Viva

Janet Susan Mary Hoffmann (born August 23, 1938), known professionally as Viva, is an American actress, writer, and artist. She is best known for being a Warhol superstar in the 1960s. Before joining Andy Warhol's Factory scene, she was a model and painter. She starred in several of Warhol's underground films, including Tub Girls, The Nude Restaurant (1967), and Blue Movie (1969). She was the eldest of nine children born into a family of strict Roman Catholics. Her father was a prosperous attorney, and her parents were stalwart supporters of the Army–McCarthy hearings held to expose Communist government infiltration. The Hoffmann children were required to watch the televised proceedings. Raised in devout Catholicism, she considered becoming a nun.

Career

Early career Viva and International Velvet by Billy Name at the Factory, 1968.Hoffmann began her career in entertainment as a model and painter. She retired from both professions, claiming that she believed painting to be a dead medium, and describing her time as a model as "...a period of my life I would rather forget." "When I got a little too Georgia O'Keeffe-y, I decided it was time to give it up. I was an excellent painter. I might even say I was the best painter," she said.

Her acting career began in 1967, when she was cast in the underground film Ciao! Manhattan, which was not completed until 1972.

Warhol years

In 1967, Hoffmann approached Andy Warhol about being in one of his films at Betsey Johnson's party. According to Warhol, they had briefly chatted a few times before this encounter. When Viva used her government name to write movie reviews for a local publication called Downtown, she gave herself rave reviews: "Viva! is a funny mix of Greta Garbo, Myrna Loy, and Carole Lombard…. she combines the grace of the Thirties with the catty candor… of the Sixties…." She appeared in Bike Boy, a film about a motorcyclist trying to find himself; and The Nude Restaurant, in which she played a waitress, opposite Taylor Mead.

By far, Viva's most controversial role was in Blue Movie (1969), a seminal film in the Golden Age of Porn that helped inaugurate the "porno chic" phenomenon in modern American culture. Viva starred opposite Louis Waldon. The film consists of improvised dialogue between Viva and Waldon about a multitude of topics, including the Vietnam War, President Richard Nixon, and various mundane tasks. These conversations are interrupted by the main event of the film, in which Viva and Waldon perform sexual acts in front of the camera. The film was seized by New York City Police for obscenity, and the theater manager, projectionist and ticket-seller at the New Andy Warhol Garrick Theatre arrested for possession of obscene materials. Following the assassination attempt on Warhol's life, Viva developed a close and personal friendship with Warhol's mother, Julia Warhola. Returning from the hospital, however, Warhol accused Viva of utilizing his absence to spy on his work and his mother, creating a rift in a relationship that was never repaired. Viva never saw Mrs. Warhola again after that. The book was an insider's look at the Factory scene, a partly fictional autobiographical account of her time there. It was distinguished from other "tell-all" memoirs by virtue of her writing, which incorporated various stylistic effects, including the use of taped conversations. The dust jacket featured a photograph of Viva taken by Cecil Beaton.

Later career Viva had a bit role in John Schlesinger's film Midnight Cowboy (1969). The part was originally intended for Warhol, who passed it on to her. She appears as a filmmaker who hosts a psychedelic party.

Viva's first starring role in a non-Warhol film was in Agnès Varda's Lions Love in 1969. The film features Viva in a ménage à trois with Gerome Ragni and James Rado. She was cast as Jennifer in Woody Allen's 1972 film Play It Again, Sam.

Viva incorporated the use of video tapes into her second book The Baby. These tapes were later released by her former husband, video artist Michel Auder, as Chronicles: Family Diary in three parts. She was the narrator for Carla Bley's 1971 experimental jazz composition Escalator over the Hill. Viva was one of the early pioneers in video art.

During the 1970s, Viva was a guest participant in Shirley Clarke's Teepee Video Space Troupe, which she formed in the early 1970s.

Viva also went on to have supporting parts in films such as Richard Elfman's 1980 cult musical Forbidden Zone and Wim Wender's 1984 Independent drama Paris, Texas.

Personal life With former husband Michel Auder, Viva made and kept film diaries which included the birth of her first daughter, Alexandra (Alex) Auder in 1971. She was briefly engaged to the actor Anthony Herrera. They had one child together, actress Gaby Hoffmann, born in 1982.

In 1993, Viva was taken to housing court by the Chelsea Hotel, where she lived with her two daughters, for not paying her $920 a month rent for two years. Viva wrote a book about her daughter titled Gaby at the Chelsea, a riff on Eloise at the Plaza, as yet unpublished.

Viva lives in Hudson, NY, where she paints landscapes.

Filmography + Year Title Role Director Notes 1967 The Nude Restaurant The Waitress Andy Warhol Feature-length underground film Bike Boy Girl on couch Andy Warhol Drama film Tub Girls Andy Warhol Avant garde film 1968 Lonesome Cowboys Ramona D'AlvarezAndy Warhol San Diego Surf Susan Hoffman Loves of Ondine Girl in Bed First Warhol film role; originally part of **** (1967) 1969 Lions Love Viva Agnès Varda Blue Movie Girl in Bed Andy Warhol Sam's Song Girl with the Hourglass Midnight Cowboy Gretel McAlbertson (the Warhol-like The Factory party giver) Drama film Keeping Busy Trapianto, consunzione e morte di Franco Brocani 1970 Necropolis Viva Auder (Countess Bathory) Franco Brocani Cleopatra Cleopatra 1972 Play It Again, Sam Jennifer Ciao! Manhattan Diana (Vogue editor) Filmed in 1967 Cisco Pike Merna 1979 New Old 1979 Seduction of Patrick Short film 1980 Flash Gordon Cytherian Girl 1982 The State of Things Kate 1982 Forbidden Zone Ex-queen 1984 Paris, Texas Viva Auder (woman on TV) Wim Wenders 1993 The Man Without a Face Mrs. Cooper 2008 The Feature Viva (as a Warhol superstar) 2010 News From Nowhere Viva

Books Superstar (1970) The Baby (1974) Leaving the Chelsea with Egg (2017)