The rock and roll life of Rolling Stones muse Anita Pallenberg and her relationships with Brian Jones and Keith Richards is set to be revealed in a new documentary.
The actor and model, who is best known for her tumultuous love affair with Stones guitarist Richards, passed away in June 2017 aged 75.
But new unpublished scripts from her memoirs reveal first hand accounts of the time with the famous rock band. Her kids discovered her secret manuscript while clearing her London home.
It forms the basis of a two-hour documentary, Catching Fire: The Story Of Anita Pallenberg voiced by Scarlett Johansson which hits UK cinemas this month.
She began her career as a model aged 16, becoming one of the era’s best known ‘It Girls’ after she became associated with Andy Warhol’s iconic studio ‘Factory’ in the 1960s.
Prior to her relationship with Richards who she had three children with, Pallenberg met Brian Jones, guitarist and original founder of the Stones, in 1965. A relationship developed but was characterised by a very public battle with drugs before ending in 1967.
Anita Pallenberg easily made her way into the Rolling Stones dressing room due to her good looks (pictured during her Rock Chick heyday)
Pallenberg and then boyfriend Brian Jones in 1967. He was often brutal and violent towards her
Richards pictured with Pallenberg in London in 1973. Richards and Anita had a child, Marlon (named after Anita’s one time co-star Brando), and a daughter, christened Dandelion but now uses her middle name Angela
Pallenberg’s (pictured) memoir forms the basis of a two-hour documentary, Catching Fire: The Story Of Anita Pallenberg
It also features raw testimony from Pallenberg’s children, Marlon and Angels, and off-screen contributions from Richards.
He says in the trailer for the documentary: ‘Keith would invite people over and they’d stay all hours. It was her job to kick them out.’
Speaking to People, Marlon also explained how his mum was ‘a massive hoarder’ and added: ‘She had this small flat in Chelsea and it was packed to the gills with stuff.
‘She was quite good at hiding things, almost like a treasure hunt.’
The actor and model first appeared backstage at a Rolling Stones concert in Munich in 1965 where she was working on a modeling assignment. She was seemingly just another of the mini-skirted groupies drawn to the raw, sexually-charged glamour of the new stars of rock and roll.
After sneaking past security, she met Jones in the dressing room who was close to tears after coming off stage following an apparent row with fellow bandmates Mick Jagger and Keith Richards.
She told Pallenberg at the time: ‘I don’t know who you are,’ he told her, ‘but I need you. Will you spend the night with me?’
The documentary features raw testimony from Pallenberg’s (pictured) children, Marlon and Angels, and off-screen contributions from Richards
Marlon Richards (pictured) explained how his mum was ‘a massive hoarder’
Brian Jones, founder and original leader of the Stones, said to her when they met: ‘I don’t know who you are, but I need you. Will you spend the night with me?’
After dumping Jones, who was often brutal and violent towards her, she began a long romance with Richards (pictured), with whom she had three children
The Rolling Stones (pictured with Pallenberg) in France in the 1970s
It was the start of a relationship which would last just two years until 1967. He died two years later in 1969.
‘He was the most beautiful and he had striking intelligence,’ Pallenberg said.
In the documentary, it emerges that Pallenberg found herself putting pictures of Jones all around her house after he died.
After dumping Jones, who was often brutal and violent towards her, she began a long romance with Richards.
Richards, who once ‘rescued’ Pallenberg from Jones in spring 1967, recounts that he was initially ‘bewildered [by] her absolute determination to be… free. Anita just wanted to kick it all over.’ He adds: ‘I was bursting in live.’
Outlining the very early stages of her relationship with him, Pallenberg says: ‘Keith was so shy.’ She says it was her ‘Italian energy ‘ and eye for Bohemian style that transformed him into ‘a lion’.
Pallenberg also disliked the word ‘nice’ and wasn’t big on ‘help’ either, the documentary reveals.
Meanwhile, Prince Stanislas Klossowskide Rola – popularly known as Prince Stash – met Pallenberg in Paris in 1964.
With an increasingly drunk and stoned Jones spiralling out of control, Keith Richards began providing her with a shoulder to cry on
The final word, in the documentary, is Pallenberg’s who says: ‘Keith’s no angel. But neither am I.’
Pallenberg described the abuse she had received because of her relationships with Richards and Jones, and said: ‘I’ve been called a witch, a slut and a murderer.’
The playboy son of the French painter Balthus, told Mogo Magazine: ‘Anita could be ruthless and relentless when she wanted something or someone.’
In the 1980s, Pallenberg attended AA meetings and rehab in an attempt to change her life. She later graduated from Central Saint Martins with a degree in textiles and fashion and made a return to acting.
She later inspired supermodel Kate Moss who says in the documentary: ‘She found her true self.’
In her later years, Pallenberg portrayed the Queen in Harmony Korine’s 2007 movie Mister Lonely.
Early in her relationship with Richards, she starred in the hit sci-fi film Barbarella with Jane Fonda, Candy with Marlon Brando and in Brit director Nicholas Roeg’s Performance, opposite Jagger, in 1970.
At one point, a jealous Richards thought the film’s love scenes weren’t simulated and that Pallenberg and Jagger were having an affair. Pallenberg always maintained the love scenes were just ‘acting’.
Pallenberg starring alongside Mick Jagger in 1970 crime film Performance
Pallenberg got her into rehab and attended AA meetings in the 1980s in a bid to turn her life around
Pallenberg was hard to recognise from the beauty who captivated first Jones and then Richards (pictured in 2010)
Turning to the end of the documentary, Richards says: ‘What I loved about Anita was how she operated.
‘[There was] almost an innocence about it even in its most Machiavellian form!’
The final word, in the documentary, is Pallenberg’s who says: ‘Keith’s no angel. But neither am I.’
She described the abuse she had received because of her relationships with Richards and Jones, and said: ‘I’ve been called a witch, a slut and a murderer.’
Catching Fire: The Story Of Anita Pallenberg, directed by Alexis Bloom and Svetlana Zill, is released in UK cinemas on May 17.
It debuted at the Cannes Film Festival last year. Variety’s film critic Owen Gleiberman described Pallenberg as the ‘beautiful and imperious scenester of the ’60s and ’70s, Hollywood actress and icon of scruffy-chic rock royalty, partner of Keith Richards, muse to several of the other Rolling Stones.’
Variety’s film critic Owen Gleiberman described Pallenberg as the ‘beautiful and imperious scenester of the ’60s and ’70s, (Pictured on her 55th birthday)
He went on: ‘In addition to Pallenberg’s memoir, the film is built around a towering archive of home-movie footage, so that we often feel like we’re right there with Anita and Keith, seeing who they were offstage and off-camera; we experience the sweet tranquility of lives being lived.
‘Pallenberg met the Stones in 1965, when they were giving a concert in Munich (back in the era, she says, before Mick was dancing; he was still playing the maracas).
‘Anita soon became involved with Brian Jones, who she thought was the most beautiful of the Stones, and the most charismatic.’
