Marilyn
Burns is an actress in the horror
film industry that I can never
forget after seeing her as Sally
Hardesty in the very first
intense cult classic slasher
flick The Texas Chainsaw
Massacre. She will leave
all you horror fans an impression
I'm sure. I couldn't shake off
her intensity when she was chased
by Leatherface with a chainsaw as
well as being kidnapped by his
family in their cannibalistic
farm house. This film really
disturbed me a great deal
watching her character perform at
first and hated it the first
time. But then I saw it again and
now own it. Plus I find it to be
one of my favouirte slasher
flicks as well as a one of a
kind. I looked her up in my movie
guide and saw that she was in
some other films too which didn't
surprise me as someone like her
would be high in demand for the
cult film industry. She deserves
to be reviewed here and Racks
& Razors is the best place. I
hope to interview her soon.
Marilyn
Burns was born in Erie,
Pensylvania on July 5, 1956 but
was mainly raised down in
Houston, Texas. She became very
interested in the arts when she
was a child taking acting and
dance lessons. She did dress up
as well as performed in plays in
her school including Shakespeare
in the seventh grade called A 'Mid
Summer Night's Dream'.
When
she was in highschool she was an
extra playing a tour guide in
Robert Altman's 1970 film 'Brewster
McCloud' and then was
offered a part in a motion
picture titled 'Lovin
Molly' but however her
agency told the director to
replace her with Susan Sarandon
who was new in the industry at
the time so instead Marilyn was
her stand in and the flick was
released in 1974. She also had a
small role in George Roy Hill's 'The
Great Waldo Pepper' and
helped cast some of the extras
and became involved with the
movie business in Texas.
Marilyn
was attending the University of
Texas while she landed the part
of Sally Hardesty in 'The
Texas Chainsaw Massacre'
and became one of the original
scream queens. Of course Sally
was a young lady who decided to
go on a summer cruise with her
boyfriend Jerry, her other
friends and her crippled brother
Franklin while their van is low
on gas. They pick up a strange
hitchhiker who cuts Franklin's
arm and after they throw him off
he leaves his own blood on their
van. Sally and her friends stop
for gas but there isn't any at
the station so they go to Sally's
grandparents abandoned house bout
nothing is what it seems anymore
as nearby theres a creepy
farmhouse and Sally's friends
disappear one by one when they
trespass there leaving Sally
alone there with her brother and
then the real terror begins for
Sally. During the second half of
the shooting Marilyn found it a
hellish but interesting
experience as Jim Siedow's
characters whacked her with a
broomstick and really hurt her
and gave her a black eye, not
only that, it was very hot and
the room where she was kidnapped
reaked of a real dead chicken.
plus Gunnar Hansens's character
Leatherface really cut her finger
when there was a scene that he
did so. It was little pay but
Marilyn was a student at the time
and was happy to get a cheque.
The film went to theatre's in
1974 and many hated it and
screamed at the theatre owners
for having it which drew others
to see it. It became an instant
cult classic.
Due
to her fame in the film she had a
special appearance playing a
Mansonite follower in the fact
based TV-movie 'Helter
Skelter' in 1976 named
Linda Kasabian who was being
questioned in the court room and
she freaks out explaining what
stuff Charlie was doing to
brainwash the hippies to commit
such gruesome slaughterings and
how it was disturbing her and
helping the law lead to the
convictions of the cult leader
Charlie and his followers.
Tobe
Hooper also recast her in his
follow up titled 'Eaten
Alive' in 1977 as Faye
which starred some familiar faces
like Neville Brand, Mel Ferrer,
Carolyn Jones, Stuart Whitman and
Robert Englund. The story was of
a run down hotel manager who has
a pet crocodile that he feeds his
clients to and her character
becomes a victim like in 'TCM'
as she is smacked around
by the hotel manager and then
tied to a bed while her husband
was killed by his crocodile and
her little girl trying to hide
from him when they were only
asking for directions to a place
they were travelling to but their
dog is killed by the crocodile
and shaken up by it so they
stayed there. The film had
similar intensity.
She
also played Nora Dennis in
another horror film titled 'Kiss
Daddy Goodbye' as a nice
counsellor to two telekinetic
twins who experience their father
being killed by a biker gang but
keeps it a secret from her as
before he died he made sure to
tell no one about their powers
else they would do experiments on
them. Meanwhile they use their
father to kill off the biker gang
one by one and then eventually
Nora is in trouble with the gang
too. The film was made in 1981
but supposedly was shelved away
for a while till around the late
1980's and then put to video.
Also
she reunited with Edwin Neal in
the 1985 film 'Future
Kill' which she plays
his wife in the future named
Dorothy Grim as Edwin plays the
vicious killer Splatter. Some
troublemaking teens tried to
torment Dorothy which enrages
Splatter to have them tracked
down with his gang of people and
to destroy them. In the end
Dorothy saves the teens. Although
this was categorised as a horror
film cause of Marilyn and Edwin's
participation in it the film was
more of a sci-fi/action/thriller
flick.
In
1994 Marilyn had an uncredited
cameo as a patient on a gurney in
a bad remake titled 'Texas
Chainsaw Massacre: The Next
Generation'
Today
Marilyn directs and works on
theatre plays in Texas and is
union so it is difficult for her
to take acting gigs. She does
however go to many 'TCM'
reunion conventions with the cast
she worked with like Edwin Neal
and Gunnar Hansen whom she stays
in contact with. |