You totally win the thread. Naughty naughty!
My take is akin to yours.
Zadora was a mostly harmless pawn in Riklis’ games. Yeah, she liked being a minor celebrity and having a life of great wealth. But she wasn’t a ruthless self-promotor out hunting a sugar daddy or out hunting a career. She sorta bumbled into it, liked it, but wasn’t maniacal about pushing her career.
The way I heard it, the audience yelled “SHE’S IN THE FUCKING ATTIC!” 
Marion Davies was actually an accomplished and successful comedienne, but WRH kept trying to push her into dramatic roles that were her forte.
Zadora was not only a would be starlet but also a would be pop star with seven albums to date, the most recent in 2020. Here is the fantastically terrible, 80s poptrash song When the Rain Begins to Fall with Jermaine Jackson:
What I thought odd about that vid was how little the camera lingered on her. Most music vids are softcore porn; lots of long looks at the mostly unclad gyrating wimmin, with an occasional cut to the male lead singer if there is one.
Each shot of Zadora’s face was so brief you (me) had to really work to recognize if that was her or somebody else. And she was the only woman in the vid; everyone else, from Jermaine Jackson to the lowliest Extra Dancer #23 was male.
For sure, this was a Jermaine Jackson song, with her as a “guest star”. So you’d expect the camera emphasis to be on him. But not to that degree.
I dunno, with the exception of the first verse, which was sung by Jermaine, I think after her voice sets in, they both have similar screen time. But anyway, what a wonderfully cheesy 80s video! During this thread, I read the wiki page for the song, and what I hadn’t known is that this was on the soundtrack of a movie flick in which Jermaine and Pia had the leading roles.
Oh, that was great! Those costumes! The choreographed fight scene! The white gang vs the black gang? So typical of the “subtle” symbolism in those vids.
I wonder why the white bike gangsters wear nun’s veils. I thought they were meant to be menacing. (though from what I gather from former students at Catholic schools, maybe that’s the point 
)
ETA: and now I saw that the white gang’s bikes were BMWs. Already the most uncool granddaddy bikes in the 80s.
I always thought that The Last Dragon’s Angela Viracco character was a mashup of Pia Zadora and Cyndi Lauper.
I thought they looked more like Egyption pharaoh headware.
Granted, also that. A cross between an Egyptian pharaoh and a white nun.
I didn’t even know her name - I always thought it was Piaza Dora.
For a very long time I had conflated her with E.G. Daily.
I had a similar misconception re: Sarah Jessa Kaparker.
Voyage of the Rock Aliens! And you can watch the full movie, free on youtube!
I’ll always remember her for something really shitty she did in the late 80s. Her and her husband purchased Pickfair, one of the most famous residences in Hollywood history, claimed she was going to renovate it, then promptly tore it down and replaced it with a gaudy “Venetian style palazzo”. She first claimed she did this because the old mansion was infested with termites. Later, she changed her story and said it was because the original house was haunted. Regardless, she showed complete disregard for the historical significance of Pickfair, angering many people.
OMG! Will I ever have 2 hours to spend when life feels so useless that I’ll waste them with watching this movie? 
Movies like that you sample. 30 seconds here, a minute there, and 15 minutes later, at most, you’ve had your fill and can move on replete. Nobody eats a whole buffet.
I have more frightening news. There is a K-pop version of When the Rain Begins to Fall by PSY (feat. Hwa Sa.)
