Claudine Longet, Star Who Shot Skier Sabich, Dies at 84
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- Claudine Longet died at 84, according to the Telegram, more than four decades after she was convicted of criminally negligent homicide — a misdemeanor — in the March 21, 1976 shooting of Olympic skier Spider Sabich, and was sentenced to 30 days in jail, two years' probation, and a $250 fine.
- Longet claimed the .22-caliber German-made gun accidentally discharged as Sabich was showing her how it worked; Sabich died of his wound en route to the hospital, and the prosecution faced hurdles from mishandled evidence and illegal search practices before the jury reached its January 1977 verdict.
- Sabich's family filed a $1.3 million civil suit against Longet, which was settled out of court on the condition that Longet never speak publicly about Sabich or his death — a gag that held for the rest of her life.
- Longet married singer and TV host Andy Williams in 1961, appeared regularly on his NBC show, and had three children — Christian, Bobby, and Noelle, the latter of whom reportedly died in 2023 — before their 1975 divorce.
- Longet recorded the Henry Mancini-Don Black song "Nothing to Lose" in Blake Edwards' 1968 film "The Party" alongside Peter Sellers, and her 1967 debut album "Claudine" on A&M Records sold more than a million copies.
- Longet and Williams were close friends of Robert and Ethel Kennedy, watching his televised 1968 primary victory speech in Los Angeles before joining the family at Good Samaritan Hospital after he was shot; the couple named a son after the senator.
- Longet wed one of her defense attorneys, Ronald Austin, in June 1985, and the couple eventually moved to Hawaii.
Why it matters: Longet's death closes a chapter on one of the 1970s' most sensational celebrity homicide cases. A gag clause in her out-of-court civil settlement barred her from ever publicly discussing Spider Sabich's death, so her account of what happened in that bathroom is buried forever — and her role as a firsthand witness in the RFK inner circle, after naming a son after the senator, goes with her.
