00:00:04
[Music]
00:00:18
the wall of sound was Phil specker sound
00:00:21
and he would have like three or four
00:00:23
bases five six seven guitars always four
00:00:27
pianos we used to do crazy stuff just to
00:00:30
make to make sounds Phil love that stuff
00:00:34
he's known for carrying guns into the
00:00:35
recording studio there are many
00:00:37
recording artists who talked about
00:00:39
Spectre pulling a gun during a recording
00:00:41
session Leonard Cohen the songwriter had
00:00:44
a record that Spectre produced in the
00:00:46
70s and and Cohen says that at one point
00:00:48
Spectre leaned over and put a gun at his
00:00:50
throat and said I love you Leonard and
00:00:52
and Cohen's response was I certainly
00:00:54
hope so she walked in and pretty much
00:00:56
stopped the whole party she was 6' tall
00:00:59
blonde beautiful had a spectacular dress
00:01:01
on within the first 10 minutes of
00:01:03
knowing her she had me crying I was
00:01:05
laughing so hard I don't think I've ever
00:01:07
met a woman who was so funny fun was
00:01:09
what Spectre needed when Lana Clarkson
00:01:12
appeared before him Clarkson told him
00:01:14
she was Moonlighting at the House of
00:01:16
Blues but that she had a career as an
00:01:18
actress in films directed by Roger
00:01:21
Corman she had energy and
00:01:24
enthusiasm and it came across on camera
00:01:27
she loved talking to people and Phil
00:01:30
Spectre would have been such an exciting
00:01:33
place for Lana to be just to talk to
00:01:35
that man for 5 minutes then one star
00:01:37
cross night on the Sunset Strip The
00:01:39
Faded Legend and a be movie Queen teamed
00:01:42
up to produce a real life Hollywood
00:01:45
mystery story
00:01:48
[Music]
00:01:53
[Music]
00:02:00
a
00:02:07
[Music]
00:02:31
Phil Spectre is a rock and roll original
00:02:34
The Man Behind Some of the biggest stars
00:02:36
in modern music producing hits like he's
00:02:39
a rebel for the crystals to You've Lost
00:02:41
That Loving Feeling for the Righteous
00:02:43
Brothers to imagine for John Lenin he is
00:02:47
known for a distinctive style called the
00:02:50
wall of sound but on February 3
00:02:53
202 Spectre made headlines he didn't
00:02:57
want when a woman was found dead in in
00:02:59
his home writer Steve Pond says the
00:03:02
trouble began Just Before Dawn with a
00:03:05
phone call is at 5:00 a.m. his chauffeur
00:03:08
who was in the car in the driveway of
00:03:10
his house in alhamra called the police
00:03:13
because he heard a gunshot from inside
00:03:14
the house the police came very quickly
00:03:17
and showed up at the house they found
00:03:19
Clarkson lying down dead they found
00:03:22
Spectre in the foyer apparently he
00:03:25
resisted arrest of some sort they
00:03:27
subdued him with a taser or a taser like
00:03:30
device and arrested him and and took him
00:03:33
in police arrived to the 10 bedroom
00:03:36
Chateau just outside Los Angeles The
00:03:39
Chateau is a retreat that Spectre had
00:03:41
shared with very few people the police
00:03:44
found a woman on the imported marble
00:03:46
floor of specter's foyer she was dead
00:03:49
from a single gunshot wound they indeed
00:03:52
found a uh a female white adult
00:03:55
suffering from a gunshot also at the
00:03:58
scene was Mr Phil Spectre the woman
00:04:01
would turn out to be Lana Clarkson a be
00:04:04
movie actress known for her role as the
00:04:07
Barbarian Queen she had met Spectre a
00:04:09
few hours earlier at a nightclub called
00:04:11
the House of Blues where she was working
00:04:14
one of Lana's girlfriends Athena Massie
00:04:17
said Lana had made a terrible mistake
00:04:19
she obviously didn't know his reputation
00:04:22
because I think if she would have known
00:04:23
that I really don't think she would have
00:04:25
been where she was and I can't find two
00:04:29
people that are more more opposite than
00:04:31
Lana and Phil I mean fate threw them
00:04:34
together somehow ill fate uh there she
00:04:38
was the House of Blues you know what
00:04:40
attracted her to him what can we
00:04:43
speculate it certainly had to be his
00:04:45
name it certainly had to be his
00:04:47
reputation it could not have been his
00:04:49
looks um and he invited her back to his
00:04:52
place I I you know there are so many odd
00:04:56
elements to this story the man lives in
00:04:59
a c Castle the castle is in
00:05:01
alhamra alhamra is not Beverly
00:05:04
Hills um and off she went I I mean the
00:05:09
whole series of circumstances also given
00:05:12
the hour of the night and uh and you
00:05:16
know drinks were pouring spectre's
00:05:19
reputation for violence included the
00:05:21
accusation by his ex-wife of virtually
00:05:24
keeping her a prisoner in their home
00:05:26
musicians have also claimed he
00:05:28
brandished weapons during recording
00:05:30
sessions it is a history that is part of
00:05:33
the living legend that is Phil Spectre
00:05:36
we learned later that he had a
00:05:38
reputation with women of sort of
00:05:41
threatening violence and even messing
00:05:44
around with weapons his exwife Ronnie
00:05:46
said you know he threatened to uh kill
00:05:49
her if she ever left him and once took
00:05:52
her downstairs and showed her a coffin
00:05:54
and said this is yours if you ever try
00:05:56
to leave me um she wrote that that in
00:06:00
her autobiography how did this wildly
00:06:03
successful record producer end up a
00:06:06
murder
00:06:07
suspect yeah he gave an interview in I
00:06:10
believe December or January to a British
00:06:12
paper which in many ways was the first
00:06:14
sign that something was wrong because
00:06:17
all of spectre's friends had been saying
00:06:19
that for the past 3 years he hadn't been
00:06:21
drinking he'd been becoming more social
00:06:23
he'd been happier he was going out more
00:06:26
he was more adjusted the answer may be
00:06:28
found in his
00:06:31
[Music]
00:06:33
youth both spectre's parents immigrated
00:06:36
from Russia they were also first
00:06:38
cousins it was a typical scene in
00:06:41
postwar New York city where the
00:06:43
neighborhood kids all played together
00:06:46
the whole neighborhood were all
00:06:48
immigrants either they came from
00:06:51
downtown up here bouses the moved here
00:06:55
or they came from
00:06:56
Europe we used to have a pond right here
00:06:59
on the back we used to go ice skating in
00:07:01
the wintertime we would put our skates
00:07:04
on and walk from here in the back of
00:07:06
this apartment house a shortcut right
00:07:08
into the pond where the ice
00:07:11
was Phil's childhood innocence was
00:07:14
shattered when he was 8 years old his
00:07:16
father committed suicide he's buried in
00:07:19
the Beth David Cemetery the phrase to
00:07:22
know him was to love him is on The
00:07:25
Headstone the young Phil Spectre
00:07:27
couldn't know at that time that those
00:07:30
words would one day make him a
00:07:34
star his mother moved the family from
00:07:36
the Bronx to Los Angeles and settled not
00:07:39
far from the Santa Monica Pier a
00:07:42
classmate at Fairfax High Carol Connor
00:07:45
would be one of the first singers to
00:07:47
team up with a young Phil Spectre in a
00:07:50
group he named the teddy bears he said
00:07:54
I'm going to write a song for your voice
00:07:57
I went yeah sure fine right and I went
00:07:59
did my homework and the phone rang about
00:08:02
2 weeks later and he said uh this is a
00:08:05
song and I said what song in August 1958
00:08:09
the teddy bears recorded a song to know
00:08:11
him is to love him it was based on the
00:08:14
epitet on his father's Tombstone it was
00:08:16
a promise he made to his father's memory
00:08:20
I was the first girl to come out with
00:08:22
this sort of delicate to no no no him
00:08:26
you know voice very Angelic and the
00:08:29
record sold a 100 then another 100 300 a
00:08:32
th000 and we said maybe we have a hit
00:08:35
here the song went to number one on the
00:08:37
national charts to know no know him is
00:08:41
to love love love him he directed me but
00:08:46
he and he knew what he wanted and I
00:08:48
understood what he wanted and I think
00:08:50
that what happened was he honed himself
00:08:53
on that he saw that giving direction was
00:08:56
really one of the things that he was
00:08:59
bril iant at even though there wasn't a
00:09:01
lot of direction to give because it
00:09:03
wasn't like it was the wall of sound
00:09:05
where he had layers and layers and
00:09:08
layers of of of you know violin things
00:09:10
and drums and this was a very simplistic
00:09:14
song but there was an honesty to it
00:09:16
there was an honesty in his Melody which
00:09:19
he once said to me was uh he took part
00:09:22
of it from aarian Opera why can't he see
00:09:26
da da da da da you know it's very
00:09:29
classically oriented but Phil was
00:09:31
classically oriented and I was
00:09:33
classically trained in music so I
00:09:36
understood where he was coming from but
00:09:38
the teenagers went their separate ways
00:09:41
and the teddy bears broke up journalist
00:09:43
Steve Pond suggests Spectre in spite of
00:09:47
this success appeared to have trouble
00:09:49
fitting in to the Los Angeles scene he
00:09:52
wasn't a surfer kid and I and I think
00:09:55
the combination of violent death in the
00:09:58
family and the fact that he was in a
00:10:00
place where he didn't really belong he
00:10:02
clearly had a troubled childhood and the
00:10:05
seeds that were swn there were with him
00:10:06
his whole life he was very bright very
00:10:10
very bright um at times yeah I think
00:10:13
Phil was a loner but there was another
00:10:15
side to Phil that was very funny he was
00:10:19
really quite the character he loved
00:10:22
Lenny
00:10:23
Bruce loved Lenny Bruce he thought he
00:10:26
was absolutely staggeringly bril
00:10:29
brilliant and Jonathan wyers and he
00:10:31
would memorize all of their comedy bits
00:10:35
and then he would do them on me he was
00:10:37
not a popular kid in high school he uh
00:10:39
was not well-liked he kept to himself
00:10:42
and when he showed up at the 10-year
00:10:44
High School reunion he brought
00:10:46
bodyguards he brought three bodyguards
00:10:48
he strd it around he made it very clear
00:10:51
that he was a huge success and he didn't
00:10:54
want to have anything to do with his old
00:10:56
high school classmates but he wanted to
00:10:58
see he wanted them to see him as a huge
00:11:01
success and one of his fellow classmates
00:11:03
said basically he had the bodyguards
00:11:05
there to keep the rest of us away and
00:11:07
apparently he said after the fact that
00:11:09
he wanted to treat his classmates the
00:11:12
way they treated him when he was in high
00:11:15
school in 1960 Spectre returned to New
00:11:18
York City as a professional songwriter
00:11:21
back where he felt he belonged he worked
00:11:24
in the brill building alongside the
00:11:26
fabled group of songwriters such as Neil
00:11:29
Sedaka who hit where the boys are helped
00:11:33
make Connie Francis a household name
00:11:36
Spectre ran erins but got a break and
00:11:39
co-wrote Spanish Harlem for Benny
00:11:42
King he then got a shot producing for a
00:11:45
few artists and within the year broke
00:11:47
off and started his own record company
00:11:51
back in La Carol Connors remembers
00:11:54
hearing one of spectre's songs on the
00:11:56
radio I love how your eyes Clos for one
00:12:01
Split Second in time I did not know it
00:12:03
was not me and I pulled over to the side
00:12:07
of the road and I wept because I knew
00:12:11
that Phil had copied my sound or the
00:12:14
sound he had created which was really my
00:12:16
voice had created that sort of innocent
00:12:20
sound and knew that there was a formula
00:12:23
there and took it to somebody
00:12:27
else in less than 2 years years the
00:12:29
label had its first number one hit he's
00:12:32
a rebel by the crystals Spectre was 21
00:12:36
and a millionaire I mean he's known for
00:12:40
the wall of sound you know and not all
00:12:43
musicians really liked it the Beatles
00:12:44
hated it they thought there was too much
00:12:46
music too much sound in this wall of
00:12:49
sound but it did establish him I'm you
00:12:52
know without him you know would we have
00:12:55
the Righteous Brothers uh he also gave
00:12:57
us a lot of the girl group in the early
00:13:00
60s I I mean he deserves his spot in the
00:13:03
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame but success
00:13:05
did not bring happiness and Spectre
00:13:08
spoke openly with the Press about his
00:13:11
paranoia I know he gave an interview in
00:13:13
the mid-60s when he was becoming really
00:13:15
really successful revolutionizing pop
00:13:18
music and and becoming arguably the most
00:13:22
dominant production force in rock and
00:13:24
roll and he said I feel hated for some
00:13:28
reason and dating back to his childhood
00:13:30
his high school whatever I think he
00:13:32
always felt like people were against him
00:13:35
everybody was out to get him I think
00:13:37
Spectre definitely wanted people to
00:13:39
notice him he wanted people to to say
00:13:42
wow there's Phil Spectre isn't isn't he
00:13:44
great isn't he scary he wanted a
00:13:46
reaction out of people he wanted people
00:13:48
to know that Phil Spectre had been in
00:13:50
the room that Phil Spectre had had been
00:13:52
in the restaurant he he was not a person
00:13:56
who wanted to be the life of the party
00:13:59
and wanted to be everybody's friend but
00:14:01
he sure wanted everybody to know that
00:14:03
that he was around and and that he had
00:14:04
been
00:14:06
there a
00:14:09
place in
00:14:13
Califoria during the 60s pop music was
00:14:16
booming around the country and
00:14:17
particularly in Southern California
00:14:20
where Phil Spectre opened the
00:14:22
studio Hal Blaine a drummer who worked
00:14:25
for Spectre remembers Spectre style Phil
00:14:27
had a big sign on the Studio door no
00:14:30
entry closed session well anyone stuck
00:14:34
their head in Phil would grab him and
00:14:35
say hell give him a tambourine give him
00:14:37
a cowbell something to hit and make
00:14:39
noise with Lane was an important
00:14:42
collaborator Spectre would record and
00:14:44
re-record Blain's drum riffs and then
00:14:47
overdub them to make a more powerful
00:14:49
sound almost pop symphonic everything
00:14:53
went on the record and that was I guess
00:14:56
what you call the wall of su
00:15:04
the wall of sound was the sound of
00:15:06
teenage angst emotional anthems that
00:15:09
were more Opera than rock and roll Phil
00:15:12
used to be in the booth here he was
00:15:14
Burns and he would be conducting we used
00:15:16
to do crazy stuff to make sounds between
00:15:19
1961 and
00:15:21
1966 Phil Spectre was the most
00:15:24
successful pop music producer in the
00:15:26
world Phil knew what he had in his head
00:15:29
and what he wanted and Phil spent hours
00:15:33
with guitarist saying put your finger on
00:15:35
this string put your finger on this
00:15:38
string put your finger on this you
00:15:40
getting exactly the sound that he
00:15:42
wanted and that was his genius he did
00:15:45
the same thing with the pianos you know
00:15:47
I want this octave here I want you and
00:15:50
this this this this use your fingers
00:15:52
this way Etc he did that with everybody
00:15:56
until it came together exactly the way
00:15:58
he wanted it and then we would be ready
00:16:01
to record and that was part of his
00:16:03
genius meanwhile he would be in the
00:16:05
booth while we're taping and he would be
00:16:09
conducting he would be looking at the
00:16:12
horns back here or something more more
00:16:14
give me more take it easy now here here
00:16:16
come we we want drums here hell go crazy
00:16:20
give me this uh you guys on the guitars
00:16:23
you know we couldn't hear him but you
00:16:26
knew what he was saying because he was
00:16:28
conducting he had more than 20 top 40
00:16:31
hits with groups like The Ronettes the
00:16:34
Righteous Brothers and the singing
00:16:35
sensation Connie Francis and for the
00:16:38
first time the producer was the star his
00:16:41
sound was being imitated by many in the
00:16:44
music business and he was getting very
00:16:46
very
00:16:49
rich when we got our little 3540 $50
00:16:53
that was wonderful but at the same time
00:16:56
Phil was was getting his 354
00:16:59
50,000 or more when Spectre was 22 he
00:17:02
married his longtime girlfriend Annette
00:17:05
morar in 1963 before he was 23 he'd left
00:17:09
her for Ronnie Bennett of his ronet he
00:17:12
played the role of young genius to the
00:17:15
hilt but all the while he was making
00:17:17
calls from the studio to a psychiatrist
00:17:20
because he knew he had
00:17:25
problems people let them do whatever
00:17:28
because they are a genius quote unquote
00:17:30
and nobody says hey wait a minute
00:17:32
Spectre that's not exactly appropriate
00:17:35
behavior by this point spectre's
00:17:37
aggressive behavior might have been
00:17:39
unpleasant but not
00:17:42
threatening the hit stopped coming and
00:17:44
Phil Spectre basically retired he
00:17:47
married Ronnie in
00:17:48
1968 and moved her into a 23 room
00:17:52
mansion in Beverly Hills immediately he
00:17:55
put bars on the Windows a barbed wire
00:17:58
fence around the property and H up for
00:18:01
days in a darkened room with a gun if
00:18:04
there's nobody there to do checks and
00:18:07
balances on you then all your sort of
00:18:10
cute little idiosyncrasies when you were
00:18:12
younger become
00:18:16
rampant then two years later Phil
00:18:18
Spectre began a spectacular comeback The
00:18:21
Beatles were breaking up and had
00:18:23
abandoned hundreds of hours of their
00:18:25
final recordings Lenin asked Spectre to
00:18:28
Salvage their tapes he added his
00:18:31
trademark strings and choirs and the
00:18:34
album was released as Let It Be although
00:18:38
the record was not a critical success it
00:18:40
got Spectre back in the
00:18:42
game he continued working co-producing
00:18:46
solo records for John lennin and George
00:18:51
Harrison Phil had the genius to tell
00:18:55
everybody what he wanted and how he
00:18:58
wanted it and he would work individually
00:19:01
with everyone in the studios meanwhile
00:19:03
his behavior at home was more bizarre
00:19:06
than ever Ronnie Spectre claimed Phil
00:19:09
was holding her prisoner often at
00:19:11
gunpoint in
00:19:13
1972 she literally ran away spectre's
00:19:17
last recording session with John Lennon
00:19:19
was in
00:19:20
1973 for an album called rock and roll
00:19:24
the session ended amid stories that
00:19:26
Spectre had shot up the studio but
00:19:29
friends tried to downplay the incident
00:19:31
the only Gunplay that I ever even heard
00:19:34
about was the bullet hole in the ceiling
00:19:36
in one of the studios when we were doing
00:19:39
the John lenon sessions just prior to
00:19:41
his death after that Spectre sessions
00:19:44
produced more notorious stories than
00:19:46
popits like reports he pulled a gun on
00:19:49
singer poet Leonard Cohen Cohen says
00:19:52
that at one point Spectre leaned over
00:19:54
and put a gun at his throat and said I
00:19:56
love you Leonard and and Cohen's respon
00:19:58
was I certainly hope
00:20:07
so we have arrested Mark David
00:20:11
Chapman for the homicide of John lenon
00:20:14
Mr Chapman came up behind him and called
00:20:17
to him Mr
00:20:18
Lennon as he arrived at that doorway and
00:20:22
then in a combat stance he fired he
00:20:26
emptied the Charter Arms 38 of a gun
00:20:29
that he had with him and U shot John
00:20:33
lenon after the murder of John Lenin in
00:20:36
1980 Spectre shut himself off from the
00:20:39
world for 15 years he lived in seclusion
00:20:43
and faced some personal hardships his
00:20:45
9-year-old son died of leukemia his
00:20:48
third marriage ended in divorce and his
00:20:50
ex-wife Ronnie Spectre pursued a court
00:20:53
case for
00:20:55
royalties then in 1995 there was an
00:20:58
attempt to produced songs for Seline
00:21:00
Deon the sessions ended badly but
00:21:03
Spectre was back on the public
00:21:06
scene and so were his guns this worried
00:21:09
Carol Connors who had remained friends
00:21:11
with Spectre over the years we were all
00:21:14
leaving the Polo Lounge and uh this
00:21:18
lady took a look at Phil's hair and was
00:21:22
a little shocked by it and Phil became
00:21:26
enraged in his mind this woman had made
00:21:30
fun of him and all of a sudden I saw a
00:21:33
gun it was in his hand he didn't do
00:21:37
anything with it but there was still a
00:21:40
weapon fearful of what might happen
00:21:42
Connors left that night and never saw
00:21:44
Spectre again in 1998 Spectre bought the
00:21:49
Pyrenees castle in the workingclass
00:21:51
suburb of alhamra he was a king and he
00:21:54
wanted a castle and the only place he
00:21:56
could find a castle on top of a hill was
00:22:00
alham the following year he began to
00:22:02
take medications for manic depression
00:22:04
and stopped drinking so the drugs would
00:22:06
work in recent years he was often seen
00:22:09
on the town often wearing a
00:22:11
shoulder-length
00:22:13
wig a lot of people thought that Phil is
00:22:16
on the right track Phil is healthy Phil
00:22:18
is happy Phil is not drinking but by the
00:22:21
dawn of 2003 Spectre suffered a series
00:22:24
of professional setbacks which further
00:22:26
depressed him most importantly ly Paul
00:22:29
McCartney announced plans to re-release
00:22:32
let it be stripped of spectre's
00:22:35
production clearly Phil was still
00:22:37
tormented by by many many
00:22:41
[Music]
00:22:45
things in the winter of 2003 Phil
00:22:48
Spectre broke his self-imposed silence
00:22:50
in an interview with the London
00:22:52
Telegraph London was a special place for
00:22:55
Spectre because of his work with the
00:22:57
Beatles he wanted to get back to work
00:22:59
and he went to England to produce an
00:23:01
album for a British band called star
00:23:03
sailor and apparently the sessions
00:23:05
didn't quite go the way he wanted and he
00:23:07
didn't get to produce a whole album and
00:23:09
he gave an interview to a British paper
00:23:11
where he basically said he felt like
00:23:13
largely he was insane that he was
00:23:16
bipolar that he just had mental problems
00:23:19
and that things were very dark in his
00:23:20
life and they always had been and I
00:23:23
think that interview came as a shock to
00:23:25
a lot of people Spectre could not escape
00:23:27
the memories of his music that continued
00:23:29
to be played in London Spectre had not
00:23:31
produced a hit for over 20 years and
00:23:34
found himself out of step with
00:23:36
contemporary music it's very possible
00:23:38
that Phillip was setting himself up for
00:23:42
some kind of a fall just Weeks Later his
00:23:44
chauffeur driven Mercedes pulled up at
00:23:47
dantana's restaurant a show business
00:23:49
hangout on the edge of Beverly
00:23:53
Hills Phil arrived at dantana apparently
00:23:56
sometime around 11:00 p.m. or so with a
00:24:00
woman they had what other diners say
00:24:02
seemed to be a date he sat in the back
00:24:05
corner in a booth that's farthest away
00:24:06
from the door U he ordered a drink which
00:24:10
was unusual because he'd been coming to
00:24:12
dant tanas for years and in recent years
00:24:14
he had not been drinking and it was
00:24:16
unusual enough that the bartender came
00:24:18
over to check and make sure that the
00:24:20
order was right because he was used to
00:24:21
Phil coming in and and having seven up
00:24:24
or something um so he ordered a he
00:24:26
ordered a drink um
00:24:29
he was there until probably sometime
00:24:33
between midnight and 1:00 a.m. another
00:24:35
customer in the restaurant who was a
00:24:36
talent manager found out who Spectre was
00:24:38
and came up to give him his card and and
00:24:40
apparently according to this guy Spectre
00:24:43
didn't say a word just glared at him and
00:24:45
basically the message was get back to
00:24:47
your table and leave me
00:24:48
alone um the other customer also said
00:24:51
that Spectre appeared to be sweaty kept
00:24:53
going to the bathroom and he said he
00:24:55
appeared to be under the influence of
00:24:56
something but he didn't know what he he
00:24:59
had a couple drinks and he had a small
00:25:01
salad not much the check came to
00:25:04
$55 uh and he left a $500 tip which he
00:25:08
was known to be a very big Tipper but
00:25:10
$500 is a little extreme for a $55 check
00:25:13
even for Phil Spectre
00:25:20
[Music]
00:25:25
[Music]
00:25:28
it was nearly 2:00 a.m. closing time
00:25:31
when spectre's Mercedes arrived at the
00:25:33
House of Blues and it was there that
00:25:35
Spectre would meet Lana Clarkson a
00:25:38
chance meeting that would forever change
00:25:40
his life I first met Lana Clarkson when
00:25:43
I was casting our picture Death stalker
00:25:46
which was a sword and sorcery picture we
00:25:48
did in Argentina in the mid
00:25:52
1980s I was looking for one of two
00:25:56
leading ladies the part we eventually
00:25:59
gave to Lana was of a warrior woman I
00:26:04
wanted a woman who was
00:26:07
goodlook uh had a good figure was tall
00:26:11
enough and commanding enough to give the
00:26:14
impression of a warrior and also be a
00:26:18
good actress Lana is absolutely the kind
00:26:20
of person that would be fascinated by
00:26:22
somebody as prestigious as Phil Spectre
00:26:25
to have the opportunity to have a
00:26:27
conversation with him and to speak with
00:26:30
him would be her privilege and she'd be
00:26:33
so excited to be able to do that anybody
00:26:36
that was um a a a success in their
00:26:41
industry in an industry that fascinated
00:26:43
Lana was a wealth of information was a
00:26:46
source of inspiration for her she loved
00:26:49
interviewing people she loved talking to
00:26:51
people and Phil Spectre has 40 years of
00:26:54
being in the music industry and that
00:26:56
would have been such an exciting place
00:26:59
for Lana to be just to talk to that man
00:27:01
for 5 minutes inside the blues Club
00:27:04
Spectre sat alone in a booth drinking
00:27:07
and listening to the music spectre's
00:27:09
skills had helped build the success that
00:27:11
produced places like the House of Blues
00:27:14
but on this night that fact brought him
00:27:16
little Joy when Lana Clarkson the club's
00:27:19
Hostess appeared before him she was an
00:27:21
obvious attraction and distraction for
00:27:24
the deeply depressed Spectre according
00:27:27
to the producer of this program who had
00:27:30
coincidentally spoken with Miss Clarkson
00:27:32
a day
00:27:33
earlier she walked in and pretty much
00:27:36
stopped the whole party she was 6 foot
00:27:38
tall blonde beautiful had a spectacular
00:27:40
dress on within the first 10 minutes of
00:27:42
knowing her she had me crying I was
00:27:44
laughing so hard I don't think I've ever
00:27:46
met a woman who was so funny she's fun
00:27:48
she's always like the life of the party
00:27:51
um she's just funny she's
00:27:54
entertaining fun was what Spectre needed
00:27:57
Clarkson told she was Moonlighting at
00:27:59
the House of Blues but that she had a
00:28:01
career as an actress in films directed
00:28:04
by Roger
00:28:06
Corman she had energy and
00:28:09
enthusiasm and it came across on camera
00:28:13
one of the great things about Lana was
00:28:15
that she did not look down her nose at
00:28:18
doing a medium budget or a lowbudget
00:28:21
film she had the attitude that most
00:28:26
successful actors had have when they're
00:28:29
starting and doing lowbudget films for
00:28:31
instance some of the actors who' started
00:28:33
with me were Jack Nicholson Sly Stallone
00:28:37
Bob dairo uh Charlie Bronson uh it goes
00:28:40
on and everyone who had success later on
00:28:45
did their best and respected their craft
00:28:50
and the project in a low-budget film and
00:28:52
Lana had that same attitude others who
00:28:55
knew her say she was ready to give up
00:28:57
the amaz on Warrior roles and wanted to
00:29:00
try her hand at standup comedy we talked
00:29:03
about how she had projects on the table
00:29:04
and there was a direction she was going
00:29:06
to take her career that she was very
00:29:08
comfortable with and she was very
00:29:09
excited about while Spectre wasn't
00:29:11
familiar with her career he had always
00:29:13
been drawn to people with a sense of
00:29:15
humor knowing Lana's Mo I can see Phil
00:29:20
introducing himself to Lana and them
00:29:22
striking a conversation I can see Phil
00:29:24
saying you know there's an Afterparty
00:29:27
over it
00:29:28
so and so's house over at some famous
00:29:31
person's whether it was Jack Nicholson
00:29:33
or a music person's house and we're
00:29:36
going to go I'm going to go by do you
00:29:37
want to join me you know I can see her
00:29:40
saying you know I'm wide awake and I
00:29:43
don't really feel like going home and um
00:29:46
I'm feeling great I'm I'm with Phil
00:29:47
Spectre and he wants to take me to an
00:29:49
Afterparty at Shaka Khan's house or you
00:29:52
know some fabulous person's house and he
00:29:54
said oh I want to stop by my house and
00:29:57
pick up a demo tape that I just recorded
00:29:59
this is where my mind goes he went
00:30:02
upstairs to the Foundation Room which is
00:30:04
a private room for members and guests up
00:30:07
on the top floor of the House of Blues
00:30:09
and he was in there probably for a half
00:30:11
hour or so as the club was was starting
00:30:14
to close down um he did have more to
00:30:16
drink there um he probably had a bottle
00:30:19
of
00:30:20
champagne and he left the House of Blues
00:30:23
um as it was closing probably after 2:
00:30:26
a.m. 2 2:30 in the morning and the
00:30:28
employees there did see him in the
00:30:30
parking lot speaking to Lana Clarkson as
00:30:34
she was getting her car and as it turned
00:30:37
out the two of them left together in
00:30:38
spectre's chauffeur driven Mercedes
00:30:41
probably around A4 to 3: in the morning
00:30:44
none of us know what happened um from
00:30:47
the time she left the House of Blues
00:30:50
until uh the time she was
00:30:52
reported dead
00:30:55
so you know it's it's hard to really say
00:31:00
um I just think that she obviously
00:31:03
didn't know who Phil Spectre is um she
00:31:06
obviously didn't know his
00:31:08
reputation his uh affiliation with crime
00:31:11
drugs violence and just the history of
00:31:14
what kind of a person he is she is tall
00:31:18
beautiful
00:31:19
vivacious loves animals is not violent
00:31:22
has no is not into drugs is not into
00:31:25
guns violence anything and he is a short
00:31:29
unattractive man that's old enough to be
00:31:31
her father that has a huge history with
00:31:34
violence and
00:31:36
guns sometime after closing Spectre and
00:31:39
Clarkson got into the backseat of his
00:31:41
Mercedes and were driven to his Mansion
00:31:44
what happened over the course of the
00:31:46
next couple of hours has not been made
00:31:48
public Just Before Dawn spectre's
00:31:51
chauffeur reports hearing a gunshot and
00:31:54
calls
00:31:56
911 at around around 5:00 a.m. police
00:31:59
find the body of Lana Clarkson in Phil
00:32:01
spectre's
00:32:04
foyer the phone R it was Michelle she
00:32:07
said Daddy I don't know what to do I
00:32:08
said
00:32:10
Michelle you call Robert Shapiro right
00:32:12
away let him handle everything attorney
00:32:15
Robert Shapiro most famous as part of OJ
00:32:18
simpsons's dream team became Phil
00:32:22
spectre's defense
00:32:26
attorney the sort of sick joke was well
00:32:30
murder is legal in California you know
00:32:33
Saturday Night Live for said it with OJ
00:32:36
and uh one wonders uh you Robert Blake
00:32:41
OJ and Phil Spectre I got a call from my
00:32:45
mother at about 10:30 on Monday
00:32:48
night and she said
00:32:50
honey when did you see Lana last and I
00:32:54
said yesterday why she said when did you
00:32:57
you talk to Lana last and I said
00:33:00
yesterday when I saw her I said why Mom
00:33:04
and she said well honey they're
00:33:06
reporting on the news that Alana
00:33:08
Clarkson has been found shot dead at
00:33:12
some guy's
00:33:14
house and I said what and she says
00:33:18
they've reported that she was shot dead
00:33:20
Lana Clarkson actress 41 and I went mom
00:33:25
I'll call you right back and I called
00:33:28
her cell phone and I said Lana it's neie
00:33:31
honey call me and I called her at home
00:33:34
and I left a message and I called her on
00:33:36
her pager and I left a message and I
00:33:39
called her pager and I put my phone
00:33:41
number in and then I tried getting
00:33:43
through to the house of the Blues just
00:33:45
in case she was working and I couldn't
00:33:47
get through and I called my mom again
00:33:49
and I said Mom what else did you hear
00:33:51
please tell me everything she said
00:33:54
somewhere in
00:33:55
alhamra a Woman by the name of Lana
00:33:57
Clarkson so I got on the phone to the
00:34:00
police station and I asked for somebody
00:34:04
and I explained who I was and I got to
00:34:08
like the second or third person it ended
00:34:10
up being a detective Rosenberg I believe
00:34:13
and I said my name is neie
00:34:15
Hudson my best friend is Lana
00:34:19
Clarkson she's 40 she's an actress and
00:34:23
it wouldn't be unheard of for her to
00:34:25
know a famous record person please tell
00:34:29
me how do I find out who this is and
00:34:33
detective
00:34:34
Rosenberg asked me a few questions to
00:34:38
validate who I was to verify that I was
00:34:41
a legitimate friend and he said are you
00:34:44
alone are you sitting
00:34:47
down and I started to shake and he said
00:34:50
um I'm so sorry to tell you that that
00:34:53
was your friend that day I heard that
00:34:56
Phil Spectre had shot someone and that
00:34:58
it was a 25-year-old blonde girl
00:35:02
and I was just amazed that Phil Spectre
00:35:04
shot someone so I watched CNN all day
00:35:07
long and I it wasn't until about 10:00
00:35:11
at night that um Suzanne Perry a friend
00:35:15
of mine called and said Sunny oh my God
00:35:19
Lana's been shot by Phil Spectre I'm
00:35:22
like what are you talking about she goes
00:35:25
I just heard it and they just released
00:35:27
the name
00:35:29
and you have to find out if it's true so
00:35:33
I just called Lana's house it's the
00:35:36
first place that I called and fawn
00:35:39
picked up and I go Fawn is it
00:35:41
true and she just said yeah I said I'll
00:35:45
be right
00:35:46
there Los Angeles County Sheriffs
00:35:49
brought in a forensics team to Phil
00:35:51
spector's Mansion shortly before Dawn
00:35:54
February 3 2003 Lana Clarkson was was
00:35:57
identified as the dead woman who
00:35:59
suffered a single gunshot wound Spectre
00:36:02
was arrested on suspicion of murder when
00:36:06
it came on the news that day I fell off
00:36:10
the chair I mean I went oh my dear I
00:36:13
mean this is so off the wall wall of
00:36:16
sound this is so bizarre this is so how
00:36:20
could this have happened did it happen
00:36:22
what happened that was the question
00:36:24
everybody asked spectre's friends and
00:36:27
Clarkson friends a lot of the things
00:36:29
that I think are being said in the media
00:36:32
are such fabricated stories hearing
00:36:36
accusations such as maybe she was
00:36:38
committing maybe she had committed
00:36:39
suicide that is so absurd Lana loved
00:36:42
life more than anything and was very
00:36:45
happy
00:36:46
[Music]
00:36:47
um her committing suicide is a joke uh
00:36:51
she's far very far from that also
00:36:54
hearing that she was a high priced call
00:36:56
girl
00:36:58
it's absurd Lana is a very hardworking
00:37:01
actress she even took the job at the
00:37:03
House of Blues just to help make 's meet
00:37:06
and so that again she's still surrounded
00:37:07
by people that are artistic creative um
00:37:11
in the industry and something that
00:37:12
allowed her the flexibility to have her
00:37:14
days free well I must say that I don't
00:37:17
know if
00:37:18
anyone who knows
00:37:21
that she was
00:37:24
looking for Phil Spectre that night
00:37:27
night I think he just kind of walked
00:37:29
into her life and the whole you know the
00:37:33
House of Blues was like wildfire Phil
00:37:35
Spectre the great producer just walked
00:37:37
in and I think that that's what she what
00:37:41
she heard she was a gal that was she'd
00:37:44
do anything to become a star spectre's
00:37:46
friends immediately started coming up
00:37:49
with all sorts of different theories as
00:37:50
to how it could have happened and with
00:37:52
Spectre saying nothing everyone
00:37:55
speculation sort of ran rampant there
00:37:57
was the Intruder Theory where friends
00:37:59
were saying there had to have been
00:38:01
someone else in the house who did it
00:38:03
there was the theory that Marvin
00:38:04
mitchelson Advanced which was it was
00:38:06
just a tragic accident um it wouldn't it
00:38:09
couldn't have been intentional but they
00:38:11
were fooling around and the gun went off
00:38:13
there was the theory the radio station
00:38:15
advance that she accidentally shot
00:38:17
herself there was another theory that
00:38:19
she had gone out to the car to leave and
00:38:21
then she remembered that she forgot
00:38:22
something in the house she went back to
00:38:24
the house he thought she was an intruder
00:38:25
and shot her in the dark um every day it
00:38:28
seemed like there was a new theory that
00:38:30
was floated about exactly what went on
00:38:32
and because the police weren't saying
00:38:33
anything inspector wasn't saying
00:38:34
anything people were free to run
00:38:36
wherever they wanted with all the
00:38:39
theories the day after his arrest Phil
00:38:41
Spectre was released on bail and refused
00:38:44
to speak to the media for months then in
00:38:47
June 2003 he broke his silence and told
00:38:50
Esquire magazine that Lana Clarkson had
00:38:53
committed suicide that is so absurd Lana
00:38:57
l life more than anything back then
00:39:00
Spectre sent email messages to 50 of his
00:39:03
friends reinforcing his claim of
00:39:06
Innocence the email was signed by Phil
00:39:08
Spectre and his new assistant Hal
00:39:11
Blaine's daughter
00:39:13
Michelle the two of them wrote an email
00:39:15
that basically said you know we haven't
00:39:18
been able to say anything up until now
00:39:20
and we don't want to say we told you so
00:39:22
but we told you so essentially saying
00:39:24
the truth is coming out Phil's going to
00:39:27
be exonerated let's celebrate on
00:39:30
February 19th Lana Clarkson's friends
00:39:32
and family gathered for her funeral at
00:39:34
the self-realization fellowship Shrine
00:39:37
near the Pacific Ocean her friends say
00:39:39
she deserved to be a well-known name in
00:39:41
Hollywood but not like this that's
00:39:44
unfortunate it's very
00:39:47
unfortunate um Lana has achieved so much
00:39:51
in her career if you look at her
00:39:54
resume she has accomplished more than
00:39:56
most most actors um and at least she was
00:40:01
able to always maintain a job and a
00:40:03
career and very very seldom did she ever
00:40:07
take any kind of a side job like the
00:40:10
House of Blues or something else to help
00:40:12
compensate um most of the time she was
00:40:14
always able to provide for herself which
00:40:17
very few actors can do um so that I
00:40:20
think is you know she deserves brownie
00:40:23
points for that um and I think it is a
00:40:25
shame that people find her to be more
00:40:29
famous in her death than she was in her
00:40:31
life because it's just sad that a lot of
00:40:34
people didn't get to really know who she
00:40:35
was because they would see that in her
00:40:37
life she was a star Lana was discouraged
00:40:41
about her future but she was not
00:40:43
desperate she was naturally an
00:40:45
optimistic woman uh I talked with her a
00:40:49
few weeks before she died she had hoped
00:40:52
to as it were reinvent herself as a
00:40:56
supporting actress playing different
00:40:59
types of roles and she wanted to put
00:41:01
together a real of her more
00:41:03
dramatic work and I allowed her to use
00:41:07
our editing room and actually work with
00:41:09
one of our editors to cut together uh
00:41:12
such a real it was difficult it was
00:41:15
going to be difficult for her I knew and
00:41:18
she knew but she was still enthusiastic
00:41:21
and she wanted to try when Lana was in
00:41:23
San Diego she was telling me about this
00:41:25
new play that she was going to be doing
00:41:27
that a friend of hers named Simba had
00:41:29
written and she said Simba had just
00:41:32
loved her so much in this role that she
00:41:34
actually changed the title of the role
00:41:36
and put Lana's name in it so it's called
00:41:38
Lana's pupil every woman's gold every
00:41:41
woman's guide to gold digging and it was
00:41:43
very funny and it had her doing a little
00:41:46
singing a little dancing and of course
00:41:47
just a lot of comedy and acting and it
00:41:50
really showcased her nicely um my
00:41:53
husband went to watch her and and
00:41:55
support her and the the turnout was
00:41:57
great great and I think it's a shame
00:41:59
because some people take it seriously
00:42:01
she's far from a gold digger the first
00:42:03
trial against Mr Spectre ended with a
00:42:06
hung jury the da asked for and was given
00:42:10
a second trial there Phil Spectre was
00:42:13
found guilty of murder second degree
00:42:15
murder which is what the whole second
00:42:18
trial was
00:42:19
about I mean there was never any
00:42:21
question that was the
00:42:24
charge uh it took the jury a long time
00:42:27
to reach their decision they said they
00:42:30
knew their were lives at stake I didn't
00:42:32
know if they meant his or Lana
00:42:36
Clarkson but they obviously did not take
00:42:38
their responsibility lightly Phil
00:42:40
Spectre was sentenced to 19 years to
00:42:42
life for the murder of L Clarkson 15
00:42:46
years for second deegree murder plus
00:42:48
four years for personal use of a gun
00:42:52
spectre's lawyers had argued Lana
00:42:54
Clarkson committed suicide they will
00:42:57
heal the key evidence against Mr Spectre
00:43:00
was the testimony of his limo driver who
00:43:03
told police that after hearing a gunshot
00:43:06
from inside spectre's mansion the music
00:43:09
producer appeared at the front door with
00:43:12
a gun in his hand and said quote I think
00:43:15
I killed somebody end of quote it is to
00:43:19
a certain extent ironic that Lana
00:43:22
achieved a certain amount of Fame in her
00:43:25
life and because the circumstances of
00:43:28
her death has achieved greater Fame
00:43:32
afterwards I think it's a comment on the
00:43:35
culture of the United States and Beyond
00:43:37
the United States it's a part of modern
00:43:40
culture worldwide maybe carried to a
00:43:43
greater extent in the United States the
00:43:48
concept of sensationalism I find
00:43:51
sometimes that I drive down Sunset
00:43:53
Boulevard past the Lake Shrine and I
00:43:56
keep thinking I'll see her or see her
00:44:00
car and
00:44:03
um it's hard sometimes to think that she
00:44:07
is really
00:44:09
gone especially
00:44:13
because you hear that this is something
00:44:16
that happened I didn't see a car
00:44:19
accident or I didn't see her house
00:44:21
burned down or something where you have
00:44:24
physical
00:44:25
evidence that she's not here
00:44:28
so I think part of me still feels like
00:44:30
okay it's just all kind of a story and
00:44:33
I'll see her face pop up or she'll say
00:44:35
hey here I
00:44:36
am so it is
00:44:39
hard it's hard to see such a good
00:44:44
person go in such a unfortunate
00:44:49
way I don't think it's fair
00:44:55
[Music]
