Background
D'Arbanville, born May 25, 1951 in New York City, New York, is the daughter of Jean (née Scott), an artist, and George D'Arbanville, a bartender, and attended PS 41 on Eleventh Street.
D'Arbanville, born May 25, 1951 in New York City, New York, is the daughter of Jean (née Scott), an artist, and George D'Arbanville, a bartender, and attended PS 41 on Eleventh Street.
She went to High School at Quintano's School for Professional Children. D'Arbanville acted in her first film in 1960 at age 8. A New York University student film about a girl and her cat, titled Tuesday and Blue Silk.
Andy Warhol discovered her during a gig as a club disc jockey when she was 13, and cast her at age 16 in his 1968 film Flesh. In the late 1960s she was a model in London, where she met Cat Stevens and they developed a romance. She was the inspiration for at least two of his hit songs: "Lady D'Arbanville", and "Wild World", which were released on Mona Bone Jakon and Tea for the Tillerman, respectively.
She left him for periods of time to continue her modeling career in Paris and New York City, and was a part of Warhol's Factory scene. In an interview with Warhol, she said wistfully that she'd heard the song "Lady D'Arbanville": "Steven wrote that song "Lady D'Arbanville" when I left for New York. I left for a month, it wasn't the end of the world was it? But he wrote this whole song about 'Lady D'Arbanville, why do you sleep so still.' It's about me dead.
So while I was in New York, for him it was like I was lying in a coffin... he wrote that because he missed me, because he was down. It's a sad song." (Cat Stevens was a stage name which D'Arbanville never used. She preferred his true name, Steven Demetre Georgiou)
After Flesh, D'Arbanville performed in Warhol's L'Amour (1973), and as the title character in David Hamilton's movie Bilitis (1977).
After her unabashed risqué performances in her youth, D'Arbanville has worked steadily in film and television series in the United States and France. She was well known for her role as Lt. Virginia Cooper on the FOX series New York Undercover.
Their breakup, as noted above, was the inspiration for at least two of his songs, "Lady D'Arbanville" and "Wild World." Later, D'Arbanville had a relationship with actor Don Johnson from 1981-1986, the couple had a son, Jesse Wayne Johnson (born December 7, 1982). D'Arbanville has been married three times, with each of her marriages ending in divorce. She was then married to former New York City firefighter Terry Quinn from June 15, 1993 to March 12, 2002.
They have three children, Emmelyn, Alexandra, and Liam.
