Post #306376 by VampiressRN on Mon, May 14, 2007 9:42 PM

The smooth in-your-face look for 007.

By Harriet Ryan
Court TV

LOS ANGELES — Inside the diminutive body of Phil Spector reside two men, according to witnesses at his murder trial.

One is a sweet, courtly gentleman whose bygone-era approach to wooing women includes dates arranged by his secretary, long-stemmed roses and pleasant evenings that end with a kiss on the cheek.

The other is a nasty drunk with a filthy mouth and a habit of sticking guns in the faces of women who refuse to spend the night with him.

This portrait of a music industry Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde emerged over the past two weeks as a string of women who dated Spector in the 1980s and 1990s recounted the rise and fall of their relationships with him.

The witnesses described their reactions to his gun threats as equal parts terror and astonishment because, they said, the threat came from a man as well-known to them for his chivalrous kindness as he was for producing stars such as The Beatles and Tina Turner.

One of the four women, Dianne Ogden, spoke of being stunned when "my Phil," a man who pulled out chairs for her and sent her flowers and cards, attempted to rape her at gunpoint. She referred to the shift as "demonic," saying, "He was, like, taken over by something. I don't know what, but it wasn't him."

Another woman, Melissa Grosvenor, recalled Spector as a "very fun" companion who squired her to Knicks games and showered her with gifts, including $1,500 for laser eye surgery, until the evening he pulled a gun on her. She remembered the second when his jovial mood darkened.

"I said, 'I'm tired and I want to go,'" Grosvenor testified. "He turned to look at me and he said, 'What? You want to go?' and right then, his whole demeanor changed."

Dorothy Melvin, another former girlfriend, told jurors that Spector was a "very charming" and sensitive man who always wore a red lapel ribbon to remember his son who had died from cancer. But a 1993 incident in which he allegedly pistol-whipped her convinced her that "he snaps and he turns on a dime and becomes a lunatic."

Prosecutors hope the accounts of the women will convince jurors that something similar occurred in Spector's foyer on Feb. 3, 2003, when actress Lana Clarkson was shot to death. The couple had met three hours earlier at a Sunset Strip music club and returned to Spector's mansion for drinks.

Spector, 67, maintains the 40-year-old killed herself, a claim his lawyers say is backed by forensic evidence. He faces 15 years to life in prison if convicted.

FATIMA BLUSH: Oh, how reckless of me. I made you all wet.
JAMES BOND: Yes, but my martini is still dry.

[ Edited by: VampiressRN 2007-05-14 21:47 ]