Windy West, or Sara as some of us call her, ended her own life this week. She was an actress and model in the Arizona film industry.
Sara had a bright smile and was enthusiastic about her work and the people she worked with. There was no way you couldn’t notice her when she was around. She had talent and she was truly sexy. If that little world had a Marilyn, a Jayne Mansfield… it was her.
She and I had our differences. But for a while we were very close, even intimate for a season. And for a couple years she was very supportive of Running Wild Films, helping us at events and even posing in this sultry picture I took to promote our company. I’m thankful to have shared those moments with her.
She appeared in a few of our films: Duel at the Mound on the dance floor, Spur, our Gorky music video, and most notably in Durant’s Never Closes where she played very well in a scene across Tom Sizemore. Here is a clip of her from a film that was finished without our involvement called Recession Road that I believe captures the charm and attractiveness she possessed.
If there is anything to learn by the tragedy of Sara’s suicide, it should remind us that we all have a choice every day to keep going or give up. Life and death is our decision, unless it’s taken from us. I believe that Sara made a bad choice to kill herself, one that makes me sad and angry. I also believe in the finality of death, that this is all we have, and it disturbs me to know she chose to end it sooner than it needed to be. With regret, I will remember her.
-Travis
