An interview with Marilyn Burns a.k.a.
“Sally” from the Texas Chainsaw Massacre
Questions by Aine,
interview conducted by Larra
Were you ever a girl scout?
Yes
You were?!
I was a brownie and then
I was a girl scout. I liked being a brownie. I liked earning
my badges. And my mother was brownie leader.
Can you sing
“Somewhere over the Rainbow”?
(Starts singing the first
line.)
How was it working
with the late Jim Siedow?
It was awesome, he was a
wonderful man. I miss him very much; he was a sweetheart. He
was great, he was a professional, and he was one heck of a guy
and a very wonderful actor.
I heard you
actually got hurt during the famous dinner scene in TCM?
Which time? I got hurt all
through the picture. The dinner sequence, oh my god, just existing
for 26 hours in the heat and the smells, and the rotting chicken
feet and the headcheese rotting, and Gunnar who hadn’t
been able to change his costume since the beginning of shooting
for continuity purposes, we were all dying.
How many injuries
did you sustain?
When they hit me with the
sledge hammer, they took the mallet off, and they put foam rubber
on it. But when you put a mallet through foam rubber, you’re
still gonna hit the head! They were incredibly stupid, but they
wanted the loud noise. So that was very painful.
And during the dinner scene
when they cut my finger, they didn’t tape the knife. And
I thought it was because they forgot to tape the knife all these
years, but then I found out last year that Gunnar couldn’t
get the little thingamajig to squirt the blood to work, and
he deliberately decided to cut my finger. And I just learned
that last year. And then you think how disgusting, here my finger
is, really bleeding, oozing with blood, and it’s put into
John Dugan’s mouth, how sanitary.
From a viewer’s
standpoint, when you were beaten with a broom and stuffed into
a burlap sack it was both horrifying and funny at the same time,
how was it on your end?
Oh it was a scream. I can’t
think of anything more fun than having someone pull punches
on me all evening for like 12 hours. And them saying, “Jim,
hit the bitch.” And Jim says, “Tobe, I don’t
want to hurt the woman.” And finally, after it’s
getting to be dawn and we’re in the gas station, the light’s
coming up, everybody was so tired that Siedow just goes, “Oh
what the hell.” And he hit the hell out of me. I passed
out, woke up with a black eye, which you can start to see the
beginning of on that shot if you freeze frame. The next day
I had to put on a little more make up, but then it worked perfectly
for continuity purposes. And then as far as the little punching
bag, that was another cute thing. Being in the little bag, well
actually, I was spared the bag. I did not have to be in the
bag in the truck, they had my poor Mary Church do that. But
I think he didn’t jab her when he was jabbing her, let’s
hope.
It was cute
though.
It was real cute; sick,
sadistic, evil.
So they didn’t
really make you get in the sack?
No, I put it up to my waist
or something and then we cut. Oh please, that would be the epitome,
off camera, in a sack, getting hit, but Tobe probably wanted
it.
Have you ever
been stuck in an elevator with someone who has really bad B.O.?
God thank no, oh my goodness.
Have you seen
the remake?
Oh yeah.
What did you
think of it?
It was Texas Chainsaw on
MTV, and I kept waiting for everybody to die so Sally could
run and finish the picture and I kept thinking this is the longest
picture ever. They kept coming back to life, and they kept banging
it around.
Now tell me,
isn’t Gunnar a sexy man?
Definitely.
Big teddy bear?
Oh yes.
You
were quite a scream queen; did you enjoy doing so many horror
films?
(Long pause)….A couple
I wish I’d missed, maybe, but maybe a couple I wish I’d
taken on. I always remember one that…oh never mind…Well,
I remember one. There was a script out called Piranha, and I
remember a friend saying, “What, they’re gonna get
little goldfish with toothpicks in their mouths?” And
he totally destroyed the script and made it seem like it was
the stupidest thing in the world. Well, I saw the next 12 that
were made and I thought they were pretty good. Karen Black was
in one, Melanie Thomas was in one, they were not little goldfish
with toothpicks, so sometimes people when they give me a horror
script they ruin my judgment because they destroy it before
I have a chance to think about it.
What’s
your opinion on Paul Partain getting way too into character?
He’s cool, he’s
great. I mean, I wish I’d know he was acting at the time.
I mean, I thought he was just a miserable whiny little brat.
But ten years later, he was a super person who just happened
to be in character the whole picture.
I hear your
nemesis is fake blood?
I think that probably nowadays
they make fake blood a lot better than they did in the old days,
but 30 years ago they made it with Hershey’s chocolate
syrup, Karo syrup, and food coloring, and it was one big sticky
slimy mess. It was a drag to be covered in it, for days at a
time in the sun, in the heat, with the mosquitoes and the ants.
I can’t
believe it’s been 30 years already, how do you feel about
TCM’s place in history?
I think it’s awesome,
I mean it is really awesome. It’s like what is happening
here? It’s really awesome and that’s all I can say.
How was working
with Steve Railsback in Helter Skelter?
Well, he’s a brilliant
actor. In Helter Skelter, he WAS Charlie, and of course, I was
the snitch, Linda. So the two of us really didn’t have
any scenes together, however, watching him work in the jury
room was brilliant. He’s a brilliant actor, he was SO
convincing for his ending speech when he’s talking to
the jury, you’re heart just….I mean, every actor
in the stupid studio was crying. And then when he had his attack
when he raced the judge, oh he was awesome to watch, I forgot
I was in the movie, I was just studying. He was terrific.
Are you going to
see the one that’s going to be on TV coming up?
What’s the deal with
these remakes huh? It’s really weird, I’m beginning
to feel strange, I really am.
You’re
the original though, thirty years!
Yes, it’s been thirty
years; it’s really a magic number isn’t it?
