June Wilkinson (misspelled as Wilkenson) / cover of Caper, May 1959 / photo by Russ Meyer.

Eve Meyer [1955]

June Wilkinson photographed by Russ Meyer 1959

Eve Meyer

1955

Christy Hartburg in Supervixens 1975

“Spend any time around Tura Satana and you can’t help but fall under her spell. One whiff of that perfume – Luna Mystique, if you must know – and you’re a goner, my friend. She’s got a smoky, mischievous chuckle that says life’s a game and the deck’s been marked, so we might as well laugh. Satana still gets a kick out of life and enjoys kicking it back. There’s something noble about Tura. She slugged her way through years of gin mills and flesh pits with nary a dent to her dignity.”

/ From Big Bosoms and Square Jaws: The Biography of Russ Meyer (2005) by Jimmy McDonough /

In Memoriam: statuesque Russ Meyer leading lady (John Waters describes her tough-as-nails performance as the vicious Varla in Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! (1966) "one of the best villains in screen history”), tassel-twisting burlesque queen (billed as “Miss Japan Beautiful”) and all-round ultra-vixen, the fiercely bodacious Tura Satana (Tura Luna Pascual Yamaguchi, 10 July 1938 - 4 February 2011) died on this day. While nowhere near as stellar as Faster, Pussycat! Satana is also a magnificently hostile presence in berserk 1968 exploitation flick The Astro-Zombies. (The fourth of February is a cruel day for aficionados of low-brow trash culture: Lux Interior died on 4 February 2009). Do the Watusi or karate chop someone today in Satana’s memory!

Eve Meyer

photos by Russ Meyer

Diane Webber by Russ Meyer

Pam Grier

📷 Russ Meyer

Gillan Anderson

🎀

What if you woke up next to me?