"It's a shame because Spider accomplished so much in his life. Claudine Longet only accomplished two things -- marrying Andy Williams and getting away with murder."
-- Steve Sabich, brother of international skier Spider Sabich.
Claudine Longet was best known during the 1960s for being Andy Williams' wife and appeared many times on his TV show to perform songs with and without him. Born in Paris, she started her career with small parts on McHale's Navy, The Rat Patrol, Hogan's Heroes, and other television series. In 1960, when she had a job dancing at the Tropicana Resort and Casino in Las Vegas, her car got a flat tire. Who stopped to rescue the damsel in distress but none other than Williams. The crooner was 32 at the time; Longet was 18 -- but he was smitten with the petite brunette with the accent and large eyes, later calling her "my favorite French singer." They married the following year. During the '60s decade Williams and Longet had three children together -- Noelle, Christian, and Bobby.
Things were going remarkably well for Longet by the mid-60s. She became a singing sensation after appearing on the Ben Gazarra series Run For Your Life playing the guitar and singing "Meditation" in her soft breathy voice. The performance even caught the attention of Herb Alpert, who offered her a recording contract with his company. She would record five albums for A&M Records.
Not only that, but she was making appearances on other TV variety shows, singing along with Tom Jones and Bobby Darin. A 2010 book written about Longet's life, Aspen Terminus, stated that "Claudine Longet succeeded in doing what no French woman singer since Edith Piaf had done: selling serious numbers of records in the United States."
She and her husband became friends with Bobby and Ethel Kennedy, and Longet landed a role in the 1968 Peter Sellers movie The Party.
Despite being married for a decade, Williams and Longet decided to separate in 1970 and their divorce became final in 1975. In Williams' autobiography, the singer admitted that being on tour and away from home so much drove a wedge in the marriage and that "the thrill I used to get when I saw her walking towards me had faded. The private, intimate looks we used to exchange were less frequent, but until that moment I had not understood how far down that path we had travelled. Claudine had fallen out of love with me."
Sabich was recovering from back and neck injuries sustained from previous competitions, but he was still sitting on top of the world -- he was said to be the inspiration for Robert Redford's character in Downhill Racer and his name and face were endorsing several products from coffee to cosmetics. He was only 27 years old when he met Longet -- who was 30 at the time with three young children.
Understandably, like any young male athlete would be, he was in no position to settle down and make a commitment with anyone at this stage in his career, particularly a divorced mother. But before long Longet had moved into Sabich's Aspen chalet in the tony Starwood complex, near the home of his friend, John Denver, and they soon became the city's hottest celebrity couple.
It was on March 21, 1976 that Sabich's young life and relationship with Longet came to a violent end. After a training session, and before meeting his coach Bob Beattie for dinner, Sabich was getting ready to take a shower when he was shot in his bathroom by Longet, a lone bullet lodged in his stomach. He lost a lot of blood before the ambulance arrived, and was pronounced dead on the way to the hospital.
Longet was arrested and put on trial. She repeatedly claimed that Sabich had been showing her how to use the gun when it accidentally discharged -- an unlikely scenario given the fact that she had shot at Sabich from a distance.
And there was other damning evidence -- for months the relationship had been rocky, with Sabich admitting to an ex-girlfriend that he didn't know how he was going to break things off with Longet and that she was throwing temper tantrums. Friends said that Sabich wanted to kick Longet and her kids out of the house. According to Longet's diary which was confiscated to be used as evidence in court, the relationship had grown tumultuous in the months leading up to the death. A blood sample was also taken from Longet the night of the murder, and revealed she had taken cocaine.
Unfortunately all of this key evidence had to be dismissed in court, all because the Aspen police didn't follow procedure and obtain a warrant to properly search Sabich's home.
Andy Williams flew to Aspen to be by his ex-wife's side, and escorted her to and from the trial every day. He vehemently supported her and believed her innocence. "The manslaughter charge is ridiculous," he told People magazine in 1976, just before the trial took place. "She could get up to 10 years. She loved Spider."
During the trial, Longet refused to leave Aspen, a decision that infuriated residents. She even made her kids go back to school the day after Sabich's death, and purchased an old Victorian house in town. The press descended onto town during the trial, turning it into a pre-TMZ.com media circus.
Because of the dismissed evidence, the best argument prosecutors could use in court was the position of Sabich's body when he was shot: bent over and facing away from the gun. The jury convicted her of negligent homicide. She was sentenced to pay a small fine and spend 30 days in jail. Furthermore, the lenient judge said she could choose which days she served her time, so she spent mostly her weekends in jail, seeing her children the rest of the week. She was even allowed to decorate her cell.
The court of public opinion, however, was a different story. Public reaction was of disbelief and anger. Many believed that Longet got away with murder, especially given the blatant evidence that couldn't be used in court. She also began dating her attorney, Ron Austin, who was married at the time and even vacationed with him after the verdict. Longet and Austin eventually married and still live in Aspen today, where Longet is still despised by people who were there during the trial.
The Sabich family then initiated a civil lawsuit against Longet. The case was settled out of court, with one of the conditions being that Longet could never give an interview or write a book about her story, thus making a profit from Sabich's death.
In 1980, The Rolling Stones recorded a song called "Claudine" which chronicled the Sabich/Longet relationship, murder, and trial. It was meant to be included on the album Emotional Rescue but was considered too controversial at the time and the track got pulled, making its way to fans' ears via bootlegs until the Stones included in on the Some Girls reissue in 2011.
To this day Longet lives in seclusion and there have been no new photos of her in decades. Her entertainment career ended the day she put a bullet in her boyfriend. She may have gotten away with murder, but clearly has been living in her own private jail ever since.
