The Art of Being Liz Renay

The Art of Being Liz Renay is a visual romp through one womans journey from Depression era Arizona through the Sexual Revolution of the 1980s. Liz Renay participated in subcultures from every era she lived like an actor playing a new role every year. She was a World War II V-girl, beauty pageant winner, fashion model, Greenwich Village variety performer, beatnik poet, Marilyn Monroe look-a-like burlesque star, Hollywood actress, and Americas favorite mafia mole. She went to prison for not squealing on the mob boss Mickey Cohen in 1960. After her release she became a celebrated painter in between making dozens of cult films. Her 1972 memoir My Face for the World to See was a best-seller. She streaked nude down Hollywood boulevard for ten thousand fans for publicity for her return to stripping. Her apex came when film director John Waters asked her to star in his current film Desperate Living. Now with global recognition she continued to write books enjoyed being a great-great grandmother, and being a bachelorette after seven marriages and more than 2000 lovers. She became an inspiration for outsiders everywhere. Her books went into multiple printings and she kept busy with fan mail and autograph conventions. When interest in a burlesque revival began- she attended the Burlesque Hall of Fame and headlined the Legends night. Her final great act was her solo painting show in New York, at the prestigious Deitch Projects, 50 years after her art world debut. She garnered a half page obituary in the New York Times when she passed.