Ker-winning! Best known as the swashbuckling Sinbad in the Ray Harryhausen epic, the handsome Kerwin Mathews spent the majority of his latter-day career doing television and lower budget B projects. He did provide some Hollywood glow to the early Hammer thriller Maniac and in Dan Curtis’ Dead of Night, as well. His professionalism also rose above such material as the notoriously bad Octaman, The Boy Who Cried Werewolf, and a true cheapie called Nightmare in Blood, his final credit. Much like George Nader, another similarly built gay actor, Mathews had a long-term relationship with a man named Tom Nicholl and died, hopefully very contentedly, at the age of 81 in 2007.
Ron Palillo:
Love Shack. Beloved to ’70s kids as the dimwitted Horshack on Welcome Back, Kotter, actor Ron Palillo also had some significant horror action on his theater heavy resume. Most notably, he staked a sharp claim as Jason’s first graveside victim in Friday the 13th Part 6. A few years later, he was one of the leads in the direct-to-video Hellgate – a project best remembered, perhaps, for his booty baring love scene. Partnered for 41 years, in an amazing testament of devotion, to a fellow actor named Joseph Gramm, Palillo died from a heart attack at the all too young age of 63 in 2012.
Until the next time, SWEET love and pink GRUE, Big Gay Horror Fan!
If the marketers back in the day had any sense, 1985’s Déjà Vu would have been renamed Diva Vu and they would have circulated ads for it in all of that era’s top gay magazines. For this is the rare film that features (extremely complicated) acting legend Shelley Winters locking lips with a bewigged Jaclyn Smith, fairly fresh off her 5-year run as the glamourous, self-sufficient Kelly Garrett on Charlie’s Angels. Throw in a regal Claire Bloom, costumed with refined elegance and dripping with purely evil joie de veuve, & you have a minor gothic horror that is a perfect fit for those of a certain age and a particular preference.
Plotwise here, we find a successful novelist named Michael (Nigel Terry) becoming fascinated by a long dead ballerina named Maggie (Smith). While doing research on her, he becomes convinced that he and Brooke (also Smith), his American actress fiancée, are the reincarnated versions of Maggie and her lover. His encounters with a Russian psychic/hypnotist named Olga (Winters), an eccentric woman who claims to have known Maggie well, seem to reinforce this belief. But when Michael begins receiving threatening letters and spooky answering machine messages from Eleanor (Bloom), Maggie’s decades-deceased mother, he knows he is either losing his mind or that something sinister is afoot. Of course, when Brooke surprises him with a visit, during a break in filming her latest project, his deadliest fears become reality, and a fiery showdown is assured for all involved.
Lushly directed by Anthony B. Richmond, the cinematographer of such modern classics as Don’t Look Down and The Man Who Fell to Earth, the project’s biggest flaws seem to reside in it’s editing. There are times when the characters’ odd actions, specifically with Winters’ Olga, are not fully addressed, resulting in some awkward storyline issues. As the film reaches it’s end, it almost feels as if scenes are missing, as well, especially in reference to the deadly transformation of Smith’s Brooke. Otherwise, in one particularly amusing moment, a very naked Terry suddenly grows a pair of bright blue speedo-underwear — without even lifting a leg!!
But the true joy here is watching the leading ladies tear up the scenery. Smith, whose speaking voice already feels like a knife on velvet, is especially effective as Brooke descends into pure evil. Meanwhile, Winters and Bloom are simply dreamy in whatever situation that the trio of screenwriters slip them into. Whether Winters is demanding a vodka from an unwilling host or Bloom is coolly accessing a rival, their screentime is pure, queer heart capturing gold.
Until the next time, SWEET love and pink GRUE, Big Gay Horror Fan!
Nothing makes me happier than a femme identifying slasher as the primary character in some ghoul stained epic. Horror has a number of them – with Pamela Voorhees from the original Friday the 13th, naturally, leading the top of the list. More recent additions include the titular subjects in projects like Lisa Frankenstein, Abigail and MaXXXine. These cinematic vixens have been completely unafraid to shed a little blood to get exactly what they want.
Nicely, soaps have also given us a few of their own twisted ovarian baddies over the past couple years.
Currently, the legendary Colleen Zenk has been careening her way across Genoa City on The Young and the Restless. After burning down a prison and pushing a recovering alcoholic (played by talented soap hopper Brian Gaskill) into the path of a moving vehicle, her demented Aunt Jordan has wound up with a huge casualty list. On that other network, Alley Mills deservedly won an Emmy for enacting Heather Webber’s latest reign of terror on General Hospital. As the poison wielding The Hook, she carved her way through both day and contract players alike with a Michael Myers sized abandon.
Days of our Lives has not been idle either. In 2023, comedienne Kim Coles threw a dramatic twist into her resume by playing the murderously delusional Whitley King. King kidnapped the show’s longstanding hero Abe Carver (James Reynolds), nearly killing him and his beloved daughter (Sal Stowers) before she was apprehended. This summer, meanwhile, Julie Dove’s zany Connie Viniski is striking fear into the hearts of male Salemites, in and out of Horton Square. While Connie had made a couple minor appearances previously, recent surprise plot revelations have placed her squarely behind the knife that killed the suave Li (Remington Hoffman) over six months ago.
Joyfully, her reign of terror has just begun. In order to keep her dastardly secret, Viniski recently stabbed the show’s (hopefully) resilient police commissioner Rafe (Galen Gering) in the back. That this crime took place over an open grave in a cemetery only added to it’s delightful macabre intensity. Now Connie seems to also be targeting Robert Stein (Blake Berris), her wicked co-conspirator, and Gabi (Cherie Jimenez), Rafe’s manipulative businesswoman sister. Of course, Connie is sure to talk over any plans she might make with her favorite conjured entity. The ghost-like apparition of Li is now a permanent resident at her breakfast table.
Importantly, despite her often-delusionary actions, Dove has added an almost chirpy innocence to Connie’s increasingly malevolent personality here. This little something extra has certainly endeared her to audiences – even as the character cuts a swath through the heart of their favored city. In fact, if Dove continues to add this sense of quirky charm to the role, Viniski will certainly become one of the show’s most memorable modern-day villainesses.
At the very least, the weeks ahead are sure to be sparkly, bloody fun – particularly for those, like me, who relate to the subtle flourishes of insecurity that percolate throughout Viniski’s vengeful exterior!
Until the next time, SWEET love and pink GRUE, Big Gay Horror Fan!
My boyfriend in Chicago in the early ’90s was best friends & occasional roommates with a talented actress named Rhonda Reynolds. Rhonda and I weren’t incredibly close…horror films made her physically squirm in discomfort…but she once acted in a short play that I wrote, and we had many of the same musical likes. In fact, I still have the L7 shirt that she got for me when she saw them open for The Beastie Boys in Chicago. Her future husband Robb was also a talented bassist. Robb and I spent one Saturday evening, in the Wicker Park apartment that I shared with Kelly – the afore mentioned boyfriend, pouring through my CDs and cassette tapes, listening to the latest Fugazi and other alt-rock/punk gems.
In 1994, Wreck, Robb’s band, released an LP on C/Z Records and they went on tour. I went to the kick off show with Kelly and Rhonda – procuring another band shirt that I had for decades. Rhonda, herself, soon took off for Los Angeles, landing a prominent gig opposite Lloyd Bridges in a sexy TV film about a small-town scandal called Secret Sins of the Father.
Going the way of many first relationships, Kelly and I broke up that fall. We did keep in touch for a handful of years after that, though, and I learned through him that Rhonda was landing other nighttime gigs, here and there. But my ears really perked up when I found out that she secured a job playing a ghost on an episode of Beyond Belief: Fact or Fiction, a syndicated anthology series that was many a young genre fan’s entree into the macabre. I never could figure out when her episode was airing, though, and as the years passed, it became just one of the many interesting factoids that decorated the background of my existence.
Of course, as I age, nostalgia is ever nipping at my heels and, in a flush of newfound determination, I recently found her segment online. As you can see from the photos alone, she played her character, an apparition warning a family against impending dangers, with an ethereal potence. Of course, my viewing was amplified by my experience with her in my theater salad days and my sincere gratitude for having lived a life surrounded by so many uniquely creative individuals. But you can judge for yourself at….
A Spirited Update:
All these years later, Robb and Rhonda are still continuing their artistic journeys — this time through the culinary arts. Their restaurant Masa, a celebration of Chicago style Deep Dish pizza, in East-Central Los Angeles is a smashing success with both locals and the city’s many visitors.
Often revered for her comic antics, the surprisingly creative Jayne Meadows was also a decorated feminist. She often played creative thinkers like Margaret Sanger and Elizabeth Barrett Browning on PBS’ Meeting of the Minds, which was created by her husband Steve Allen, exposing society to important female historical figures. MS Magazine even paid special tribute to her upon her death (at the age 95) in 2015.
The other surprising side to the eternally glamourous Meadows has to be the aptitude she had for playing characters who embraced the underside of society. Emphasizing her youth and looks, many of her first film roles in the ’40s found her playing spoiled society types. There, she threatened the happiness of such stalwart cases as Katherine Hepburn (in Vincente Minnelli’s moody and gothic Undercurrent) and Anne Baxter (in the more lighthearted The Luck of the Irish). The whimsical Enchantment (1948) was a nice detour in that more seductive course. This feature allowed her to play a stern, uncompromising type against David Niven, the project’s charming lead.
A veteran of 6 Broadway shows before her screen debut in 1946, one of her most highly praised early roles, though, was in the inventive noir Lady in the Lake (from that same year). Here, her dexterity with language was revealed, as she often cut away at her dialogue with a clipped antagonism. Her character here was also more of a deadly construct. While her other roles hinted at the possibility of evil deeds, this project found her committing them with vigor and resolve.
Nicely, her latter-day work contained certain diabolical elements, as well. While her kindhearted madame on an episode of Matt Houston (1983’s The Beverly Woods Social Club) was merely rouged a bit around the jawline, her self-involved cosmetics queen on Murder, She Wrote (1986’s Murder by Appointment Only) allowed her to employ her way with a quip and an arched eyebrow. Catty and demanding, she simply steals the show out from under such experienced performers as Robert Culp and even series star Angela Lansbury, herself.
Until the next time, SWEET love and pink GRUE, Big Gay Horror Fan!
This took me decades to realize, but it’s so crystal clear now that I am almost embarrassed about my obliviousness. Some aging, glitter flecked homosexual had to have come up with the costume design for Little House on the Prairie‘s drag queen inspiring, all time champion baddie Nellie Oleson. This 19th Century troublemaker looks exactly like the twin to Bette Davis’ iconic Jane in Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? Sealing the deal, portrayer Alison Arngrim intuitively followed the flavor trail of those tresses and dresses, creating an indelible, much beloved (or is that hated?) character.
This perfect combination gave Arngrim’s rich and spoiled Nellie a nearly 7 year-run as the self-admiring tormentor of House‘s enduring heroine Laura (Melissa Gilbert). Her professional commitment even imbued a number of follow-up credits. Variations on Nellie’s saucy naughtiness can be found in Arngrim’s lingerie clad hooker on an episode of Fantasy Island and as a champagne swilling operetta actress in I Married Wyatt Earp, a 1983 television film.
Of course, none of those enjoyable gigs hit the delirious brilliance of a manipulative (yet helpless) Nellie bouncing down a hill in a wheelchair, another visually reverential reference to Jane, in one of House‘s most famous episodes.
So, over the past 2 decades. Arngrim has smartly embraced her bewigged past – writing a book and performing a one woman show, nationwide, about her most famous creation entitled Confessions of a Prairie Bitch. With pitch perfect humor and startling insight, she weighs in on how Nellie’s nastiness has ultimately not only enhanced viewers’ lives, but her own, as well. A recent pitstop in Chicago even included a reenactment of her most famous exchange with Gilbert:
After being terrorized by Scott Jacoby’s Bad Ronald, in the cult classic tv film of the same name, one would think that actress Cindy Fisher would be a bit leery around charismatic, misunderstood strangers. I would further assume that this would especially apply to mysterious figures played by actor Judson Scott, a man whose piercing blue eyes and knife sharp cheekbones always spelled imminent and inexplicable celluloid danger. But, hey, a job’s a job…and playing a questioning spirit named Sunset on the Fallen Angel episode of the short lived, early ’80s series Strike Force had to be a fun one.
For those uninitiated, Strike Force, a rare failure for the Aaron Spelling conglomerate, specialized in bringing a sleazier, Dirty Harry vibe to Friday evenings on ABC in the 1981-82 season. Plotlines, over the first few entries, revolved around revenge fueled families who gruesomely decapitated their victims & perverted, low-class charmers who kidnapped, raped and murdered beautiful, unsuspecting women. Led by stern jawed Robert Stack, the regular (crime solving) force also included the prolific Dorian Harewood, former Australian pop star Trisha Noble, the handsome Michael Goodwin (who went onto the even shorter-lived nighttime soap The Hamptons) and favored character actor Richard Romanus, often utilized as the team’s comic relief.
In accordance with similar outings, Fisher’s moneyed Sunset is sensationally whipped by Scott’s Johnny Lee here, after refusing to take part in a Manson style massacre he orchestrates. Fleeing him and his devoted cult members, she soon holes up with the Stack’s crew on a small farm. As Johnny and his associates wage war upon them, further casualties mount. (The handsome Shannon Presby, best known as the lead in Sean Cunningham’s The New Kids, plays a sadistically reverential follower who is arrested by Noble and Goodwin.)
Of course, after the bullets stop flying, Sunset and the show’s regulars, unsurprisingly, have survived the opposing onslaught. But as the end credits fade, it remains ambiguous, a la Patty Hearst, to what degree the show’s shamed heiress with have to pay for her initial involvement with these sadistic degenerates. Nicely, the emotional resonance of this question is amplified by the work of Fisher, who brings both vulnerability and edge to her creation. *
* (Fisher would play a more traumatized version of this character a few years later on an episode of TJ Hooker. In Trackdown, a 4th season episode of the show, her young married is captured by Richard Hatch’s sadistic criminal, giving her another showcase role and a place of note in ’80s television entertainment.)
Until the next time, SWEET love and pink GRUE, Big Gay Horror Fan!
Time is strange, right? I know decades have flown by, yet it seems like it was just yesterday that I was watching the shows of my youth. This was a golden age for appearances by faded filmdom greats. Performers like June Allyson, Van Johnson and Joan Fontaine were my regular living room guests then. Now, these folks are long gone, never to do the overpriced photo op treatment at some local nostalgia festival.
Yet they seem so near – a mere streaming service or DVD away.
I was especially reminded of this duality while watching Ship of Ghouls, the 1978 Halloween The Love Boat episode, centering around a famed illusionist referred to as The Great Alonso (the legendary Vincent Price). This segment of the show also featured the misty charms of three celluloid goddesses, Joan Blondell, as Alonzo’s devoted companion, and Iris Adrian and Bibi Osterwald, as his overly ardent fans.
Of course, Blondell’s loyalty is put to the test as Alonso begins to ignore her in deference to his newfound coterie of fawning females. Naturally, by the final credits, time and the show’s wise and ever present Captain Stubing (Gavin MacLoed) bring the estranged lovebirds back together again.
Otherwise, there is much to enjoy decoratively and costume-wise — dig Ted Lange’s Frankenstein’s Monster and that All-Star Pumpkin band – with this seasonal offering.
Interestingly, while Price is the horror giant here, his femme counterparts also have some macabre credits flitting, bat-like, among their filmographies. Blondell, by far the best known of the three, had major roles in Death at Love House and The Dead Don’t Die, well-regarded ’70s television films. Adrian, known for playing comedically inclined moll types in the ’40s, logged appearances in such classic capers as Horror Island, Bluebeard and (crime mystery) Lady of Burlesque. Osterwald, meanwhile, did latter day duty via guest appearances on such shows as Werewolf and Tales from the Crypt.
Until the next time, SWEET love and pink GRUE, Big Gay Horror Fan!
Often as a journalist, particularly with online pieces, you discover that your writing has been archived or has vanished completely. Thus, I thought it might be fun to, occasionally, revisit some of my favorite work that was done for other publications. The below interview with Catherine Mary Stewart was conducted at a Horror Hound event in the spring of 2010. Originally running on Horror Society’s site, this blast from the past seems as freshly contemporary to me as Stewart, herself.
As an actress, Catherine Mary Stewart has faced down juiced out zombies (Night of the Comet), sexy serial killers (Psychic) and intruders from space, both friendly (The Last Starfighter) and not so friendly (Nightflyers). But her professional beginnings as an actress on soap opera Days of Our Lives were just as scary – and there were no worlds gone wild or dead men named Bernie hanging around either!
“An hour show a day is difficult. My very first day on the set was humiliating. It’s my very first scene as Nurse Kayla Brady and I had to name every single character. I got everybody’s name wrong! Everyone was like, No – I’m Maggie and this is Hope!”
As for the most exciting thing that happened during her short tenure (1982-83) on the beloved soap?
(Laughing) “I lost my virginity to my brother! Josh Taylor was playing Chris Kositchek at the time and I lost my virginity to him. Now he’s back on the soap, playing Roman Brady, Kayla’s brother. So, I lost my virginity to my brother!”
Of course, after her stint on Days, Stewart became known to many horror and science fiction fans for her exemplar, tough as nails work in films such as Dudes and in the very popular, above mentioned films.
“Night of the Comet established me as a strong woman. And, let’s face it, this business is surface and one dimensional, so I got cast as more of a tomboy after that.”
But Stewart did find herself thrown into the occasional glamorous role on such mini-series events as Sins (with Joan Collins), the legendary Hollywood Wives and on the lighthearted, early ’90s attempt at a long running series, Hearts are Wild.
“You know, while I didn’t mind the idea of a steady gig, the character on Hearts Are Wild started out a lot darker. But…it turned into a commercial Love Boat type of thing.”
Darker emotions also played into one of Stewart’s first roles after her familial based hiatus. In 2007, she appeared in a supporting capacity in the horror film based on celebrated novelist Jack Ketchum’s book, The Girl Next Door. (As many know, the central character, Ruth Chandler, tortures and abuses her young female ward.)
“The Girl Next Door gave me a lot of pause. They wanted me to read for the lead. I just couldn’t. I had to ask myself, Are you scared because it’s challenging? Finally, I decided yes, it’s challenging…but it’s just too tough. This was the movie to get back into it all and I just wanted to get the wheels turning. I did not want to play that part.”
Of course, since those tentative returning moments, Stewart, much to the delight of her ravenous fan base, has not only been working non-stop in film, but has been hitting the convention circuit and has set herself up a home base, not only on the web – http://www.catherinemarystewart.net -, but on Facebook – http://www.facebook.com/catherinemarystewart -, as well. She’s also found an emotional connection with many of the viewers of her past celluloid achievements.
“So many young women have claimed I instilled a sense of power in them. I love that! I can’t tell you how much I love that!”
In closing, when asked to use one word to describe Penelope Spheeris, the, yes…powerful and acclaimed director who guided her through the rough terrain of Dudes, Stewart responds:
“Oh, man! She was just so cool! So. Cool! I so wanted to be even half as cool as her!”
Until the next time, SWEET love and pink GRUE, Big Gay Horror Fan!
Free, as we all know, doesn’t necessarily mean good. Thankfully, the characters in 1974’s Death Cruise are well clothed and coiffed – this is an Aaron Spelling production, after all – when a seemingly carefree gift begins to interfere with their mortality.
Obviously inspired by Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None, this exercise in glossy horror finds 3 embattled couples fighting for their lives on an ocean liner. The recipients of a complimentary vacation, the sextet is all seemingly linked via a random series of previous trips and work circumstances. During fragrant dinners and alcohol-fueled poolside chats, no one can quite figure out the direction connection, though – a sure hindrance when they begin to be thrown overboard, pushed down rickety stairs and shot at.
Entertainingly. Jack B. Sowards’ script encourages soap operatic airs to swirl around these characters. Much to middle-aged David’s (Tom Bosley) regret, the dissatisfied Elizabeth (Celeste Holm) can’t let go of her grown children. The sarcastic Sylvia (Polly Bergen), meanwhile, is hard pressed to forgive her spouse Jerry’s (Richard Long) frequent, very public philandering. Young bride Mary Frances (Kate Jackson), lastly, would just like a child from the carefree, self-indulgent James (Edward Albert). Unsurprisingly, as Sowards’ diabolical plot twists unfurl, these issues take a backseat to staying alive.
Nicely, brisk direction by Ralph Senensky compliments the mysterious set-up here and he, wisely, gets out of the way of his highly professional cast, letting them do what they do best. To that end, Holm commits to a magnificently drunken takedown of Bosley’s David, a man who spent years attending to business dealings and ignoring his spouse. Bergen also shines as her character, very fashion forwardly, tries to outrace death.
Moving along quicker than the clipped enunciation that Jackson often gives to her troubled anti-heroine’s dialogue, Death Cruise is currently streaming, without cost, on YouTube. A boon, of sorts, for those who are unafraid of the price they might have to ultimately pay for such an economical viewing fee.
Until the next time, SWEET love and pink GRUE, Big Gay Horror Fan!
Of course, after her stint on Days, Stewart became known to many horror and science fiction fans for her exemplar, tough as nails work in films such as Dudes and in the very popular, above mentioned films. 
Of course, since those tentative returning moments, Stewart, much to the delight of her ravenous fan base, has not only been working non-stop in film, but has been hitting the convention circuit and has set herself up a home base, not only on the web – 
Big Gay Horror Fan 