 Many
horror fans are familiar with Stu
Charno as “Ted” from
‘Friday the 13th
Part 2’. He was one of the
few camp counselors to survive
the wrath of Jason or
“Mama” Voorhees. Since
then Stu has continued to thrive
inside as well as outside the
entertainment industry. He’s
had roles in a number of other
horror films – as one of the
hell-raising teens in John
Carpenter’s version of the
Stephen King novel
‘Christine’ (1983) as
well as the 1992 Stephen King
feature ‘Sleepwalkers’.
He went the teen comedy route too
– making ‘Once
Bitten’ (1985) with Lauren
Hutton as a Vampire and the
cross-dressing classic ‘Just
One of the Guys’, He was
also featured in the teen
oriented ‘Modern Girls’
(1986), and the spoof ‘Young
Doctors In Love’ (1982). He
was even in (gasp!) the 1984 Rick
Springfield feature ‘Hard to
Hold’! Most recently he was
featured in the 2003 James Spader
sci-fi feature ‘Alien
Hunter’. Stu has also made
dozens of commercials (everything
from McDonalds to Sears and from
Coors to Alka Seltzer!).
He’s guest starred on
various shows like ‘Chicago
Hope’, ‘Newhart’,
and ‘M*A*S*H*’ and had
an unforgettable guest role on
the cult favorite ‘The
X-Files’. Other remarkable
things on this guy’s resume
include co-writing three episodes
of ‘Star Trek: The Next
Generation’, mastering
several martial arts such as Chi
Kung and Shing-Yi, becoming an
accomplished jazz pianist, as
well as a skilled furniture
maker. Simply amazing! No
question about it, Stu Charno
proves there is indeed life after
Crystal Lake – as least for
this surviving counselor.
Stu, first
off for our visually oriented www.racksandrazors.com readers
can you describe the room where
you're answering these questions?
As I
write to you all, I'm in my
10'x10' jail cell in Los
Angeles. It's quite
comfortable and fairly well
lit. I guess the fact that
I can "come and go" as
I please, makes it seem like I'm
just "home", but tricks
like these don't fool
me..........
Many Racks
and Razors readers know you from
your role as Ted in 'Friday
the 13th Part 2' (1981)
though since that time you have
been in many other
films. Looking back what
did you find unique about that
particular shoot?
Y'know,
it was only my second job as an
actor, so I had nothing to
compare it to, other than some
summers I spent in the Catskill
and Pocono mountains,
working as a musician in the
hotels there. I had a cabin
to stay in, just like this place
in Kent Connecticut, working then
as an actor... So we were just a
bunch of young pups, happy to get
a month's work. Who knew
that 25 years later, we'd be
chatting about it?
Ted is one
of the few camp counselors to
survive the wrath of Jason.
Were you ever approached to
reprise the role in a
sequel?
NO!
Dammit! Don't those fools
see what we all see?! I'm
sorry.... I'm just kinda upset
that nobody DID ask Ted to come
back n' kick Jason's ass.
The hooded clod hurt my
friends.... now I'm pissed....
'Friday
the 13th' fans can be a
bit "intense" --- what
is the strangest request a fan
has ever made of you?
I
get asked to be a woman's love
slave all the time, but I figure
that that happens to most guys...
No.... I think it was the blood
sample request from a
Chinese midget living in
Malaysia, at the time I
believe. She said it was
for her "friend", but I
saw right through that....
She later ran for political
office. I think she won....
Are you
still recognized from that role
25 years later?
Amazingly
yes.... it's such a blast for me
to see that look on someone face
when they first see me, and
recognize me from
something. Remember, I've
done well a hundred commercials
as well as dozens of episodic
television roles, so this face
has been seems by millions and
millions of folks, and every now
and then someone will look at me,
blink a bit more than usual and
point uncontrollably. I
love that...........
I want to
hear about 'Christine'
(1983) as well. From
an actor's point of view what do
you consider to be
John Carpenter's greatest
strength as a director?
I'm
not a director, so I really don't
have a very clear idea of
his artistry, but I am a human,
and he was a really good one to
me. He was relaxed and calm
when all around him was insane
madness. I loved that....
You were
also in another Stephen King film
adaptation the 1992 movie 'Sleepwalkers'.
What was your predominant memory
of shooting that mother & son
& the blood of virgins film?
The
mother, Alice Krige, and her
husband,
writer-director, Paul
Schoolman, had been learning the
martial art that I teach, for
about five years at the time (and
they're still students). We
were in class chatting about work
we had coming up, and I told them
about my gig on Sleepwalkers
and we all crapped our pants
laughing, when she told me that
she was working as the lead in
the same film....
You also
have a good role as Abell in the
2003 sci-fi flick 'Alien
Hunter' with James
Spader. Do you think aliens
exist and if so what would they
discover if they abducted Stu
Charno for the
obligatory mental and
physical probe?
The
official report I got back from
the last aliens that abducted me,
unanimously agreed that I don't
actually exist. It happened
when I was in Bulgaria to
shoot Alien Hunter, and the
abduction occurred on a cold
night, walking in the dark hills
there. My memory of it is
kinda sketchy, but that always
happens when I drink vodka.
Anyway, they said that though I
obviously DO exist physically,
there is no "Stu" in my
head, thinking n' making
decisions n' plans n'
stuff. What I hear in my
head is actually kind of like a
radio broadcast and I can't stop
it or even hardly affect it at
all. I think that's when I
passed out..........
Speaking
of sci-fi credits -- I
am sooooo impressed that you
co-wrote three episodes of 'Star
Trek: The Next Generation'. Did
you approach that task more as a
writer with a task at
hand or a huge fan of the
show eager to see his idea
realized?
That
was with my first ex-wife
(regretfully, I have two ex's
now...), and she was sitting on
the crapper and yelled out,
"I figured out how to kill
the Nanites!” We were
both fans of the show and had
both been writing for years n'
years (she's now still a
successful a writer), and managed
to get to pitch to the
open-minded staff of writers and
producers there. We pitched
on Valentines Day and brought
candies for everyone and we all
became great friends. They
wound up producing three of our
stories.... So, we were fans and
they were open.... a miracle...
Another TV
credit that I think R&R
readers will be interested in was
your work as the 'Bell
Hop Psychic Serial Killer'
in the 'X-Files'
episode 'Clyde Bruckman's
Final Repose'. Can
you give a quick description of
your experience on
the set?
It
was shot in Vancouver, Canada,
which is a beautiful
city... I knew Darren
Morgan, who was one of the
writers on the show, and he wrote
the role with me in mind for
it. I think, he actually
wanted me to kick the koodies out
of Mulder in that last scene,
but I didn't get to do
much... Scully shot
me. Duchovney does a
fantastically
hilarious Christopher Walken
impression, by the way...
You were
originally a musician before you
got into acting and since then
have also gone into the martial
arts field. What common
thread do you see as linking
all three of those disciplines?
I
also build custom wooden
furniture, and more. What
they all have in common is
ME. Stu Art...
Artistry, is what manifests in
all these parts of my life, from
-- improvising jazz, to creating
a cabinet, to word play, to
moving with power, to acting
under imaginary circumstances --
these are all arts, and are
manifestations of how
life moves through
me.... I think
I'm just a passenger on this
bus....
What
scares you in real life?
This
question............
shit...
now I'm gonna have
nightmares................
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