Lynne Marta of ‘Footloose’ and ‘Joe Kidd’ dies at 78 after battle with cancer
Actor Lynne Marta, best known for her roles in films “Footloose” and “Joe Kidd” and as a prolific television actor whose career spanned five decades, has died. She was 78.
Marta died last Thursday in her Los Angeles home after a battle with cancer, according to the Hollywood Reporter, which confirmed the actor’s death with her friend, Chris Saint-Hilaire.
Born in New Jersey, Marta’s first on-screen role came when she was in her early 20s in 1966, playing a minor character in an episode of the coming-of-age sitcom, “Gidget” alongside future Oscar winner Sally Field. After a run of one-offs in other shows, she booked a role on “Love, American Style,” an anthology comedy show in which she appeared in minor parts throughout its first and second seasons.
She was the last surviving principal actor of the beloved comedy from television’s golden age of the 1950s.
Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, she appeared in guest spots for iconic shows, such as “Gunsmoke,” “Mod Squad” and “Charlie’s Angels” and four episodes of “Starsky & Hutch.” Marta and David Soul, who played Sgt. Kenneth Richard “Hutch” Hutchinson, began dating while she was on the show. Soul, who died one week before Marta, told People in 1983 that the pair dated throughout the show’s four seasons and had an open relationship. The two also appeared together in 1977 in the TV special “David Soul and Friends.”
On the big screen, Marta became more widely known for her part in Clint Eastwood’s 1972 western “Joe Kidd.” In the film, Eastwood’s gun-for-hire character falls for Marta’s Elma, the girlfriend of a wealthy, murderous landowner played by Robert Duvall. More than a decade later, Marta appeared in the hit musical drama “Footloose” in 1984; she played Lulu Warnicker, an aunt of Kevin Bacon’s Ren and one of the many conservative townspeople who frown on dancing.
In 1989, Marta also made headlines as a witness in the murder trial of a man accused of shooting and killing fellow Hollywood actor Rebecca Schaeffer, who died at 21. Marta lived down the hall from Schaeffer in the same Fairfax District apartment. During the incident, Marta was home and said she had heard a gunshot and subsequent screaming.
Robert John Bardo, accused killer of actress Rebecca Schaeffer, was ordered Tuesday to stand trial for her slaying after several witnesses testified at a preliminary hearing that they saw him flee her Fairfax District apartment after the shooting.
“The door shook, the wall shook,” Mart said in court, according to The Times’ coverage of the trial in 1989. “The cat went up into the air. I fell to my knees and crawled into the bedroom. Then, I heard Rebecca’s first scream.”
She then called 911.
“She was still screaming while I was talking to 911,” Marta continued. “By the time I got to the door, she was wailing. I opened the small hatch in my door. There was a smell I’ll never forget: the smell of gunfire. It was quiet except for light moaning.”
Robert John Bardo, a 19-year-old fan of Schaeffer’s who had been stalking her, was convicted of Schaeffer’s murder. Her death would lead to the passage of tougher anti-stalking laws in California.
After the trial, Marta spent the next two decades playing small roles in popular television shows such as “Law & Order,” “Passions,” “Crossing Jordan,” “ER” and “Days of Our Lives.” Marta played her last role in 2004, appearing as an attendant in the second season of the Emmy-winning NBC drama, “American Dreams.”
The Emmys paid tribute to Matthew Perry, the “Friends” star who died in October, at the ceremony on Monday.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Only good movies
Get the Indie Focus newsletter, Mark Olsen's weekly guide to the world of cinema.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
