animal House though
very likely going back to the beginning of Cinema if we stopped watching movies where people had some kind of substance in them we’d only be watching cartoons :-)
Was the reference in the song Carmen?
Had a housemate at the time that bought “Wired” as soon as it came out.
Being an accountant, he related a passage about Belushi’s manager reaming out Belushi’s accountant for giving Belushi hard cash, instead of just paying off the credit card.
The accountant wanted to know what the problem was, and the manager screamed it was harder to buy drugs (at that time) with a credit card than with a pocket full of cash.
Then again, didn’t Philip Seymour Hoffman hit an atm to buy his last fix?
I looked him up and still wonder; Who?
Interesting to read this just now. I watch a lot of the Reactors on YouTube, and Sundown is a favorite of theirs. The comments are just full of stuff about her.
Best Actor Oscar winner Philp Seymour Hoffman.
Cathy Smith, 30 miles of rough road
Killed Bluto? I thought he became Senator Blutarski! Saw it in some movie.
Who was Oscar?
A weird one?
He played Lester Bangs in Almost Famous.
Philip Seymour Hoffman
I’m gonna go with “What?”.
I remember all the people calling for her head.
Sure, she was a sick junkie. Just like John. He would have offed himself somehow anyhow.
In other words, the woman was just bad news.
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