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Va-Va-Villainess: Frances Reid

Published August 17, 2023 by biggayhorrorfan

She delighted generations as the donut baking Alice Horton on Days of our Lives. But like most of daytime television’s seasoned matriarchs, actress Frances Reid had quite a career before joining the ranks of the ultra-beloved performers in the continuing history of soaps. 

Of special note is her appearance on a season 6 episode of the original Perry Mason (The Case of Constant Doyle) – the show that featured the indomitable Bette Davis, as the titular Doyle, in the steed of an ailing Raymond Burr. Here Davis’ shrewd yet kind lawyer is determined to help the young Cal Leonard (Michael Parks) evade a murder charge. Her investigation soon uncovers that the true killer may be closer to her than she ever thought. 

Amid a character brigade of financial shysters and drunken society ladies, Reid’s proper Ms. Liza Gibney is ultimately a standout. Seemingly prim and proper, she also presents a devious side -making for a complicated character that steals focus with a hysterical breakout when pertinent evidence is revealed about her in Davis’ summation in the show’s final act.

Nicely, besides the participation of Davis and Parks, who both have numerous horror credits in their multifaceted resumes, childhood actress Peggy Ann Garner (A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, Daisy Kenyon) provides an acerbic, fun appearance as the afore mentioned inebriated, high society wife.

Until the next time, SWEET love and pink GRUE, Big Gay Horror Fan!

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As The Stab Burns: Kim Coles

Published August 2, 2023 by biggayhorrorfan

Proving that the tears of the clown do run the deepest, comedienne Kim Coles’ (Living Single, In Living Color) recent run as Nurse Whitley on Days of our Lives was decorated with both tragedy and laughter…with a good ole dash of psychotic fury thrown in for good measure, as well. 

After Abe (James Reynolds), the show’s mayor and a legacy character extraordinaire, was hospitalized, he discovered one major post-surgery complication – Coles’ overly friendly, extremely deluded healthcare practitioner. Convincing him that she was Paulina (Jackee Harry), his powerful and loving wife, Whitley kidnapped him and held him captive in her apartment – one strewn with colorful stuffed cat plushes and overly cheery paraphernalia. As the confused Abe grew ever leery of her story, Whitley conceived scheme upon scheme to keep him in the dark and by her side. 

With definitive echos of Stephen King’s Misery, the increasingly desperate caregiver even began drugging Abe, eventually finding a way to convince his family that he was dead. Of course, all that begins badly generally ends happily in the world of daytime and, after one last ditch effort to erase herself & her captive from existence, Whitley was caught and brought to justice.

Besides proving that King’s tales should provide more fodder for soap opera stories, this saga gave Coles a delightful way to expand her talent palette. Alternately vibrating with tenderness, confusion and menace, she made the most of this unusual opportunity, ensuring this story was a fun…& historic ride. *

(* – This tale was one of few in the show’s many decades that revolved around and utilized a Black cast almost exclusively.)

Until the next time, SWEET love and pink GRUE, Big Gay Horror Fan

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Shark Bait Retro Village: Hardcastle and McCormick

Published July 28, 2023 by biggayhorrorfan

Each week the gang on Friday the 13th: The Series tangled with the discovery of yet another destructive, escaped object from their antique store. Similarly, every Sunday night for three years, Hardcastle & McCormick were trafficking in lost items of their own. Of course, this duo’s artifacts were of the human variety – felons and bail jumpers. Sometimes, they even had a special guest or two to help them out.

Inquisitive senior citizens have long played a part in horror – From Olivia de Havilland’s shattered matriarch in The Screaming Lady to the overwhelmed & curious residents of the more recent Bingo Hell. Unsurprisingly, the quirkily divine Mildred Natwick was often found playing investigative elders. In the early ‘70s, she, along with the legendary Helen Hayes, was one of the crime solving The Snoop Sisters. Then in 1985, on the detective show Hardcastle & McCormick, she returned to that familiar territory. This time her co-star was the equally renowned Mary Martin, who joined her as one of the gruff Hardcastle’s (Brian Keith) aunts on the (unsurprisingly titled) Hardcastle, Hardcastle and McCormick episode. 

Ever quick to accuse an innocent gardener of burying bodies, May (Narwick) and Zora (Martin) have a hard time convincing their nephew and Mark McCormick, his ex-con ward (Daniel Hugh Kelly), that they have overheard a murder plot when wrapping up their stay with them. Forcing the reluctant Mark into action, they soon find the intended victim floating in his pool. Of course, this planned one shot kill hits a snag as the curious women uncover more and more and find themselves in the line of the murderer’s fire.

As expected, these seasoned pros – Natwick was nominated twice for a Tony Award while Martin won three – have great chemistry with Kelly, who nicely mixes exasperation and affection when dealing with the overreaching arms of their characters’ curiosity. The ladies, of course, eventually make it out of these dangerous circumstances alive, ending their visit on a note of humor. As both women leave, they affirm that Hardcastle’s promise to come stay with them soon is met on deaf ears – he is way too unpredictable and hard to control for a drawn-out vacation with them! Thus, as Martin’s last acting credit ends, one is filled with a true sense of fun if not artistic significance.

Horror Hall of Fame:

Most of Martin’s work was done on the stage while (series regular) Brian Keith made an appearance in a 1982 television film adaptation of John Saul’s Cry for the Strangers. Natwick, meanwhile, made many appearances on such classic genre anthology shows as Alfred Hitchcock Presents, The Evil Touch and Suspense. Kelly, whose major motion picture debut film was as the cuckolded husband in Cujo, also has multiple terror credits (The Monkey’s Paw, Devil May Call, Mischief Night).

Until the next time, SWEET love and pink GRUE, Big Gay Horror Fan!

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Music to Make Horror Movies By: Mary Martin

Published July 19, 2023 by biggayhorrorfan

Often coming off as the epitome of refinement, regal Broadway enchantress Mary Martin actually erred toward the darkly mischievous as a creative type on occasion. For instance, she was the first to give voice to the saucy, sexually adventurous My Heart Belongs to Daddy in Cole Porter’s 1938 musical Leave it to Me! Her take on To Keep My Love Alive, Morgan le Fay’s smart confession of romantic murder making from Rodgers & Hart’s A Connecticut Yankee, is also loads of devilish, eye winking fun. 

On a lavender note, the witty lyrics comprising le Fay’s arch confessions are written by the truly unforgettable Lorenz Hart. Tortured by what he thought was his unfailing unattractiveness, the homosexual Hart drank himself to death by the early age of 48. Thankfully, loads of his insanely creative songs live on to this day. 

Martin, meanwhile, had her own sewing circle stories. She was long rumored to have carried on a decades-long affair with Academy Award winning actress Janet Gaynor. Reports from contemporaries, emerging after her death in 1990 at the age of 76, confirm this secret – allowing for a portrait of a performer who truly knew her way around complex dualities. Thus, we believe both her María, The Sound of Music’s heroic novice, and her much darker, horror movie ready le Fay.

Until the next time, SWEET love and pink GRUE, Big Gay Horror Fan!

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Breaking the “Psycho”: Jessica Walter

Published July 12, 2023 by biggayhorrorfan

In what may have been the delicious nadir of her career, the irreplaceable Jessica Walter appeared in episodes of both Joanie Loves Chachi & Matt Houston in 1982. Of course, Walter, who proved her artistic mettle to genre fans as the psychotic Evelyn in Play Misty for Me and the bitter Frederica in Home for the Holidays, added her truly unique je ne sais quoi to her portrayals in each quickly canceled project. ( Note: JLC lasted for 2 mini-seasons and MH was terminated after its third year.) 

Interestingly, on the former, Walter played a less homicidal variant of her Misty role. As a record executive determined to get Scott Baio’s virtually hairless Chachi into bed, she aggressively manipulates the young man. In a virtual recreation of Evelyn’s actions with Clint Eastwood’s Dave, she even appears unexpectedly at his home. After all this unnecessary lasciviousness, the script does give her a nice monologue about the hardships of being a woman in business – an almost conciliatory reaction to Joanie’s hurt & that character’s unshakable importance to her desired target’s life. 

This type of emotionality is also at work in her final moments as Glynnis, a personal secretary with multiple secrets on Matt Houston. Riding shotgun to the amusingly silly plot involving a cheery yet trigger happy robot, Walter gives her teary all as her deceptions are finally revealed. This is even more impressive as Walter spends next to no screen time with the performers playing her co-conspirators, ultimately showing off the true power of her imagination and the precision of her technical skills. 

Of course, sadly, due to her death in 2021 at the age of 80, there will be no more deliciously campy guest spots such as these for Walter. But with over 160 credits before her passing, her memory will proudly live on (in a variety of genres) throughout the decades to come.

Until the next time, SWEET love and pink GRUE, Big Gay Horror Fan!

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Unsung Heroines of Horror: Jessica Simpson

Published July 5, 2023 by biggayhorrorfan

I’ve always kind of dug Jessica Simpson. From the start, I liked her voice and look. Granted, her (decades ago) relationship with Nick Lachey may have been a bit publicly infantilizing, but I always admired that, in its aftermath, she seemed to come into her own and take control of her artistic narrative.

Then there is her acting career. While her contemporaries like Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera made appearances on Will and Grace & The Voice, Simpson truly went the distance and put in a chilling appearance in The Collection episode of the Forrest Whitaker hosted The Twilight Zone reimagining in 2003. Here, as a child psychology student named Miranda Evans. Simpson learns, without a doubt, that Mattel is madness and that the seemingly sweetest little girls are never to be trusted.

Indeed, after being assigned by an agency to babysit the angelic Danielle (Ashley Edner), Evans/Simpson soon discovers that the child’s dolls have a life of their own. But, as the vengeful toys surround her, she ultimately learns that the danger she faces might be a bit more lifelike than she at first realized.

Nicely, acting-wise, Simpson resonates with the cinematic energy of multiple ’80s final girls and it would have been nice to see her do more horror-related projects. Perhaps, the future may find her playing the matriarch in a haunted house story or enacting the travails of a forensic expert turned novelist facing down a clan of serial killers. —- Now that would be the sweetest sin!

Until the next time, SWEET love and pink GRUE, Big Gay Horror Fan!

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Hopelessly Devoted To: George Nader

Published June 25, 2023 by biggayhorrorfan

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Often cast as chiseled heroes and stoic police detectives, George Nader’s talents as an actor were never fully exploited. Granted, rising to fame after playing the bare-chested lead in the execrably notorious Robot Monster could have had something to do with the lack of diversity in his roles. That the majority of his Hollywood films were with B-Movie factory Universal Pictures also might have helped seal his fate. 

But what stands out the most about his life to me is how long lived (and seemingly happy) it was compared to many of his other queer contemporaries. His relationship with former actor Mark Miller lasted 55 years, ending only with Nader’s death, at the age of 80, in 2002. A sense of resiliency also seems at play in his personality. When an injury made working on camera difficult, Nader, creatively, turned to writing. His novel Chrome was one of the first widely distributed science fiction novels to deal with homosexual themes. 

Ultimately, even his performances have a celebratory impact to them. Akin to (fellow expat sex symbol & equally well-regarded performer) Carroll Baker, he was embraced in Europe in the ‘60s, appearing as a stalwart FBI Agent named Jerry Cotton in a number of fun espionage features. Even the most ardent numerologist couldn’t resist such titles in his resume as The Million Eyes of Sumuru & House of 1,000 Dolls, as well. Nicely, both of those features have been re-released, in the last decade or so, as special editions, granting him a much-deserved celluloid legacy and the privilege of being thought of as a cinematic cult figure of note.

#georgenader #pridemonth #pride2023 #lgbtqia #family

Until the next time, SWEET love and pink GRUE, Big Gay Horror Fan!

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Va-Va-Villainess: Monica Lewis

Published June 18, 2023 by biggayhorrorfan

Sybil Meriden. If you guessed that might be the name of a cinematic troublemaker – then you’d be correct! As enacted by vivacious singer-actress Monica Lewis in the 1952 MGM musical Everything I Have is Yours, Sybil was definitely the type of woman that no self-aware wife would trust. Vixenish to the extreme, this slinky contender not only gladly eclipsed Marge Champion’s devoted Pamela professionally, but she decided she also wanted her husband, played by Marge’s real life spouse Grover, as well. Naturally, as in all feel good entertainment, her plans were vanquished by the final sequence. Lewis, herself, soon realized that Metro, to whom she was signed, wasn’t going to promote her adequately. Thus by 1953, much like Meriden, she took the proverbial A-Train, hightailing it back to the glamourous nightclubs of NYC.

Nicely, decades later, Lewis would regain her celluloid grounding by appearing in number of the disaster flicks being produced by the legendary Jennings Lang, her husband. The most popular of those appearances include Earthquake, where her resolute secretary is lowered from a destroyed building via her own pantyhose, and Airport ’79. In the latter, she essentially played herself, a successful jazz singer traveling with her famed accompanist, played by Good Times’ popular Jimmy Walker.

Remaining active until her death at the age of 93 in 2015, Lewis’ eclectic career is properly memorialized at https://truecompassdesigns.com/monica-lewis/.

Until the next time, SWEET love and pink GRUE, Big Gay Horror Fan!

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Music to Make Horror Movies By: Vivien Leigh

Published June 11, 2023 by biggayhorrorfan

Her brilliant, deluded Blanche Dubois set the gothic precursor for scores of questionably sane ladies in horror. Indeed, the strains of Vivien Leigh’s expert creation can be felt in everything from quieter projects like Let’s Scare Jessica to Death to the more bombastic strains of Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?

Of course, as an extreme go-getter and all around connoisseur of women on the fringe, Leigh returned to this grim psychological territory with (the latter day) Tennessee Williams’ piece The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone. Here, her essaying of the title character concluded with the enacting of a love starved death wish, an even more extreme journey than the one the playwright eventually sent DuBois on. 

Unsurprisingly, as a woman of many talents, Leigh performed some of her most acclaimed work on the theatrical stages – even winning a Tony for her work in the 1963 musical Tovarich.

With footwork as skilled as her sense of dramatics, it’s no wonder the world mourned her tragic death at the age of 53 from tuberculosis.

Until the next time, SWEET love & pink GRUE, Big Gay Horror Fan!

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Unsung Heroines of Horror: Lucy Lee Flippin

Published May 19, 2023 by biggayhorrorfan

For old school cinema buffs who revel in the stern antics of such character actresses as Fern Emmett and Margaret Hamilton, the divine Lucy Lee Flippin, nicely, offers up a contemporary answer to her predecessors’ judgmental, high-strung activities. Best known as Alonzo’s strait-laced schoolmarm sister in Little House on the Prairie, Flippin is highly recognizable to students of ‘70s and ‘80s television and film.

Her roles in such films as Summer School, Flashdance and Earth Girls Are Easy, often in administrative or secretarial roles, gained her widespread recognition. But much like Emmett, who played cameo bits in many of the Universal horror features, Flippin also appeared in such projects as zombie-comedy Surf II and the Chuck Norris slasher Hero and the Terror in blink & you’ll miss her performances.

Significantly, unlike Emmett and Hamilton who were stuck performing characters without an ounce of sexuality, Flippin got to indulge in earthier aspects with her characterizations. As the slightly vengeful Natasha Jones on The Munsters Today, she gave full essence to the lustful nature of the part, ending that experience as part of a May-December pairing the likes of which Miss Gulch never would have seen. Nancy, her arched eyed hotel worker on a popular episode of The Golden Girls, also rang with the heart of a manipulative grifter, a criminality that the citizens portrayed by her cinematic forebears never would have approached.

Even more impactively, Helen, the desperate character she essayed on the second season of (the original) Charmed would have caused Martha Steele, Babe in Arms’ show business folk disapproving miser, smartly played by Hamilton, much alarm. There Flippen essayed a woman willing to murder and conjure skin shredding demons, all for the hoped for pleasure of eternal youth.

Certainly, the distinctive actions of roles like that emphatically earn Flippin a place in the Unsung Horror Hall Of Fame.

Until the next time, SWEET love and pink GRUE, Big Gay Horror Fan!

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