BEVERLY RANDOLPH
A RETROCRUSH INTERVIEW WITH TINA
FROM THE RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD
The Return of the Living Dead
is one of THE best Zombie movies ever made. Recently, we were lucky
enough to talk with Beverly Randolph who played Tina, the nice girl
in this 1985 horror movie classic.
Were you always a fan of the horror genre?
No,
it’s funny because I just did a
myspace page. One of the things I put down was that I like
Romantic comedies and I dislike scary movies very much. My all time
movie that I dislike the most is The Wizard of Oz. That
tainted me for life.
Did your mom’s work as an art director in movies
influence you to become an actress?
No, not at all. I have
a twin sister so when we were little we did, "A Very Special Favor"
and we did a lot of commercials. Then we stopped working. We were
always at the studio because that’s where my mom was. We’d sit on a
set and my mom was doing 1941 and we’d talk to John Belushi. I
didn’t think it was that big of a thing.
An ex-boyfriend of mine
from high school said, "Come have lunch with me over at the studio."
His father owns a backing company. I fell back into it. I had no idea
how difficult it is to get into the film business through the other
avenues.
Did you meet Steven
Spielberg on the set of 1941?
My mom worked for
Amblin on some other films after that. They have a commissary there
for employees. It’s really nice. He’d walk upstairs to his office and
you’d always see him. I never really met him.
Was there an ET puppet in the corner?
The building is in a
Santa Fe style. This place you drive in and there’s security, but
it’s so homey and comfortable. It’s like being at home in a kitchen.
In the art department you’d always see a lot of props from the movie
they were working on at the time. I don’t remember ET. You’d walk one
way and see lots of posters. You’d walk around another corner and
there would be celebrities making deals or visiting.
My mom worked on
Goonies. I watched them build the ship and the lagoon for that.
It was amazing. I remember when they went to go shoot Michael Jackson
showed up with an entourage of children. Emmanuel Lewis was sitting
on his lap. Even at that time when I was a teenage girl I thought,
"Gee, that’s really weird." It was fascinating watching John Matuszak
go from being him into that scary critter he was in the movie. I now
realize how fortunate I was to see all of that.
Were you friends with Linnea Quigley, the punk girl
in The Return of the Living Dead?
Not at the time and
they attached someone else for that role. She was called Legs in the
beginning and they transferred it to Trash. They had hired someone
else, but she had gotten pregnant. Linnea came on a bit later. Now I
keep in touch with her. We’re meeting in Austin for Return at
the Draft House which should be a lot of fun.
You weren’t up for the role of the punk girl?
No, I was only
considered for Tina. I wouldn’t have done Trash. I’d be too
embarrassed.
There was a nude scene with Trash.
Yeah, she had a major
nude scene. I have talked to her. She’s very natural anyway. She’s a
vegetarian and she’s got this beautiful figure. She’s this petite
little thing and she still is today. I wish I was that brave. No, I
don’t. I take it back. It’s just girl envy sometimes.
Was having your brains eaten a difficult scene in the
movie?
I
never had my brains eaten in that one. The end of my role in the
movie was when I was in the attic with Don and he had held a gun to
my head and he was going to kill me. Freddy came up through the trap
door in the attic.
Doesn’t he ask you for your brain?
He wants to, but then
the bomb goes off and we never quite know what happens.
Part two is so similar in that it was like a remake.
We were all told we
were going to do The Return of the Living Dead Part 2. It was
a very odd thing. Then they did a copy of it. I think in that movie
she does do something like that.
There is a creepy line where he goes, "I can smell
your brains."
That was in our movie.
He keeps running around Tina because he was blinded by the acid. He’s
looking for me because he can smell me. It was very weird. It’s
really gross.
It’s almost like when a guy is trying to make a
sexual move on a girl.
It seems like a guy
tactic.
How do you prepare for a scene like that?
He didn’t give much
direction. It was kind of funny. The director didn’t say much. I just
did what I thought was right. I remember he would take me and
physically turn me and tell me I want you to go in that direction. He
was nice in the way that he would get everybody on set and had them
be quiet for five minutes to get me ready for all the crying scenes I
was doing.
At the end I couldn’t
cry anymore. I remember the makeup woman coming over and blowing mint
or menthol in my eyes to try and get me to tear up. I was like, "Oh
Brother, this is going to be a bad day." I could cry, but nothing is
going to come out of my eyes.
Overall, was it a good experience?
It was a very volatile
set. I remember Clu Gulager throwing a vase across the set and it
shattered everywhere. There was a lot of fighting. Not amongst the
crew, not amongst the cast, but with the director and different
people. He was pretty feisty. There was a little bit of trouble
there.
I consider it to be one of the best horror movies of
all time.
It’s
like when I see people at conventions and they say, "Oh, I haven’t
seen that one." I forget that I’m in it and I say, "Oh, you should
see it. It’s quite good. There are butterflies that flutter when the
gas hits them. There are some things that are really interesting like
the half dog."
The half dog is always funny in that it’s cut in half
and barking.
Don, James, and crew
are brilliant. They’re so much fun. Don with the hand that grabs his
leg and he’s shaking it off and shooting it with his German pistol.
You played such a nice girl in The Return of the
Living Dead. Is there something bad about you that we’d be
surprised to know?
There are six girls in
my family with three stepsisters. We had a house that had two
bathrooms. My mother had one of the bathrooms and we were forbidden
to go in there. We would fight. We would have all out "I’m going to
kill you" battles with hot curling irons and hair brushes. It was the
1980’s and there were a lot of curling irons plugged in there. That’s
the big dirt on me I used to get in all out brawls with hot curling
irons and brushes.
Those curling iron burns can be painful.
Oh yeah. I remember
burning myself just curling my hair. When someone comes at you with
that hot iron you run.
That could be your next horror movie role: The
Curling Iron Killer. The people are all dead, but they have nicely
curled hair.
Teenage girls are
awful. We’re miserable, nasty, and cruel.
Did you have a buddy on the set?
The cast did sit
together and we visited. I hung out with Miguel a bit after the
movie. We’d go to dance clubs.
What were the LA clubs like at the time?
Oh gosh it was the
1980’s. It was amazing. He was good friends with Rick James. Miguel’s
got stories I tell you. I went to this one popular club in Los
Angeles or Beverly Hills I can’t remember which one. I shouted out,
"There’s Miguel." He said, "Come on, join us!" I had a girlfriend
with me and he’s sitting there with Rick James, and two beautiful
women and Jaclyn Smith’s husband at the time I can’t remember.
He ordered Champagne
and there were roses. Then we went to his Chateau Marmont hotel. The
girls took off their clothes and went swimming. I had a girlfriend
with me who was very naïve. I was naïve as well. I pretended to know
what I was doing. Mary Wilson from the Supremes was at the party too.
Then these girls start
taking off their clothes and jumping in the pool. My girlfriend was
like, "Oh my gosh, this is a real Hollywood party." I’m like, "Yeah,
you know what it’s time for us to go. It’s not fun anymore." Miguel
was like, "Why are you girls leaving? It’s okay. Just ignore them."
At that point I left. Then you hear these stories about Rick James
and I’m glad I left.
Who’s more frightening to work with the Zombies in
Return or Jack Klugman in Quincy?
Jack Klugman, he was so
sweet. I never had any issue with him. I remember walking to the set.
When having a small part you don’t get to park on the stage. He was
driving through in his limousine and I was walking with these big
curlers in my hair. He rolls down the window and goes, "Honey, are
you on my show today?" I said, "Oh yes, I am." He said, "Would you
like a ride over?" I said, "That’s okay. Thank you."
He didn’t say you need to get naked to get in his
limousine?
I don’t know any
stories about him. I don’t know if there was anything naughty. I
enjoyed working with him. When he wasn’t shooting he’d come over and
visit with everybody.
The scariest person I
ever worked with was Dan, the director of Return. He was very
intimidating. After Return I took off running. I thought, "Oh
my goodness if that’s what it’s going to be like I don’t want to stay
in this business." I just thought I’ll come back to it when I’m
ready. I didn’t. I found so many other things to do. Now I’m
rethinking it.
Would you go back to a horror movie or dance naked on
top of a grave?
No, I wouldn’t dance
naked because I have a child. I just wouldn’t any way.
If his friends saw it they’d say, "Hey, I saw your
mom naked in that horror movie."
Could you imagine? That
would be a nightmare. Thank you for asking. Yes, I’d do a horror role
again. Twice now I’ve been asked to do cameos in horror movies. I’d
probably like to be a mom on the Disney channel. That would be good.
It’s probably a moneymaker even though you have to be
comatose to watch that channel. It’s wholesome entertainment.
Romantic comedies I
would just die and go to heaven if I did a romantic comedy.
Who did you have a retroCRUSH on while growing up?
My sister and I used to
watch TheBig Valley. My sister liked Lee Majors and I
being as weird as I am thought one of the other brothers was cute. I
went with an abstract kind of a fellow. He’s the bad boy. Of course
there were always the guys who did Hardy Boys Shaun Cassidy
and David Cassidy were big ones.
Did your sister maintain her crush during the Six
Million Dollar Man?
We all had a crush on
Lee Majors in the Six Million Dollar man.
Actors back then didn’t have to be pretty. You could
be rugged, you could have crow’s feet.
I don’t get it I don’t
like the pretty faces. It’s not masculine. You have to have someone
that isn’t so perfect.
Nowadays everyone has to be perfect.
I don’t like it. My
stepfather was a cameraman on the Six Million Dollar Man. He
had stories about Lee Majors and Farah Fawcett.
Where they fighting at the time?
He’s
worked with her since. He thinks she’s lovely. He won’t say anything
bad about anybody. I’m sure they did have fights. She used to make
dinner after the show and she would cook. I think Ryan O’ Neill was a
bit of a pill.
The Return of the Living Dead is one of the
most entertaining and well crafted horror movies ever made.
I had no idea about the
following this movie had. They invited us to the Egyptian Theater in
Los Angeles last year. They said we’ve got six tickets reserved and
we’ll have a Q&A after. I just told my husband, "Oh I’m going to go
down and do this thing at the theater and be back."
There should be ten people in the theater.
That’s what I thought.
The girl said, "Oh my goodness hi. I know who you are." I thought,
"You do?" They had this gated off area with sofas and red ropes.
There was a line out to the street of people waiting to meet us. I
started shaking. The whole night I could barely talk, and I could
barely sign my name. I just had no idea.
I
never had my brains eaten in that one. The end of my role in the
movie was when I was in the attic with Don and he had held a gun to
my head and he was going to kill me. Freddy came up through the trap
door in the attic. 
It’s
like when I see people at conventions and they say, "Oh, I haven’t
seen that one." I forget that I’m in it and I say, "Oh, you should
see it. It’s quite good. There are butterflies that flutter when the
gas hits them. There are some things that are really interesting like
the half dog." 
He’s
worked with her since. He thinks she’s lovely. He won’t say anything
bad about anybody. I’m sure they did have fights. She used to make
dinner after the show and she would cook. I think Ryan O’ Neill was a
bit of a pill. 
