Cheryl “Rainbeaux” Smith Biography

 
From her friend Larry D. Spears:

Cheryl "Rainbeaux" Smith passed away at 5 a.m. on Friday, October 25, 2002, at her home in East Los Angeles, CA. She was 47. She had been ill for some time, suffering from liver failure and other side effects of hepatitis, which she contracted during a prolonged period of heroin addiction, from which she had been struggling to recover for the past six years. Her life had been in a downward spiral for nearly two decades and she twice served time in California prisons for drug-related offenses. However, she remained a sweet and kind-hearted person, true to the few friends who failed to abandon her during her times of trial, all of whom will sorely miss her. Burial with no fanfare was planned at Forest Lawn in Glendale, Ca.

My only relationship to Cheryl was as a friend and, unfortunately, I did not develop that friendship until she was already well into her decline -- though I had met her earlier. We first met in 1982 when I was Managing Editor of the Los Angeles Times Syndicate and she came in to be interviewed for an article we were doing on B-movie actresses. (Our writer had contacted her after seeing her "Sex in the Cinema" layout in the November 1977 issue of Playboy.) We all had lunch together that day, and she seemed a lovely young woman, but I had no further contact with her until 1989, when we met again by accident. Thus, there are a lot of gaps in my knowledge of her life in film and music, as well as her later descent into the drug life.

She was born on June 6, 1955, in Los Angeles and that her mother (who I met several times before her death in 1992, though I don't remember her name) was also an entertainer. I also know that her parents divorced when she was 7 or 8 and she moved with her Mom to an apartment in Hollywood, just south of Sunset and east of La Brea. As such, she literally grew up as a child of the Sunset Strip, hanging out and playing with bands (she was a drummer and worked with Joan Jett at one point) at the famed Whisky A-Go-Go music club restaurant where hand stamping of  those under drinking age was used to prevent illegal alcohol consumption. (In fact, she said "Rainbeaux," her stage name, was actually given to her by Mario Maglieri, owner of The Whisky A-Go-Go, The Roxy, and The Rainbow Bar and Grill,  because of her constant presence there.)  I don't know how she made the jump from the Sunset scene into films, but she appeared in her first movie ("Evel Knievel") in 1971, when she was just 15. She went on to appear in more than 30 films, most of which are listed at the end of this message.

In 1975, Cheryl Rainbeaux Smith began a relationship with a member of a noted band (I was told he was the bass player with Eric Burden and the Animals, but I can't swear to this), who both introduced her to drugs and got her pregnant. In fact, she was pregnant (and shown nude as such) during filming of the cult classic "Revenge of the Cheerleaders" (with David Hasselhoff), delivering a son, Justin, before the film was released. (There is a picture of her holding her baby at the film's wrap party in a review of the film featured at the website "www.brainsonfilm.com/rotc.html.") She continued her relationship with this musician for several years, continuing to act even as he got her deeper and deeper into heroin addiction and depleted all of her financial assets. At some point around 1985 -- and on the details and timing of this I'm very vague -- they finally lost control of their lives, lost their son to foster care, wound up on the streets and eventually went to prison on drug-related charges.

When Cheryl got out, she tried to live the straight life for a while, working as a freelance artist (she was a talented painter and illustrator as well as actress and musician). That's when I met her again as I was by then a self-employed writer/editor and in need of an artist for a project I was working on. I saw a flyer she'd posted for artwork, called and was surprised to discover I knew her. I used her for the project and we became friends, seeing each other fairly regularly over the next year. Unfortunately, she was living with some people in the Silver Lake area of L.A. and they got into drugs -- and she slid back into the life with them. I tried to help her, talking her into going into rehab a couple of times, but her recovery efforts failed and, after her mother's death, she lost control completely, going back onto the streets. She was in and out of jail, panhandling, shoplifting, hooking and borrowing from friends (including me in an unfortunate enabler role) to keep herself supplied while living in an unheated alley garage near MacArthur Park which was leased by her father to store furniture (he was retired but maintained a part-time second-hand business), though they had little contact. Eventually, she went back to prison, getting out in mid-1997. I corresponded with her and sent money while she was in prison, hoping she would stay clean when she came out, but she didn't -- returning to the same area her very first night back in L.A., where one of her street "friends" gave her a fix, just to get her hooked again and turn her into a customer. She stayed on the street again for a while, but then met a man who worked for the city of L.A. and moved in with him. About that time, she got sick and he arranged to get her on his city health insurance so she could be treated at Kaiser. She was very ill for a time, diagnosed with hepatitis and liver problems, and when she came out of the hospital, she finally got into a methadone program, which she continued until her death.

I moved back to Texas in July 1998 to take care of my parents, who were in their 80s, but I stayed in touch with Cheryl, sending money each month to help pay for the program. About the same time, she ran into problems with the children of the man she'd been living with and had to move out (he died a short time later). She subsequently moved into a small house in East Los Angeles, which she shared with a younger, alcoholic man until her death. I'm not sure of the exact nature of their relationship, except that he took care of her when she was sick and she took care of him when he was drinking. I continued to stay in touch and help with her program expenses, though I hadn't seen her since March of 2000, when I visited L.A. She was also estranged from her son and, as far as I know, had no contact with him for the past couple of years.

The man she was living with is named Tim O'Dowd. He's the one who arranged for her burial and a memorial service, which will be at 2:30 p.m. Nov. 9 at the Little Church of Flowers at Forest Lawn in Glendale, CA.

I know she still has many fans who have no idea that her life, which began with such incredible promise, has ended under such sad circumstance. I can only hope that your site and others similar to it will serve as at least a modest tribute to a wonderful person whose life should have come to so much more.

Sincerely,
Larry D. Spears

 

 
Cheryl Rainbeaux Smith Filmography
(1980s) (1970s)

Du-beat-e-o (1984) (uncredited)
... aka We're All Crazy Now (1984) (USA)
Independence Day (1983) .... Ginny
... aka Follow Your Dreams (1983)
Vice Squad (1982) .... White Prostitute
Parasite (1982) .... Captive Girl
Nice Dreams (1981) .... Blondie Group #1
... aka Cheech & Chong's Nice Dreams (1981) (USA: complete title)
Choice, The (1981) (TV) .... Chris
Melvin and Howard (1980) .... Patient Ronnie
Laserblast (1978) .... Kathy Farley
Up in Smoke (1978) (as Rainbeaux Smith) .... Laughing Lady
... aka Cheech and Chong's Up in Smoke (1978)
... aka Cheech and Chong: Up in Smoke (1978)
Cinderella (1977) .... Cinderella
... aka Other Cinderella, The (1977) (UK)
Game Show Models (1977) (uncredited)
... aka Hollywood Dream, The (1977) (USA: video title)
... aka Hollywood Game, The (1977)
... aka Teenage Models (1977) (USA: video title)
Incredible Melting Man, The (1977) (as Rainbeaux Smith) .... The Model
Slumber Party '57 (1977) (as Rainbeaux Smith) .... Sherry
... aka Teenage Slumber Party (1977)
Fantasm Comes Again (1977) (as Rainbeaux Smith) .... Carol
Choirboys, The (1977) .... Tammy
... aka Änglarna (1977)
Drum (1976) (as Rainbeaux Smith) .... Sophie Maxwell
Massacre at Central High (1976) .... Mary
... aka Blackboard Massacre (1976) (UK)
Pom Pom Girls, The (1976) (as Rainbeaux Smith) .... Roxanne
... aka Palisades High (1976)
Revenge of the Cheerleaders (1976) (as Rainbeaux Smith) .... Heather
... aka H.O.T.S. III (1982) (UK: video title)
Video Vixens (1975) .... 'Twinkle Twat' Girl
... aka Black Socks (1975)
Farewell, My Lovely (1975) (as Rainbeaux Smith) .... Doris
Caged Heat (1974) (as Rainbeaux Smith) .... Lavelle
... aka Caged Females (1974)
... aka Renegade Girls (1974)
Swinging Cheerleaders, The (1974) (as Rainbeaux Smith) .... Andrea
... aka H.O.T.S. II (1985) (USA: video title)
Phantom of the Paradise (1974) .... Groupie
... aka Phantom (1974)
... aka Phantom of the Fillmore (1974)
Lemora: A Child's Tale of the Supernatural (1973) .... Lila Lee
... aka Lady Dracula (1973)
... aka Legendary Curse of Lemora (1973)
... aka Lemora, the Lady Dracula (1973) (USA: TV title)
Birth of Aphrodite, The (1971)
Evel Knievel (1971) (uncredited)

(End of Cheryl Rainbeaux Smith Biography)