KIM MILFORD, RAINBEAUX SMITH: TOO BEAUTIFUL TO LIVE...

Whatever jogged my memory to think of Rainbeaux Smith (1955 - 2002,) American actress in legitimate films plus porn/exploitation? She was an exceptional beauty and eventual heroin casualty who was up for the part of "Iris" in Taxi Driver which went to Jody Foster, jumpstarting the latter's major film career from prior childstar. Cheryl Smith had been rechristened "Rainbeaux" from her memorable presence at the Rainbow Bar and Grill, across from The Roxy Theatre. Beauty like hers was a gift to the whole world.

Also rather on the pulchritudinous side was Kim Milford (1951 - 1988,) another jog into the 1970s. Actor/singer/songwriter, he was Rod Stewart and Bob Tench's replacement singer for Jeff Beck. (Milford was Beck's first choice to replace Rod Stewart in the first Jeff Beck Group, but when the band morphed into Beck, Bogart and Appice, Tench was called in. When Tench left, Milford was recruited for a brief spell.)

 I saw Milford live at the Roxy in Hollywood, 1974, as the title character in the original Rocky Horror Show with Tim Curry (the former's pic above right, photographer unknown as are all on this page.) Rocky originally was a singing part, modified into not a singing part in the film to accommodate the muscleman cast as same. Milford also was a Jesus Christ Superstar lead onstage. He also sang an original song of his in 1972's Ciao, Manhattan starring similarly ill-fated Edie Sedgwick. He actually starred with Rainbeaux Smith in the much-beloved grade Z sci-fi epic Laserblast. Kim Milford did not survive his heart surgery. 

One of the most poignant short essays on lost love and about Milford was written by journalist/rock scribe Cynthia Dagnal-Myron and is DEFINITELY worth a read: click LINK* as soon as you can. 

Addendum to the above: Ms. Dagnal-Myron later wrote me,"I was Googling to find something else I’d read about Kim recently when I came upon your blog post about him and Rainbeaux Smith, and I had to smile. He was indeed too beautiful to live I fear, but he was alive for 37 years and I loved him. Still do.

Thank you for the remembrance of his beauty and talent. And here’s one of my favorite screenshot (Ed.- added above, center) from an old TV movie he did in 1975, too, just to prove that you were oh, so right..."

-Cynthia M. Dagnal-Myron, LINK and LINK

 

Left, Rainbeaux Smith (photographer unknown, as with all pix here); 

right, Kim Milford in the original cast of Rocky Horror Show.

And here's Kim jamming with Ike Turner!**:

*http://www.huffingtonpost.com/cynthia-dagnalmyron/remembering-kim-milford_b_4798899.html
**https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RFTw-gr0Gxg