Cynthia “Plaster Caster” Albritton, the iconic artist/groupie known for creating plaster casts of rock star penises, has died. She was 74.
Albritton’s death was confirmed to Deadline by a representative who said she died following a “long illness.”
Albritton’s claim to fame began in the ’60s, with Jimi Hendrix being the first rock star she cast. Other rock stars she’s cast include MC5’s Wayne Kramer and Dennis Thompson, the Buzzcocks’ Pete Shelley and the Dead Kennedys’ Jello Biafra. Albritton would later expand her casting art to women and would cast the breasts of Karen O of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Peaches and others. (While she was immortalized in the KISS song “Plaster Caster” from their 1977 album Love Gun, Albritton never cast any of the members of KISS.)
Albritton prided herself on being an artist with her friend/former manager Mitch Marlow telling Rolling Stone, “She would never cast somebody for commission just because they wanted it. She wouldn’t even sell to people that she didn’t like, even if she needed the money.”
Albritton’s life was the subject of the 2001 documentary aptly named Plaster Caster.