Actually,
it could have ended rather
quickly. Her career, that is. At
the very least, it wasn't an
auspicious start for the woman
who would go on to help define
some of the best of 1970's and
1980's comedy and horror. Belinda
Balaski had told, both, her agent
and the casting director that she
couldn't ride a motorcycle.
Nonetheless, she found herself on
the set that very first day with
a slightly perturbed director who
expected her to ride - and well.
A crew member took her aside and
taught her all he could. Still
the bike kept going down, taking
her with it! "I was
terrified!" she recalls.
Finally, they got enough footage
to make the scene work - and
after that things went smoothly
on the set of that episodic - The
F.B.I. (1974) - and into
the long stretch for Balaski
whose career continued (and
continues)into the decades and
across all mediums.
Of course,
her resilience isn't surprising.
"My father was Lester
Balaski," a prize winning
jockey who traveled the circuit -
as did Belinda and her family.
Henceforth, "every 3 months
I was in a rotating succession of
schools." Because of her
father's popularity, this
rotation included spending time
with her family's acquaintances
such as Betty Grable and Jimmy
Durante. "I didn't know who
Jimmy Durante was. I just know
every time he saw me he'd say,
there's my best friend!"
Balaski got upset the first time
she saw Durante on television and
realized that she'd have to share
her friend with millions of
viewers. "He was my best
friend," she protests, good
humored.
Another
celebrity friend, actress Heather
MacRae (singer Gordon MacRae's
daughter) introduced Belinda to
the cult film, Little
Shop of Horrors in
college. "I loved it,"
states Balaski. A good thing,
too, since she would go onto
appear in so many defining cult
films herself.
The
Werewolf of Woodstock (1975), a television film about a
farmer hit by electricity and
gone beastly, allowed Belinda to
do her "Fay Wray thing"
with The Mod Squad's Tige
Andrews as the titular character.
Tige was a "nice guy, a dear
man," but "miserable in
the suit" that he was
required to wear. Werewolf,
a virtual celebrity kin fest,
also featured MacRae's sister,
Meredith, Dennis Weaver's son
Rob, Andrew Stevens (offspring of
Stella, naturally) and was
scripted by Hank Saroyan, William
Saroyan's nephew. (William
Saroyan, just in case
clarification is needed, won the
Pulitzer Prize for his play Time
of Your Life and an
Academy Award for Human
Comedy.) "As a
theater person at heart, I was
just thrilled about working with
William Saroyan's nephew,"
enthuses Belinda.
More
significant than being attacked
by teddy bear sized rats,
Food of the Gods (1976) allowed Balaski easy airport
access long after the production
ended. " I used my pregnancy
pad for years. It was fabulous
for moving ahead in lines!"
Recommended to play the pregnant
Rita for the AIP film by the
"enigmatic,
hardworking" Marjoe Gortner
after their sojourn together in Bobbie
Jo and the Outlaw,
Belinda had a fabulous time on
Vancouver's secluded Bowen Island
where the movie was filmed -
particularly with its amazing
cast. In down time, screen legend
Ida Lupino would perform a
cabaret act while Ralph Meeker
played piano. Balaski roomed with
the very sweet, very English
Pamela Franklin whom she was in
"awe" with from films
like The Prime
of Miss Jean Brodie and The
Innocents. Belinda's
co-star Tom Stovell showed her
the original version of the Silkwood script that he was just
beginning to shop around. (The
film, of course, was eventually
produced in 1983 to great success
with Meryl Streep. "I called
him up to congratulate him. He
had gotten television offers over
the years, but he held out for
something better. It just shows
you what persistence can
do!") Interestingly, the
gray and rainy quality needed for The Food of the Gods was almost destroyed, daily, by
snow. So, director Bert Gordon
had to blow torch the snow away.
Eventually the secluded nature of
the island began to wear on
people and Lupino who was
supposed to survive through the
end of the film wrote her own
death scene. She presented it to
Gordon and insisted that he film
it. Still, Balaski has nothing
but fond memories. "Take me
anywhere! I will make the best
out of everything!"
This
generous attitude coupled with
Balaski's zesty spiritedness is
what allows her image to endure
long after the celluloid imprint
flickers away. She is so giving,
in fact, that when she mentions
that no one photographed her
better than The Howling's
cinematographer, John Hora, she
almost retracts the statement
afraid that she might not be
giving Joe Dante, the film\rquote
s director, his due. This innate
goodness is most apparent when
she talks with pride about her
acting students or about her
sister's children, whom she
helped raise. Yet, she has a
rebellious nature- best
exemplified by her rock n roll
roots. (Balaski is a top
photographer who covered many of
the prestigious benefit concerts
in the 70's and 80's including
the MUSE concerts and the
Alliance for Survival events.)
This duality made her a perfect
match for the unusual, exciting
movies she helped make famous.
In
the "delightful" action
filled Cannonball!
(1976), directed by comedic
maestro Paul Bartel (Private
Parts, Eating
Raoul), Belinda got
to"ride around with Bobby
Carradine" and unknowingly
first made the acquaintance of
future, frequent collaborator
Dante. Dante, unrecognizably,
played "Kid," a small
extremely comedic role in the
film. "He was hilarious.
Nobody knew who he was. We all
thought he was just some greasy
car guy."
A
couple years later, Belinda went
into an audition for Piranha (1978), a now classic horror
flick about chemically murderous
fish, and Dante, director of the
feature, mentioned that they had
worked together previously.
"I freaked! I make it a
point of remembering everyone I
work with and I had no
idea." Memory refreshed,
Balaski found herself hired, but
without a scene with Paul Bartel
who was, also, in the cast.
"We really wanted to work
together, so I wrote a scene. Joe
read it and agreed to film
it." Producer Roger Corman's
visit to the dailies brought one
command, "More Blood!"
in reference to Betsy, Belinda's
character's underwater death
scene. Belinda agreed to a
re-shoot on two conditions.
"They had put gaffer's tape
with the fishes attached with
fishing wire all over my body and
then I struggled with the
piranha, underwater, like they
were attacking me. It was all
fine until they took off the
tape! So, I agreed to do it again
if they got me a body suit and
gave me the screen credit I
wanted. They agreed!"
After
Piranha, Belinda began
working with Dante frequently.
Dante who had always wanted a
repertory company found
complimentary souls in people
such as Balaski, Robert Picardo,
Dick Miller and others whom he
also used frequently. In fact,
Balaski so connected in
The Howling (1981),
Dante's classic werewolf tale,
that she and co-star Dennis
Duggan were featured on the
French version of the poster.
"I have it!" she
exclaims. When told that she and
Duggan have a great onscreen
chemistry she reacts with
grateful pride. "You can't
always believe what you see. It's
called "acting" for a
reason."
Belinda
wound up in Dante's surprise hit,
Gremlins (1984),
on a seeming sudden whim.
"Joe called me up one night
and asked me to the set the next
day to" improv" with
Polly Holliday!" Nervous
about working with someone of
(sitcom and theater veteran)
Holliday's caliber, Balaski went
into overdrive and wrote 14
scenes in one night. "Joe
read the first one, said it was
fine, sent it to Polly to add her
input and that's what we
filmed."
Balaski
is surprised that her Gremlins
2: The New Batch (1990)
scene is even on the DVD version
of the film. "It was
supposed to be a theatrical
thing. The audience was supposed
to believe the film was breaking
down and look over their
shoulders at the projection
booth. It was supposed to be like
the Gremlins were taking over the
projection booth of the theater.
I don't know how that can work in
someone's home."
Perhaps
Belinda\rquote s proudest moment
in a Joe Dante film is her
contribution to Amazon
Women on the Moon (1987). Once again, she was in
scripting mode as she and Robert
Picardo wrote their opening scene
for a funeral home skit. Nervous
about working with comedians like
Steve Allen and Rip Taylor, in
the funeral roast segment that
followed, she, also, added her
own "Thank you, Merv!"
to gain some control from Allen
who introduced her. She was
nervous about adding this since
Dante was filming, non-stop, with
three cameras. Things went so
well, though, that they kept
adding jokes to her routine.
Balaski
continued to work with Dante
throughout the 90\rquote s in
projects such as his "most
personal project" Matinee where he was "truly
beginning to find his
voice"e and his TV
productions such as Eerie,
Indiana and Runaway
Daughters. She, also,
continued her legendary run of
television episodics including Baywatch,
F.B.I.: The Untold
Stories and Father
Dowling Mysteries. In
fact, she has discovered that
much of her fan mail has come
from people who remember her not
only from her films but from her
guest starring roles on Simon
and Simon, Vegas,
and Charlie's Angels where she played Sue Cantrell,
the lounge singer who never sang.
"I would have," she
says, " but that was never
part of the deal!" Some of
her personal favorites are Mrs.
R's Daughter with Cloris
Leachman, Proud Men
with Peter Strauss and Charlton
Heston, Death Scream
(in which she played the title
role) and two Emmy Award winning
After School Specials;
The Runaway and Are
You My Mother?
In
1995, Belinda received a surprise
as she was called into a meeting
with "film buf" Paul
Chart. It was for his bizarre
road film American
Perfekt\. "He knew
my career better than I did. I
left so charmed I would have paid
to work for him!" She joined
an incredible cast including
Amanda Plummer, Fairuza Balk,
Robert Forster and David Thewlis
to bring Chart's story to life.
In
recent years, Balaski has devoted
her time to running BB's Kid's
Acting School and raising her
beautiful daughter. She has
always been drawn to children and
when speaking of her co-stars
made special note of Shannon
Collins, the "beautiful
blonde girl" she worked with
in Piranha.
"I just had a great time
with her. I have always been
drawn to children and they have
always been drawn to me."
Encouraged by a friend, Belinda
began by teaching one class and
eventually was running her own
program.
Now,
as her daughter finishes college,
she has had headshots printed for
the first time in years and is
planning to start auditioning
again. Fascinated by performers
like Carol Lynley (Bunny
Lake is Missing) and
Tuesday Weld (Pretty
Poison) , she is hoping
more young directors like Chart
might be interested in using her
in thrillers of a more
psychological bent.
She
is, also, in the process of
considering doing several books.
One would focus on her movie work
in the 70's and 80's. Another
would be a book of scenes she's
been writing over the years for
her classes. She is also
considering publishing a
photography book based around the
series of benefit concerts that
she shot in the 70's and 80's,
complemented by a book of sunsets
& waterfalls from places
she\rquote s hiked. This busy
lady also has several scripts in
the works that she claims are
"rising from the depths of
my computer". Of course, all
would be welcomed by her loyal
fans. Fans this generous, soulful
woman truly deserves.
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