Cathy Smith Dies: ‘Sundown’ Muse Who Injected John Belushi With Fatal Drug Dose Was 73

Good riddance. She was beyond skeevy. For context, Keith Richards was creeped out by her drug use, mmkay? She was as scuzzy as they get.

Eventually the party has to end

Was her death due to a drug overdose?

She had COPD.

She was nicknamed "Cathy Silverbags" because she carried her drug supply in a silver purse/bag. That John Belushi would have HER as a companion shows how scummy HE was. She was staying with him in his bungalow at the Chateau Marmont. He was slipping into unconsciousness but didn't want to be alone. He told her "don't leave." But after the drugs knocked him out she left, to place a bet on a horse, I think. When she came back Belushi was dead and the place was inundated with cops. She did time for manslaughter. And she became a "legal secretary?" That's pretty funny. But then a lot of criminals seem to do that. Mary Kay LeTourneau, the child rapist, worked in a law office after getting out of jail. I guess Cathy Silverbags had some lawyer friends who gave her a job.

Sad...

[quote]He was slipping into unconsciousness but didn't want to be alone. He told her "don't leave." But after the drugs knocked him out she left, to place a bet on a horse

That would explain her other nickname, "Hard Cathy."

"One old friend remained loyal. In an interview this week with The Globe and Mail, Lightfoot said, said: 'Cathy was a great lady. Men were drawn to her, and she used to make me jealous. But I don’t have a bad thing to say about her.'"

[quote]'Cathy was a great lady. Men were drawn to her, and she used to make me jealous. But I don’t have a bad thing to say about her.'"

That's because she didn't shoot you up with a lethal dose of speedball and leave you for dead.

Hedda Nussbaum also became a legal secretary.

She's injecting celebrities in heaven now.

Smith? Rather common name, doncha think?

I don't find anything particularly "sad" about Smith's death. She lived a lot longer than you would expect someone like her to live. Belushi, who she killed, only made it to 33. And if Gordon LIghtfoot thought she was a "great lady" he must be one big fat idiot. Robin Williams, who did coke with Belushi shortly before he died, thought Smith was "frightening." He told his wife about his experience being around Belushi and he crusty lady friend: "God, he was with this lady...she was tough, scary."

I do realize this isn’t about me, but I’ve always loved Lightfoot’s Sundown for the character the lyrics so seductively describe. Just learning that he was singing about this creepy woman is unsettling.

She wasn't creepy. She did drugs. She dealt drugs and she behaved like a man.

^^Gordon, is that you?^^

I prefer “The Wreck of Edmund Fitzgerald “

In the news, she was as known as Cathy Evelyn Smith. Her middle name stood out, for emphasis, I suppose. Cathy Smith is too generic...

"In the news, she was as known as Cathy Evelyn Smith. Her middle name stood out, for emphasis, I suppose. Cathy Smith is too generic..."

I think that was because using all three names is standard when referring to an assassin. Mark David Chapman...Lee Harvey Oswald...John Wilkes Booth...Cathy Evelyn Smith.

More Cathy Smith stories, please. Why was she scary? She looks normal in the OP's pic.

She was ugly

She's vilified because she's a woman who killed a not particularly funny comedian.

" Why was she scary? She looks normal in the OP's pic."

I suppose in person she radiated sleaziness and criminality. Even as dissolute and drug addled as Belushi himself was people wondered why he would be spending time with somebody as slimy as Smith. The reason was this: she had the drugs. The drugs that eventually killed him.

If you read much about Judy Belushi, she amazes me as much as Cathy. Judy tolerated this scuzzy whore banging her husband because John wouldn’t have it any other way. John was a real prick and woman-hater. He feared strong women.

She was a whore, darlin'

Belushi supposedly never slept with Smith. She made overtures toward him but he didn't respond. He was so whacked out on drugs that he was probably incapable of having sex with anyone.

She was the best thing that ever happened to Belushi's career. The stories of his legendary prickiness aren't charming if he's not dead

John Belushi was circling the drain with or without Cathy Smith. In a bizarre, druggy, musical chairs bit of sordidness it turned out it was with Cathy Smith. I mean, she was involved technically, but John Belushi was half dead by then anyway and wasn't going to live very long even if he never met Smith.

I met her. She's was pretty low. But I met her in a classy place in a way. She was a good dealer. Tied up with Paul Volpe and that bunch for a while. But the Hollywood boys kept her much busier and threw money at her. Not to fuck. That was before I knew her. I'm not that old. Did anyone know a warehouse on Parliament Street where in a loft on the top floor a certain mob drug dealer lived? Such goings on.

r29, let me buy you a drink. Keep talking about those days please......

If I recall correctly, nobody would've known she was even there except she sold her story to the Enquirer. Was she high when she did that? 18 months in prison then deportation...I'm guessing it wasn't worth it.

God all these old sluts are such battleaxes.

Had no idea "Sundown" was about her.

She was supposed to be quite attractive once. I think it was Rick Danko who said she was the prettiest girl in Toronto.

I don't think she should have been arrested. He wanted to do drugs. He was a junky. If he hadn't been famous, nothing would have happened to her

His family acted like she forced him to do drugs and murdered him. He was doing speedballs (injecting heroin and cocaine). He would have died sooner or later. Cathy or no Cathy

God forbid Belushi be held responsible for his choices.

It's not like she injected a sober person, or injected him while he was unconscious, or without his permission.

John Belushi was before my time, and I have no idea why he was such a big star. He wasn't very funny to me, in the stuff of his I've seen. Just obnoxious, boorish and crude. And of course in today's climate lots of his humor would be considered offensive.

Danko was the prettiest boy in Toronto.

She was with Danko, and Levon Helm, and Richard Manuel—she was "taking care of his [Manuel's] health" when in 1976 the Band played SNL and she met Belushi.

Here's a photo of her with Gordon Lightfoot.

If she was the prettiest girl in Toronto there must have been an extremely low bar back then for prettiest.

Pretty or not, Gordon was concerned about finding her "creeping 'round my backdoor."

For those saying she was ugly, y'all get back to us when you've had a No. 1 song written about you.

[quote]r42 Pretty or not, Gordon was concerned about finding her "creeping 'round my backdoor."

Many men aren't into anal play!

ACK!

You can see the jealousy in his eyes. The slow-burning phosphorescent jealousy.

R43 I've always found it to be a very sexy song.

If she breached Gord's anus all bets are off.

The r25 podcast says it is a song about misplaced jealousy.

One night Cathy went out to a bar with friends and as sundown approached, the songwriter began imagining her with another man. (The other man is who Lightfoot fears might come creeping back to the house.) But she came back alone at 2:00 a.m. - a reasonable hour - and he realized his fears were for naught.

[italic]Once again, we pin the blame on poor, innocent Cathy when it’s the men in her life (Belushi, Lightfoot) who had the deeper issues.[/italic]

Typical!

IIRC, every member of The Band were heroin addicts.

Drugs were super rampant in the 60s and 70s. Most musicians weren't just smoking weed, they were dropping acid and shooting up speed and heroin. To name a few, Eric Clapton, Keith Richards and Jimmy Page were junkies for many years.

Lots of groupies were allowed into these musicians inner circles because they had drug connections. This isn't any kind of revelation.

Not Robbie Robertson or Garth Hudson, r50, but definitely Helm and Danko. Manuel was definitely an alcoholic, and I think he used heroin, don't know whether he was an addict.

Did she ever sing on anything other than Lightfoot's "High And Dry?"

[quote]Not Robbie Robertson or Garth Hudson, [R50], but definitely Helm and Danko. Manuel was definitely an alcoholic, and I think he used heroin, don't know whether he was an addict.

Thanks for info, I assumed they were all junkies.

Isn't Robbie the only surviving member? Levon Helm lived upstate NY, quite near some relatives who moved there years ago. Levon would give free concerts for the upstate locals.

r53 AFAIK, Garth is still alive--bent & arthritic but alive.

Does Kathy with a "K" know?

r49, my favorite part of the jealousy aspect is that apparently Lightfoot was still married when he had his 4 year affair with Cathy Smith.

^^ true.

She may have injected men with drugs ... but he injected LOVE with LIES!