Gilbert Gottfried's Amazing Colossal Podcast - 176. Dee Wallace

Episode Date: October 9, 2017

Veteran actress Dee Wallace ("E.T.," "Cujo," "The Howling") joins Gilbert and Frank for an informative and inspiring conversation about the power of intuition, the challenges of sudden fame, the generosity of Harold Prince and the precision of Steven Spielberg. Also, John Carradine soldiers on, Dudley Moore replaces George Segal, Harrison Ford ends up on the cutting room floor and Dee embraces the term "scream queen." PLUS: Blake Edwards! "The Frighteners"! Dee praises Cloris Leachman! Slim Pickens holds court! And Gilbert and Larry David go to the movies! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

That's the sound of unaged whiskey transforming into Jack Daniel's Tennessee whiskey in Lynchburg, Tennessee. Around 1860, Nearest Green taught Jack Daniel how to filter whiskey through charcoal for a smoother taste, one drop at a time. This is one of many sounds in Tennessee with a story to tell. To hear them in person, plan your trip at tnvacation.com. Tennessee sounds perfect. Pandora, be love. What does be love mean to you? I definitely would say my be love role model is for sure my sister. Unconditional, infinite love. Something that is never ending, that you know is always there. Never questioned. Never questioned. No matter if you fall

off a cliff, she's there to catch you, you know. Be love. Shop now at Pandora.net Hi there, I'm Jackie the Joke Man Marling and I've had the exquisite pleasure of once again being on Gilbert Gottfried's amazing

Colossal Podcast with the on Gilbert Gottfried's amazing, colossal podcast with the wonderful Gilbert Gottfried and the equally amazing Frank Santopadre. This is Gilbert Gottfried saying, go see my documentary, Gilbert. It's a documentary about me. It opens November 3rd at IFC theaters in New York City and November 10th in LA and select cities. That's gilbertmovie.com to buy tickets and find information. But more importantly, buy tickets. Hi, this is Gilbert Gottfried, and this is Gilbert Gottfried's amazing, colossal podcast with my co-host, Frank Santopadre, and we're once again recording at Nutmeg with our engineer, Frank Furtarosa. Our guest this week is someone we've wanted to talk to since this podcast started back in 2014. She's an author, healer, public speaker, and one of the most prolific and sought-after actresses in show

business with over 230 screen roles to her credit. You've seen her in TV shows such as Lou Grant, Taxi, L.A. Law, Ally McBeal, Bones, My Name is Earl, Felicity, Grimm, General Hospital, The Office, and on the big screen and popular movies like 10, Critters, Cuj Eyes, The Howling, and a little film called E.T. The Extraterrestrial. In a career spanning over 40 years, she's worked for filmmakers such as Wes Craven, Joe Dante, Joe Dante, Peter Jackson, Blake Edwards, and Steven Spielberg, and share the screen with some of our favorite actors, including M. Emmett Walsh, Kevin McCarthy, Ruth Gordon, Slim Pickens, Theodore Bacall, and John Carradine. Please welcome to the show one of the silver screen's great scream queens and a woman who famously said, after shooting the movie Cujo,

I hope I never see another Pinto again for the rest of my life. The lovely and talented Dee Wallace. Oh, I can see things are going to come back to haunt me in the next hour. It's one of those shows, Dee. OMG. Well, welcome. Well, thanks. It's great to be here, boys.

Now, I was thinking of like, okay, Cujo, The Howling, The Hills Have Eyes, and E.T. If you had been in just one of those and nothing else, I would demand you go on the podcast. But you're an old four as well as a million other things. Well, thank you. I have been very, very fortunate in my career. I have. And I've gotten some really good, juicy stuff to do. do now and kujo uh you you you did go uh a little crazy in that didn't you well you said it was the hardest thing you've ever had to do on screen it absolutely is still the hardest thing i've ever

had to do uh on screen and and the script called for me going batshit crazy. So, you know, we as actresses, we strive to please. So I did. I was telling Dee it just came up today at work. Whoopi's obsessed with Stephen King movies. We just happened to be talking about Cujo today. And I said, guess who's on the show tonight? Yeah. Dee Wallace. Well, I think Whoopi and I should have Stephen write a horror film for both of us. A buddy movie. Yeah.

Boy, that would be an honor to do something with Whoopi. I'll tell her. Here's something I want to know with Cujo. Were there a bunch of different dogs and maybe some mechanical dogs also? Oh, you know already, don't you? I can tell. Yes, there were eight or nine dogs or up to 13, including the Black Lab and a couple of other. The Black Lab and a couple of other.

See, they were all trained to go after toys for different tricks. They all had to be trained to do different kinds of tricks. Carl Miller was the trainer, and those dogs were trained within an inch of their lives. Unbelievably, unbelievably incredible to work with these dogs. This is what I have. Five St. Bernards. Let's see if my information is correct. One mechanical head and one guy in a dog costume. Does that sound right? No, there were more like eight or nine dogs. Yeah. And definitely a stuntman in a dog suit and a mechanical head when he rammed, you know, the dog rammed his head against the car. That was a mechanical head. And then there was this black lab who also had a suit, but he didn't end up doing anything in the movie.

And giving credit where it's due, Stephen King said it was the best performance in any of his adaptations. I love you, Stephen. I do. I actually have a clip of that on a DVD at home that one of my friends sent me. Very, very gracious

of him. When you consider you're talking about Kathy Bates and Nicholson and Shaw Shank and Sissy Spacek, that's quite a compliment. Indeed. You know what's funny? I had a flashback of old things, the Rodney Dangerfield movie, where I have to reach into a cage and there was a Rottweiler in there and the Rottweiler is barking and showing its fangs and growling and slamming against the cage. And they say, now reach in and grab it by the collar. And I kept saying, I'm not doing that. It's going to rip my arm off. And the hardest part about it was when I did reach in, it would quiet down and back up.

So they're trained to be vicious dogs. They act in movies. Yeah. I mean, we had to whip up egg whites for the foam and, you know, use fake blood with molasses and the flies. Oh, the flies. Lord have mercy, the flies on Cujo. They just love that, and they loved me. But, yeah, I mean, the big attack scene in the car on Cujo, It's so well edited. It's me and the stuntman and the stuntwoman

and the real dog all intercut. And the stuntwoman had the toy around her neck. And when she lunged forward, that was the dog's cue to lunge at her. And as soon as she pulled back,

the dog would pull back. It was unbelievable to watch now we got it in one take and lewis our director said cut we got it and she lunged forward and said yes before somebody had the hand on the dog, and the dog lunged forward and got a little bit of her nose. Oh, geez. And I had begged Dan Blatt, our producer, to let me do that, because I do a lot of my stunts in my movies. And he was going to, and at the last minute he said,

oh, Dee, if something happens, happens you know you're the money and we go down and and so he came up kind of with this shit kicking grin afterwards and said and that's why we didn't want you to do it oh he turned out to be right well yeah but it wasn't the dog's fault right of course he would the dog was doing what he was trying to do and and in that movie you're a mother protecting her son and i think you said in an interview that it really brought out your motherly instincts that you were protecting this little boy absolutely um you know i you know i've worked with a lot of kids and dogs. That's just because so much for working with kids, children, and animals.

Yeah. But whenever I, like Drew, I was very protective of Drew in E.T. And a lot of that is because a young child cannot distinguish between reality and fantasy. So I would go over before the scene, for example, when we went in to see E.T. dying on the table. And I went to get Drew. And I said, now, Drew, we're going to go do this scene. But, you know, E.T.'s acting just like we act, right? And he's not really dying. He's not sick. He's just acting. I know, Dee, do you think I'm stupid?

Which is why Stephen put that line in there because Drew said that all the time. Wow. So I picked her up and we walked in and she took one look of E.T. and burst into tears. E.T. is dying. He's dying. So, you know, yeah, when you work with really young children like that, you do, I do anyway, become very protective and caretaking of them. And you were a teacher in real life.

Back in the olden days a teacher in real life. And you used to. Back in the olden days. Back in the day. But you used to give Drew Barrymore like lessons, like teaching. Oh, well, certainly not acting. No, no. But I mean, just like a teacher. Like, I don't know.

Yeah. Yeah. And I think most moms are natural teachers, too. I think it's an interchangeable role. And it's so funny because in most of my interviews, I'll always get the question, how could you play all those parts before you had children? How could you play them so really? And I said, well, I didn't have children, but I had a mother. I knew my relationship with my mother and everything my mother gave up for me. She was a single parent a lot of my life. And so I, I naturally just had that instilled in me. And I think really most women do

have that natural motherly instinct. Maybe not when they have to remember lines at the same time, but I think we all have it. Since you bring up your mom, let's just do a little back story here on you. You're from the Midwest, the heartland. Kansas, baby. Kansas. Kansas City. You're not a showbiz family at all. I mean, no uncles, no grandparents. No, nobody famous.

Yeah. You were modeling at a tender age? I started modeling when I was about four years old. Out of necessity, really, because we were very poor. And I helped pay the bills. I was a little toe-headed kid and beautiful Shirley Temple locks. And my mother was my first acting teacher. And my mother was my first acting teacher.

She was a beautiful actress who worked in community theater and produced and directed all the plays at our church. And Grandma would do the costumes and Daddy would do the scenery. And so I did have that instilled in me at a very, very early age. But no, I don't come from anybody that's really done much for me. I meant to clarify, I knew your mother acted in local productions and that you come from a family of talented people. I just meant you didn't have any connections in the business. It wasn't a showbiz family by any means. No. And your upbringing, like, well, your father had a drinking problem. Yes.

My dad was an incredibly creative, amazing man. He was an entrepreneur, really, but he was very broken by the war. He had been, worked for the Red Cross during the war and would try to create something, and something always fell through about it. And so we didn't have a lot of money. My mom worked as a secretary. My dad really did. I think I get an enormous amount of creativity from both of my parents.

But he ended up committing suicide when I was a senior in high school. And, you know, I just want to take a minute to say something about that, that if there's anybody out there that's dealing with that right now, give up your guilt. It wasn't your fault. You couldn't have done anything about it. And more than anything, I know from my healing work, more than anything, they just want you to move on and be happy, really. So I invite everybody out there that has experienced anything around that to move on. So did you whip yourself over the years saying, oh, it was my fault, I should have done something differently?

I think I did for a year or two, but I don't know. I have this innate ability to move on. I've had some horrendous hardship in my life and a lot of it. in my life and a lot of it. And, um, I, I just, you know, there's something to pick yourself off, pick yourself up, dust yourself off and start all over again. Because if, if you don't, you just remain a victim, um, and really a victim to yourself. It's not a victim to anybody else in the world. You're creating a victimness to your own victimization. And the world doesn't need any more of that, quite frankly. Sure. And I guess I'm stating the obvious, Dee, but some of these things in your background, is that what inspired you to do some of the healing work and some of the work that you're doing now for people that you come from?

You're in touch with that kind of struggle? Sure. And hardship. And, you know, I had to also, as you know, I'm sure, lost my husband at a very early age. We were married 18 years. He's the father of my daughter and, um, just had a lot of hardship through my life. And, uh, I, I think that always going, the lesson that I learned about always going back to love, that love heals everything, conquers everything, creates everything.

And if any of you out there are doing anything that's really keeping you from experiencing the self-love for yourself, you really need to look at that because you're here to be powerful. You're here to be your own creator and see how powerful you are around that. And you can't do that when you're a victim. But even when I was a little girl, I would hear voices. I would hear voices. You know, I just thought, like most kids, it's your imagination. And your imagination and your channel are pretty much can be the same thing, quite frankly.

And, you know, one time I woke up in the middle of the night and I was very close to my grandmother. And I went to wake my mom up. And I said, something's wrong with grandma. Something is wrong over at grandma's house. And we have to go. And I would think I was in middle school. And, you know, God bless my mother. She didn't say, are you stupid? It's the middle of the night. Go back to bed. And so we tried calling grandma, but grandma turned her phone way down at night. And so bless my mom. She had to get up at six to go to work, but she and I slept over there to my grandma's house and the cat had gotten up on the stove and turned the, turned the gas on. Wow. So you're intuitive too. Turn the gas on. Wow. So you're intuitive, too.

Well, we're all intuitive. It's just that most of us have learned to turn it off. That's fascinating that you were able to do that. We've been made fun of or we've said, ooh, you know, we're going to go to hell if we look at that stuff. And really that's who we are. We're all connected to this amazing information that's available to everybody. But you have to ask, you know, ask and you receive. And your family, with the poverty, it was like you didn't have money, so you would barter. Yes.

My mom bartered all my classes for me, and she would go around and do what we used to call readings. You would call them monologues now, but for the mayor and the the music society, and she was determined that she was going to introduce the possibility to her children of rising up in stature within the society. And this was the way she went about doing it. And she, from my dance lessons, she would write poetry for the studio recital, and she would get out and perform the poetry in between each act of the recital. And in exchange for my year of lessons, and of course we became very close friends with, my teacher's name was Irmgard Oltewater. She was a prima ballerina from Germany that I studied with. And that's just who my mom was.

And my dad, early in his life, he sold comics called Dell Comics. And Dell Comics were a subsidiary of Walt Disney. You remember Dell Comics? Oh, yeah. Those were big. Very big. And I was the Dell Comic queen in the Midwest. I had this little. Those were big. Very big. And I was the Del Comet queen in the Midwest. I had this little...

That's fantastic. This little sequin crown that I would wear. And I did public relations with Gene Autry and everything and wrote on Champ. Oh, wow. Because he was associated with Disney. And so they got me into all kinds of things. Yeah. When I was a little. And now while Gilbert heads into the nutmeg kitchen to steal more Perrier, a word from our sponsor. Perrier. A word from our sponsor. First to keep and put towards your first home. With Questrade, you can open an FHSA online.

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Now, unfortunately, we return to our show. So at what point, I mean, you took elocution lessons, you danced, you did this, you were the Del, what were you, the Del Comics princess? Queen, darling. The Del, excuse me. Don't downgrade me here.

Shame on me. The Del Comics queen. At what point did you decide that, because if I have my research right, and correct me if I don't, you'd never been out of Kansas when you decided to go to New York City. That's true. And that's a gutsy move. Well, I look at it more as naivete, quite frankly. Sure it was. I taught high school. I have a teaching degree and I was teaching high school. And I thought, oh my God, if I don't go now, I am never, ever going to get out of this. Right.

And I love teaching. I taught all my life. I still teach in my healing work. And I had my own dance school. I have had my own acting studio for 18 years here. But in the library, we got the New York Times. In the library, we got the New York Times, and there was this article about how Hal Prince was looking for an unknown in his new musical, which ended up to be A Little Night Music. The legendary theater director Hal Prince for our listeners. You bet.

Yeah, a giant. And giant producer-director on Broadway. And so I had my brother's friend who had taken pictures for the high school newspaper come over and take an incredibly cheesy picture of me on the bed. And who knew? I didn't know what the heck a headshot was. And then I wrote this even cheesier letter that said, oh, Mr. Prince, you know, just think an unknown from Kansas. Just think of the publicity you could get out of that. I'm not kidding. Well, three weeks later and I went ahead and I bought my ticket to go to New York at the end of the summer. I had it all planned out.

I was going to work two jobs and save up everything that I made so that I could go to New York. So three weeks later, Mr. Prince's secretary calls me and said, Ms. Wallace, Mr. Prince got your picture and your letter, and he would like to fly you to New York to audition. And I went, oh my God, that's so cool. Well, when does he need me? And she gave me the date and I said, oh, that's the day I get in. What time does he need me? We don't need you at the theater till five, right? So he would have paid my flight and everything, but that's, I was raised, that's how I was raised, man. So the day I landed in New York City, I took everything I owned, gave it to a cab driver,

said, hi, this is my address. i haven't been there yet but can you take all my stuff there and leave it with the doorman because i have an audition with hal so trusting i went i went down to rock and color center and i got down to the last five girls in the acting and the dancing. And then they said, all right, Mr. Prince would like to hear you sing now. And I went, oh, I didn't know we had to sing. And the lady looks at me and said, well, dear, it is a musical. Yeah, it's right there in the title. Yeah.

Well, dear, it is a musical. Yeah, it's right there in the title. Yeah. So the day I landed in New York City, I sang Happy Birthday very mediocrely for Hal Prince. The accompanist said, what key, honey? And I went, somewhere in the middle. But, you know, by the time I left, all the best gypsies were there. I knew who to study dance with.

I knew who to study acting with. I knew how to get a voice teacher, you know. And I thought, well, that was a pretty good first day. I'd say. And did you train at one point with Uta Hagen? I did. Wow. That's another quite incredible story. I met a guy at an audition, and he was an actor,

and he was studying at the Berghoff studio. And he said, that's the only place to study, Dee. Anybody that's anybody has to study there. And even if you don't study with UTA. So at 4 a.m. in the morning, oh, well, he's, so I said, okay, okay. And I registered and he's, he says, well, what are you, what are you going to perform? And I said, oh, I'm going to do a scene from this little play I did in Kansas City called Mary Mary. And he looked at me like I was flipping nuts. And he said, you cannot go in. You got to do something from the classics or something. Uta Hagen's going

to laugh you out of the room, Dee. And I said, I don't care. I did this play and I feel really comfortable. And that's what I mean. See. I did this play and I feel really comfortable. And that's what I mean. See, I was just naive and I just believed in myself. And I believed that the world was going to take care of me. So off we go to audition for Uta Hagen. And he says, I'm telling you, she's going to stop you, you know, like 15 lines into this. And, you know, there's no way, Deeds. I said, you know, I'm going to do Mary Mary. So we go in and we start the interview. And then I get up to do my scene. And about 15 lines in, she stops me and he looks at me very smugly. And she says to me, who'd you study with, sweetheart? And I said, well, Ms. Hogan, I've really studied with my mom in Kansas.

And bless her, she looked at me and she said, well, she taught you really well. And I would like you to come into my class. At which point I turned and looked at him very smugly I felt somewhat vindicated there how about that I mean my whole the whole my whole career that's the way it happened you You know, I just I would meet people in coffee shops. I talk a lot about this in my book, Bright Light. And, you know, it's kind of my autobiography taught through all my big pictures and and directors that I've worked with, but also kind of the spiritual lessons that I've learned along the way. And I'm a big fan of naivete. You don't put up any walls in front of yourself. You don't go in with expectations that you're going to lose or they're not going to like you or anything like that.

You just go, you know, let's put on a show. I'm going to go to Kansas and be a big star. It's worked for you. It has worked for me. you know, let's put on a show. I'm going to go to Kansas and be a big star. It's worked for you. It has worked for me. What's funny about this is when people interview me, and I mean it, I always say what I had in my favor was stupidity. Yeah. And it was stupidity that made me think I could support myself in show business.

Tell D how young you were when you did stand up. First time I got up on a stage, I was on a comedy club. I was 15. Oh, my God. And I was. Wow. And then I would go to the clubs every night, wouldn't make a penny. And with all the rejections, wouldn't make a penny. And with all the rejections, I was just too stupid. Naive. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. But you were having fun, too. And that's such a big part of the creation process. You know, if you want to get what you want, you've got to have fun. You've got to have fun. You've got to. It's like now I think back and I think I would, you know, when people say to me, I'm an aspiring actor or a comic, I always feel like, well, can't you just get bottles out of the trash cans in the street and turn it in for the fight? That makes sense to me. Show business doesn't make sense. All these years later.

And that's why you did it. Yeah, she's right. All these years later, it's still a surprise to you. Oh, yeah. Yeah, even after all the success. So you never lose touch with that. And isn't that wonderful? That's wonderful that we can live a life doing what we love

and be surprised every day. And here's something I have and a lot of people, and I wonder if you have this, that you feel like one day the jig will be up. Like they're going to find out. Like, oh, that person doesn't belong here. You know what scares me more? Is that one day I'm going to find out. Oh, that's out. Very funny. And I gotta ask you, I mean, look, there's no bigger director now than Steven Spielberg. So what was he like to work with? Well, Steven's brilliant. He's brilliant. He knows exactly what he wants.

and he knows exactly what he wants. He finds the exact talent that is what he wants. And then he guides you, but he also lets you bring in your essence and your ideas. And all of the great directors that I've worked for, all of them, the great ones, that's the way they work. The smaller the director, the more you're micromanaged. That's interesting.

How did he see you? Did he see you in something, Dee? Was that a straight-up audition for E.T.? Actually, I auditioned for used cars. Oh, that's right. Oh, that's right. For Zemeckis. Fortunately, he did not pick me for that one. He saw, see, he wanted everybody in E.T. to be childlike.

And he thought I had that vulnerability and childlikeness that he wanted in the mom. And so he saved me. Oh, darn. And I got a flashback. Yeah. Because you worked on E.T., obviously. I was in L.A. years ago working on something, and I wound up going to see E.T. with Larry David. Oh, see E.T. with Larry David.

Oh, my God. Wow. And the two of us watch E.T. And then when the movie ends and we're walking out of the theater, Larry has on his usual confused and disgusted look that he has 24 hours a day. And he says to me, shaking his head, and he goes, so what is this? She wanted to fuck this creature? Oh, my God.

I think he got it. I think he missed it. Yeah. Yeah, he missed it. Yeah. Yeah, he missed it. Oh, M.G. Larry missed the whole magic. You think? Do you think?

Well, Dee, you said when you read the script, you knew that you were reading something extraordinary. Yes. Melissa Matheson's script. Melissa, God bless her. Yeah. What a loss. Yeah. She's a great talent too. You know, and they wouldn't send it to me.

I had to go over to the studio behind locked doors, I might add, and read the script. And I remember calling my agent and said, look, I don't think this is going to do a lot for me, but I think this is a script that's going to do a lot for the world, and I want to be a part of this film. Yeah, you call it this generation's Wizard of Oz, which I think is interesting. It's apt. Well, you know, all of the great films that stay around as long as E.T.

and Wizard of Oz and Peter Pan, they all kind of have the same message. Be childlike, know you have your own power, and keep your heart open. It's not that we don't believe you, honey. Well, it was real, I swear! What are you going, Eskard? I'm going to Chicago. So what else is here?

Maybe it was an iguana. It was no iguana. Maybe a... You know how they say there are alligators in the sewers? Alligators in the sewers. All we're trying to say is maybe you just probably imagined it. I couldn't have imagined it. Maybe it was a pervert or deformed kid or something.

A deformed kid. Maybe an elf or a leprechaun. It was nothing like that, penis breath! Elliot! Sit down. Dad would believe me. Dad would believe me. Maybe you ought to call your father and tell him about it.

I can't. He's in Mexico with Sally. When you were doing the scenes with E.T., and obviously on the set they were controlling it with wires and poles and everything. Hydraulics, yeah.T. And obviously, on the set, they were controlling it with wires and poles and everything. Hydraulics, yeah. Yeah. And now you, now tell me how you believed that this was an actual creature you were talking to. Well, first of all, that's my job. Yeah. Second of all.

The way she does it with a dog head on a stick. Yes, yes. Yeah. Or even a handkerchief on a stick a lot of times. Right. When I did Lassie, you know, it's like, follow the yellow flag. E.T. was so well designed by Carl Rombaldi and just so real that it was easy for all. It really was like working with another actor most of the time.

And a lot of the times it was run with hydraulics. A lot of times, and I hope I'm politically correct here, there were little people in the costume. And sometimes there was a little boy with no legs who was put in upside down in the costume and would walk on his hands. And that's how they got the very distinct walk that et did we even had a mimist you know that did all of the hand work and the arm work and you know a lot of different creative elements went into bringing et to life and i've heard you say

that you're the real challenge with that film was was boredom, was sitting around waiting for the technical stuff. Oh, my God. Because you're not one of those people. You're not a big research or method person. You're a let's get on with it person. Yeah. It's like, you know, take me to the set, put me in front of the camera, give me 20 seconds, and let's go.

That's how I like to work. I just want to be Mary. I don't want to be D trying to find Mary. Oh, that's interesting. Yeah, and I owe that all to my mentor, Charles Conrad, who was a great teacher out here in the 80s. Changed my life. I mean, I bow down to Uta Hagen and her expertise and her talent. But for me, that method wasn't,

it wasn't right for me because whenever I try to figure things out in my head, I go the opposite way that I should. And like, if I'm supposed to turn right, I can sit there and figure it out for 15 minutes, and damn if it's always not left, I should have gone. So when I found Charles, he had this, he had studied with Meisner and taught Meisner, but then he had created this whole technique of his own where you get your energy incredibly high, where you get your energy incredibly high, and then you throw all your attention off to the person or the dog or the scene that you're interacting with. And what that does is it really makes you totally leave your mind

and really channel the character that you're doing. And for me, it was freedom. It was just absolute joyful freedom when I started working this way. And now, of course, Clint Eastwood and Meryl Streep and a lot of people are shooting the rehearsals right now these days. Well, that's how we were working back in the 80s. Oh, interesting. That cast was just wonderful chemistry. Just you and Drew and Henry.

Yeah. And I didn't know Harrison Ford was cut from the film. I found out doing research. Yes, he wasn't childlike enough. He's playing a principal, a school principal. Yeah. Now, also, you were in the movie 10. Yes.

And, you know, Bo Derek was the biggest sex symbol around. I know. It wasn't me. Come on. And I remember, like, even in the movie, they say to Dudley Moore, how does she rate from 1 to 10? And he says 11. I mean, you'd have to be blind not to see the beauty of Bo Derek. And I have to say, too, that she's as beautiful a person inside. That's nice to hear.

I remember, here's another naivete story. This was my first big studio film, and I was the last one to read for this part. And Lynn Stallmaster had seen me in Lou Grant, where I played this hooker. And he thought I had the right element for Mary Lewis. So I got down to Las Hadas, Mexico, where we were shooting. And, of course, Blake Edwards didn't do anything unless he did it the ultimate way. And I walked into this suite that was all marble.

And I thought, you know, you have to remember where I came from. And I'm going, holy hell, I didn't know there was a hotel room in the world that looked like this. holy hell, I didn't know there was a hotel room in the world that looked like this. And I was there with, I think, four other supporting characters. And I watched as one by one of them got fired and somebody else got hired. So I called my mom and I said, I'm never going to end up in this movie, but I'm having a really great vacation. Oh, that's great. But I did end up in this movie.

And I went to the set the first day. And Blake came up to me and said, hi, Dee, I just want to make sure everything's OK. And I said, oh, Mr. Edwards, my room is so beautiful. Thank you so much. He said, well, are there any concerns? Is there anything else I can do for you? And I said, well, and I looked to my left and there was Bo's trailer. And I looked to my right and there was Dudley's trailer. And I went, my right and there was Dudley's trailer and I went, Mr. Edwards, where's my trailer? And he did not

miss a beat. He looked at Tony Adams, his producer, and he said, where's her trailer? And Tony looked at him like a deer in headlights and went, it's on its way. Oh, that's great. Mr. Edwards, it's on its way. I'm sorry

Miss Wallace, we had a little bit of technical difficulty with it. It's on its way. I'm sorry, Ms. Wallace. We had a little bit of technical difficulty with it, but it's on its way. Well, you know, I get home. My agents had never negotiated a dressing room for me. I didn't know that. I had gone out. You know, I'd just done independent film, so I'd gone out. And because I had this bed scene with Dudley, I went, gee, I better go out and get some underwear or something. So I went out and bought like three really nice pairs of underwear. And Mr. Edwards looked at me and said, no, honey, we do that for you on the big film.

So I'm sitting on the bed getting ready to shoot. And he comes over and he sits down with me and he says, So, Dee, what do you feel about doing this nude? Well, my Kansas heart jumped up into my throat. I almost threw up, I think. But I held it together and I said, well, Mr. Edwards, I think it's wrong for the part. You know, I mean, I shouldn't flaunt it in front of him because he hasn't been able to get it up with Bo and everything. And a lot of other people in the movie are naked.

And, you know, I just make my money doing commercials right now. So if you want to guarantee me another film, I guess I could try. And he looked at me and he said, okay, honey, I just thought I'd ask. And because he knew that would throw me off just enough. And so he said, okay, let's shoot. And I'm going, I'll be doing it. You know, so we shot it. Oh, he was trying to work it into your performance.

Yeah. Oh, I see. He knew exactly what he was doing. Devious. Yeah. But she was a nice person. Oh, Bo? Well, oh, I didn't finish my story.

So she looked at me when we were down by the trailers, and she said, oh, you know, Dee, you can come on in with me till your trailer gets here. Oh, wow. And she was lovely to work with. John, on the other hand, not so much. But he's dead. I can say that. Oh, John Derrick, her husband.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, not so much. But he's dead, I can say that. Oh, John Derrick, her husband. Yeah. Yeah, not so much. I think suddenly I'm remembering Dudley Moore replacing George Segal in that movie. I think they should. Yes. Yes. Yes. And you know, because George Segal and, hold on, maybe I'm not right.

Well, Dudley and Blake were in a joint therapy group. Okay. And when George Segal dropped out, Blake went to Dudley. That's not interesting. Oh, my God. What a beautiful man, Dudley Moore. Oh, was he? Oh, we danced on many tabletops in Mexico. Oh, that's nice to hear.

Big fan. This is interesting. Beautiful. Dudley Moore, he took the part of 10 that was originally meant for George Segal. And I heard that George Segal was offered author. The lead role? I don't know. Oh, I don't know that. That's interesting. He didn't want to do it, and then it went

to Dudley Moore. I can't give you any scoop on that. I don't know. Now, you've got to tell us about John Carradine. Oh, John. Well, John was quite ill when we did the howling. And you'd never

know it. What a trooper, man. I mean, some of his scenes ended up 2, 3 in the morning, and it was freezing out there. And in between, he and Christopher Stone, I was engaged to at the time, and some of the other actors, Slim Pick pickens we'd all sit around the fire and just listen to all those older actors tell their amazing stories i'll bet they had them

well caroline went back i mean we were saying the other day that i i think if you look at people's imdb pages he's he has one of the longest IMDb pages of any actor in history because he worked forever. Yeah, that wouldn't surprise me. And, you know, 25 films a year or some incredible output. You know,

Joe Dante was responsible for bringing all those wonderful actors in. We had Joe on this show. Oh, did you? Yes. Oh, my God. Couldn't you talk to him

for days? He's the best. We could have done six episodes with him. Oh, did you? Yes. Oh, my God. Couldn't you talk to him for days? He's the best. We could have done six episodes with him. Oh, also in the howling, another guest, Dick Miller. Oh, we had Dick Miller here, too. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Well, you've just got the reunion going here.

We did. We did. We had Roger Corman, too. Oh, empty. Yeah. Yeah. But, you know, the other fun thing about that movie, too, is that Carradine plays Earl C. Kenton. What Joe did is he gave them names of famous directors.

He named the characters after famous horror directors. George Wagner and Terrence Fisher and people like that. Yeah, there's a lot of in-jokes in there. I mean, there's one part where they're in an office and for no reason at all, there's a little framed picture of Lon Chaney Jr. on the desk. Just an homage. Yeah. There's all kinds of little references and things like that that Joe, he just, he raised that picture up so much with his ideas and his creativity. So he had seen you in 10? Yes.

And Dan Blatt had seen me in 10. And of course, I had to go in and audition. I even had to go in for the callback. But fortunately, I got it. And hold on. What happened? It's all right. Never mind.

Just a little sharing here in the room going on. And then Dan Black called me and said, you know, Dee, we've got a great cast lined up to be with you, but we cannot find a guy to play your husband. Now, why I had not put this together before, don't ask me. I'm not actually a real blonde. But so I had said, oh, you know, Dan, there's this guy I worked with a long time ago, Christopher Smith or Stone. He'd probably be really good because they wanted somebody very virile who had a lot of vulnerability also. So they went out and found Christopher. He went in, auditioned. He got it on his own.

Christopher. He went in, auditioned. He got it on his own. And the next day, Dan Black called and I answered. And he said, Dee, I thought I was calling Christopher Stone. You know, that guy you recommended? We hired him. I said, I know we're engaged. There was this long pause. Oh, that's great. Oh, shit. And I said, no, we're just think we can share a trailer. You can you can save money on the trailer. Right. So you're both terrific in that film. Thank you. And Joe Dante, I've heard him say that you lived and you behaved that the thing that impressed him, he maybe told us when we had him here, is that you acted as if the situation were actually happening to you. Well, again, back to Charles Conrad and my technique. It's that beautiful place where you cross over and you're not de-doing Karen.

Right. You become Karen. A secret society exists and is living among all of us. They're neither people nor animals, but something in between. Monstrous mutations whose violent natures must be satisfied. I know what you're thinking because I've been where you are. That's enough. Leave it.

And it's possible to imagine. Leave it. Cut. Leave it! But I have proof, and... Tonight I'm going to show you something. Make you believe. I had an experience lately. I have a film coming out called Red Christmas. And the same thing happened to me.

It's another tour de force mother defending her, you know, kids against something. It's quite an amazing little horror film, guys. I want you to look for it. We will. Red Christmas. We'll plug it at the end of the episode, too. And I also heard that after E.T., which was a monster hit, I also heard that after E.T., which was a monster hit, you had some worries about your career continuing. Like, it was like you couldn't deal with the success. Yeah, that's true. You know, I was raised that you never needed more than you needed. And you shouldn't have more than you need, and you certainly should never, ever tout your own horn.

And so when E.T. came out, I was quite overwhelmed with the reception and the publicity. And, yeah, it's true. I pulled back a little bit. Interesting. So you just felt like, yeah, because you were raised like, I'm not worthy of it. Yeah, exactly. Again, I was raised with this very strange dichotomy of you can do anything you want to do, DeeDee.

You can do anything you want to do, Dee Dee. You can do anything you want. And you still have to keep yourself small and humble. And it can be tricky in Hollywood. Especially that. I mean, E.T. was monumental. And you hadn't been acting that long when E.T. happened. No. It's quite a Hollywood story.

long when E.T. happened? No, it's quite a Hollywood story. By the time, from the time I went to New York out of Kansas to the time I starred in E.T. was about six years. Yeah. And you're in your 20s at the time, so maybe it didn't dawn on you, but it must have in later years. I mean, it wasn't just anybody you were working with and coming up. I mean, it's like Uta Hagen and Steven Spielberg and Hal Prince. I mean, these are icons. Yeah, and Blake Edwards. And Blake Edwards. How can I forget Blake Edwards? Biggest producer-director we've ever had.

Yeah. And you're just sort of like, the way you would describe it is like you're stumbling along. Your naivete is carrying you. Yeah, and the universe will do that for us if we just get the hell out of the way. It's our own thought processes and perceptions and fears and belief systems that get in the way of just going, you know, hey, here I am. Let's go. One more thing I want to say about the howling, too, is this is interesting. Robert Picardo, your co-star, an actor we like a lot.

Oh, yes. I love Bob. He's great. He said that your aversion to violence aided your performance in the howling. I thought that was interesting. Yes, he's quite accurate about that. I don't like violence. I don't like holding a gun.

The whole thing in the adult bookstore and watching that thing, and Joe made me watch it. Yeah. Yeah. It was very hard for me. It was really very hard for me. I remember I met Robert Picardo. Funny guy.

Yeah, he is. And before I could say hello to him, I just said to him, You know me, but I don't know you. Why is that right, boy? I'm sure he appreciated that. We did. We got a lot of cards here, so you've done so much, so we'll fly around. Can you tell us anything about

The Frighteners, a movie I just went back and watched with my wife? You show a lot of range in that picture, because you go from being a character who is victimized. One badass pro. Yeah, to a crazy killer. And, I mean, it's quite a jump. Yeah, I look for roles like that.

See, I love being a scream queen, quite frankly, because I love to scream. I love to do a lot of emotional work and I love to play those arcs. You know, if there's a good story and relationships developed in it, I those are the parts I love the most. And it was such a joy to work with Peter Jackson and everybody down in New Zealand. A lot of people don't know my husband died while I was shooting that film, so it was hard. First, he had a heart attack, and they flew me back, and he was fine, and I flew back, and they flew me back and he was fine and I flew back. And three days later he died from an aneurysm and I flew back and did his service, grabbed my little girl and my nanny and

all of us flew back so I could finish the film. And, you know, I, I kept saying, well, how do I pay you for this? And they just kept saying, we'll settle up at the end. And I'm sure I would have owned them more than what my salary was. And when I went in to settle up, they just said, no, Peter and Mr. Zemeckis just want to give you this as their gift. I mean, you know, it was, it was really a family affair. Everybody gathered around us and took care of my little girl. They even, she was about, well, she wasn't even seven and she saw my flying scene. Oh yeah. Oh mommy, I want to fly. So they built her a little

suit and took her up so she could fly like Peter Pan and played four square with her. Michael would get out at lunch and play four square with her. And it was just such a humane, beautiful shoot. I often wish that we could apply more of what the Europeans do in their shooting process here. It's so much more humane. What do you mean by that? Well, I mean the hours.

Oh, I see. Are so much more humane. You lead a much more balanced lifestyle. Anybody that's with somebody who's having a baby, you know that you've got two weeks paid leave and you're going to have a job when you come back. One of the things that struck me the most was anybody that had a problem or an issue, down to the best boy, everybody would sit around at a portion of lunch and talk about it and work it out to, you know, everybody's satisfaction. Everybody was respected and appreciated. And I don't know, it was my experience with Red Christmas I just shot in Australia.

Very much like that again. And sometimes I think we just work ourselves to death in America at the expense of our families and our health and a lot of things. I think a lot of people would agree with that. And you mentioned your daughter, who's a very busy actress. Oh, Gabrielle. Yes, she is. Thank you. And much like her mother, is not lacking in either talent or looks. Oh, well, thank you.

Thank you very much. Yeah, my kid and I are really tight. I consider her my very best friend. And she's had a lot of success this year. She co-wrote, co-directed, and starred in her first short film and has won a lot of awards for it. We're actually in competition on the short circuit in all the festivals now. And somebody said to me, well, you're both up for best actress. And I said, please, God, let her win. I've been there. I mean, I love to win. Of course,

I love to win. Of course, I love to be honored. But nothing better than seeing your kid. Yeah, getting it. Well, here's the inevitable question. When she broached the idea of being an actress, what was your immediate reaction? Was there some trepidation? Not at all. No. Not at all. I have to tell you, I knew she was destined to do this by the time she was three years old. Every night of our lives, she put on a skit.

She sang a song. She did a dance. I mean, and she will produce in her life. I never really did, but Gabrielle certainly would. And I've got to tell you, it's been a good life for me. I don't feel like I've lost myself. I don't feel like I've ever had to or would let myself give up anything of who I really am. You know, I'm still that naive, although a little more educated girl from Kansas.

And I like being that way. And yeah, love my wine, love sex and let the F word fly, you know, more than I should. But you still can't take the Kansas out of the girl. God bless you, Dee. Now, I've asked a couple of our guests. I think we've had 170 guests or something like that to date. Not everybody, but I ask it from time to time. Do you pinch yourself?

Do you look back and say, I can't believe how this has turned out? You were down to your last $9 when you got your national commercial. For United Airlines. And looking back now, it's Blake Edwards and John Carradine and Hal Prince and Robert Zemeckis and the whole thing. It's really quite a journey. You know, I've been asked that a couple of times, and if I answer it honestly, I feel like it was all meant to be. Isn't that interesting?

Yeah. like it was all meant to be. Isn't that interesting? Yeah. I, I just feel like I had a dream and I was supposed to fulfill that dream. Um, when I started my healing work, everybody said, what? You're an actress. Nobody's going to end. You swear on top of it. You can't be a healer. A swearing healer. But I've always said, who likes sex? I've always said, you know, this is who I am. When I got here, I had a meeting with a very big agent. He said, well, you know, you have to do this and you have to lose your accent and you have to have your tits done and blah, blah, blah. And I looked at him and I said, dude, if I had all those things done, it wouldn't go with who I am.

It wouldn't go with what I sell. Right. What I sell is who I am. And, you know, the first time I got a big agent, It was from a religious film. My first big film was a religious film called All the King's Horses, where I played a battered wife. And I invited 10 top middle agents to a screening room over at Radford. And everybody said, they're going to laugh you out of Hollywood. I said, look, if they can't see that I can act, even in the genre of a religious film, I don't want to freaking have them as my agents anyway.

And do you know, nine out of ten of those agents wanted me. But I think it's, again, because just like doing a scene from Mary Mary, I said, no, for me, for me, this is right. For me, this is who I am. And if all of us would just do more of that instead of being what everybody else wants us to be, the universe says yes to you a lot more. You hear that, Gilbert? Stop being you. He's exactly right.

Everything you say is the opposite of how my mind works. Well, you're never too old to learn. But that works for you. You see, that works for you. You've got to find your own formula out there, right? You've done things on your terms, Dee.

It's very admirable. I have, and I'm proud of that. Let me ask you why you've always wanted to play a nun. Damned if I know. I don't know, but when I find the right nun and the right – I want to play someone who is conflicted within themselves and fighting who they've become against who they really are. I think that's what it is. And you'd have to play a nun who likes eggs. Like that was a good screamer. Well, I think there's a few of them out there.

I'm just saying. Now we're getting somewhere. I know there's some priests out there, but now we're getting in hot water here, so I better back off. That's hilarious. Well, I'm going to throw some names at you here. Oh, dear God. This show is really about old show business. We love showbiz history. So if I said some of these names, people you worked with earlier in your career, you were in Barnaby Jones with Buddy Ebsen.

Oh, yes, I was. Right at the very, very, very beginning. When you were very young, when you first went to L.A. Like a daddy. Yeah. I was like a daddy, yeah. How. When you were very young, when you first went to L.A. Like a daddy. Yeah. It was like a daddy, yeah. How about Carl Malden? Oh, same, same.

Just a beautiful man, beautiful man. And that was, you know, the streets of San Francisco, that was my first, no, my second. I baked cookies to get my first job. Was that Lucas Tanner? Yeah. With David Hartman. You know, you couldn't get on the lot. So I baked chocolate chip cookies and wrapped them up in cellophane.

And I went to the gate and I said, hi, I have deliveries. And they said, yeah, go on through. Oh, that's so smart. I took all of these cookies and I was taking to all the casting directors. And I got to Ruben Cannon. Of course, he was the head of casting at the time. And he came out and he went, oh, chocolate chip cookies. I tell all this stuff in my book.

And I said, hi, I'm Dee Wallace, and I just got here from Kansas, which was a better line than New York. I figured it still worked. And he said, well, come on in. Let's talk. So I went in, and we were talking, and he got a call from the studio that the girl who was playing the waitress who had six lines was sick, and they were supposed to shoot in three hours, and what the hell did he want? And he covered the phone, and he looked at me and he said, what size do you wear? I said, what size do you need, baby? And I stuffed myself in that size four,

even though I was closer to a six. And that was my first gig. And Streets of San Francisco was my second. Yeah, in 1974, Lucas Tanner in 1975, Streets of San Francisco. Now, do you find that these old guys in the business just have a more level attitude, like it's the younger ones that are full of themselves, and these older guys are just— These older guys have been around long enough to know that you're hot when you're hot and you're not when you're not. And it's just a job.

It's not who you are. It's just a job that we love to do. Yes, I don't want to make any blanket statements. I worked on a movie of the week, a short film with a lot of young kids. I was working with another very well-known actress, and they were getting ready to do her close-up. And the AD said, okay, roll it. And all these guys were on their phones and talking. And I'm waiting for the director to say something. And nobody says anything. And finally, I just, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I know

it's not my place, but we would really appreciate it if you would put your fucking phones down, Really appreciate it. If you would put your fucking phones down, stop talking, and be a part of the scene. You are working with an iconic actress here. Learn from her. And they did. It was not my place, but nobody else stepped forward, and it was just rude. And it's wrong. And it's not respectful to your other actors. No matter how old you are, it's not respectful to your other actors.

Oh, good for you. And that was my Baptist preacher right there. Bravo. Thank you very much. Okay, here's another question. Now, just indulge me here with this research. Do you want to remake an Ida Lupino film? Was it Snake Pit? No. me here with this research uh do you want to make remake an idol of pino film was it snake pit no i can't remember the name okay we'll we'll look it up but it was a film in an insane asylum

yes okay was that snake pit i think she's in that i mean uh we'll double we'll double check it make me look like no first no no no no but we can cut it out i was just curious about what what about chloris leachman you did yeah chloris leachman fabulous incredible zany crazy unbelievably out there actress gilbert got to work with her, too. And I loved every minute of Cloris. That's good to know. How about Tommy Lee Jones, Stranger on My Land?

Now, Tommy was a tough one. Tommy, you know, he didn't know me. I was nobody. He didn't know me. I was nobody. He was a big movie star doing this movie of the week that I'm not sure he wanted to do. We were talking the first day when we were reading through everything. well, what have you done? Yeah. Yeah. Okay. And, and, uh, so somebody came in and said, uh, Ms. Wallace, we want to take you out to meet your horses. I said, oh, great. And he looked at me and he said, you're doing your own writing. And I said, you bet I'm doing my own writing. I wouldn't miss that for anything. Well, I changed before his very eyes. If I was going to get up and do my own writing, I was one of the guys. And from then on, Tommy Lee

and I got along just fine. About that. I love that. And boy, and I saw my part being very dramatic in this one scene. And so we finished the rehearsal and he very quietly looked at me and went, is that the way you're going to play it? And I said, yep. He said, okay, I'll go the other way. Oh, interesting. Yeah, it was very insightful to me. Here's just a couple others to indulge us,

and these are some of our favorite actors. We mentioned Theodore Bickell. Yes, beautiful. And also Jack Guilford. Oh, my gosh. The best of the best, you guys, you know. Oh, my gosh. The best of the best, you guys.

You know? They, true professionals, kind men, gentlemen. They're gentlemen. You know? And very respectful of everybody on the set. Jack Guilford had some struggles, too, in his career. He was blacklisted. He didn't have an easy path.

I didn't know that. Yeah. Yeah, in his career. He was blacklisted. He didn't have an easy path. I didn't know that. Yeah. Yeah, he was black. And Theodore Bacall barely escaped the Holocaust. Both of them had real hardship. Well, I think there's something to be said for hardship giving you a true appreciation of life and the blessings that you receive, for sure. Can you tell us before we start to wind down, can you tell us anything about the experience of making The Hills Have Eyes? I know you've been asked about it a ton.

Well, you know, The Hills Have Eyes was let's put on a show. show we all um lord we all had to stay in the same trailer you know all of us we it was like oh my god i got a job i got a job as an actor right again you were a young actress again yeah well one of my first things for sure. And we all had to stay in the same trailer and, and, and the bathroom broke and we froze to death. And half the time I stayed in my car. It's the only place you could go to sleep. We, we died of the heat during the day and froze at night. But again, it was, you know, and froze at night. Yeah. But again, it was, you know, it was a gig, and it was your first gig, and how exciting that was.

And, you know, and even then they stuck me with a baby. That's right. What is that? That's right. You'd been in the Stepford Wives in a small part, but the Hills Have Eyes was kind of the first prominent feature role i i don't even consider being in the stepford wives it was like you want to hear my one line that sure left we do yeah yeah and i got it because i was sitting there uh in this office waiting to I started to say audition, interview

for a part-time receptionist job and Brian Forbes came out and he kept walking back and forth looking at me and he finally came over and he said, are you an actress? I said, I am. He said, you want to be in a movie? And I went, I do. So,

you know, he didn't even audition me because obviously he knew I probably wasn't going to have much to do in that role. But, yeah, it was, let me tell you, watching those three completely different actresses. Yes, can imagine. And how they worked on the set and worked with each other and you know, that was a schooling right there. It was an education. For me, yeah. Two more quick ones. You made a movie

called Club Life with Tony Curtis. Yes. Any memories? Oh boy. Ha ha ha. You know, my mother always told me, if you can't say something, say something. Uh-oh. You're the second guest where we've brought up Tony Curtis and we got that response. No, let me tell you.

I worked with Mr. Curtis right after he'd gotten out of rehab. And we did a lot of our scenes the first week together. He was such a gentleman and so prepared and beautiful to work with. And then he relapsed. Oh. And it was like working with somebody I'd never worked with before. So when he stayed straight, he was a pro? He was beautiful. Yeah.

Well, that was my experience of him. Yes. Well, you've worked with everybody. I mean, we could go on for hours, Dee. There's so many names here, so many things you've done, so many kinds of roles that you've played, so much rage. You've done melodrama. You've done horror films.

Obviously, you've done westerns. You've done soaps. You've done comedies. It's really quite an impressive run. Thank you. I ain't done yet, baby. I know. Tell us about Red Christmas.

Oh, I love this film. Well, Red Christmas is a Christmas horror film. And it gave me the opportunity to do another kind of tour de force female role like I did in Cujo. And it was in Australia. And I had done a movie in Australia years and years ago for Disney called A Christmas Down Under and the thought of going back to Australia

was just very exciting for me but this was very small crew we shot with literally four lights if there's any filmmakers out there you want to see how creative you can be with almost nothing. You make sure you see this film. It's unbelievable. Okay.

And the cast, the rest of the cast, are the creme de la creme of Australian actors. Okay. We could go for a nice Christmas horror film, right, Gilbert? Oh, absolutely. Yeah. I can't think of too many of those off the top of my head. Yeah, there's not, there's not a lot. And, and it approaches, it deals with abortion and abortion issues from all kinds, from all perspectives. And one of the actors in it is an adult Down syndrome gentleman that plays my youngest son in it. So it has so many qualities that you never see in a horror film.

Red Christmas. Yeah, it really just drew me. I have another film that's coming out the beginning of the year called Death House. Okay. With a lot of iconic film horror actors, a lot of iconic actors in that one. And then I'm all over the film festival place. One of my favorites is a thing called Charlie's Gift, where they aged me to 80 years old. Wow. And it's just a beautiful, beautiful little story, true story. And I heard you like

horror films and horror actors. I like to do them. I'm kind of wussy to watch them. Interesting. Yeah. Can you go back and watch Cujo and the Howling is it is it did are you allow yourself to get caught up in the story or do you look at it like home movies like oh I remember I was having a bad hair day or that goes away after you've seen it you know like 20 times I see uh yeah I can go back as matter of fact, I just watched Critters with Gabrielle. She had never seen it. And I forgot how great that movie was. It's fun.

It is. And I really thought, now see, I've gotten away from the purity of that acting a little bit. I've got to get back there. That's interesting. When you did Cujo, did you have a hard time going home and just showering? Yeah. I had a hard time, period. I blew out all my adrenal system.

They treated me for exhaustion afterwards. Wow. It was literally the hardest thing emotionally, physically, psychologically that I've ever done in my career. And it's the film I'm proudest of. Well, it kind of it kind of bums me out that that horror films are considered, you know, genre pictures that they're not. Yeah, they're not really considered for some of the major awards because that's a fantastic performance thank you and you and that wasn't a performance that you could just go home have a drink and go to sleep afterwards yeah it took a while uh to come down and i remember some close friends of ours came up to visit and we we went out to dinner, and I fell asleep on the table.

Because you were that drained. Yeah, all you could do, they picked me up at 5 a.m. every morning. And, you know, most people think we're dying of the heat. We actually were freezing. It was northern California in the winter. And so it was very rainy and cold. Most of the time we, we finally had him put a heater in the front of the car because Danny's little lips were just chattering away. We were so cold. I can imagine. Two quick things and we'll let you, we'll let you go here, Dee. You've been great.

A little trivia that ties into our podcast. You made a movie, a TV movie, for our pal Bill Persky called Wait Till Your Mother Gets Home. Oh! You're friends with Bill? We love Bill. He lives a few blocks from here. We've had him on this show three times.

Are you kidding? Oh, please. You've got to promise me to call and give him my love we absolutely will we'll do that we'll do more than that we'll give you his email i i did oh i'd love that the last time i did it you just had a birthday two days ago with bill uh but wait till your mother gets home yeah uh we just it was just one of those golden movies of the week you know blue andre produced it i i worked with them a lot too uh in the day and um gosh bill gentle good oh he's the best focused yeah and and And a total curmudgeon. Yes.

That's what we love about him. He just had a birthday. We should clone more Bill Persky. Absolutely. And here's another one. You played the mother of one of our former podcast guests. I'm going to let Gilbert try to guess who that was. Oh, geez. I'll give you a hint.

We did the show from his apartment. Oh. It didn't come to my apartment. You're a little far away, dude. Oh, God. We did it from. Wait, wait, wait, wait. Not Larry Storch.

No. How could she play Larry Storch's mother? Yeah. Thanks. Thanks a lot for that. Thank you. Larry Storch is like a thousand now. Unless it was a time travel scene.

I'm trying to think of the people whose apartments. I'll just start talking like this, okay? Wait. We, we, we. Oh, God. She's a sport. I'm, I'm, I'm. It was his apartment down in Tribeca.

Wait a second. Well, Jeff Ross. He had an inflatable reindeer in his living room. It was his apartment down in Tribeca. Wait a second. Well, Jeff Ross. He had an inflatable reindeer in his living room. Oh, Josh Groban. Josh Groban. Yeah. He has an inflatable reindeer.

I'm never going to let you forget that. Yes, he does. You tell him. Yes, on The Office. Yep, on The Office. What a dear man he is. Yep. Sweetheart. Yep, yep, yep.

And so talented. He is. He is. What a deer man he is. Yep. Sweetheart. Yep, yep, yep. And so talented. He is. He is. So you have some connections to this show. I remember with Josh Groban, we were taking pictures, and one of them, of course, I grabbed the inflatable deer and started doing obscene things with it. Yes. Of course you did.

Of course you did. Of course he did. And his manager or PR person said, no, no, we cannot use that. And he, Josh, was, no, that's funny. Definitely want to put that on Twitter. Yeah, let's put that on the Christmas album. And you never played Larry Storch's mother. No. That's in another life, babe.

She never did. Dee, this was great. Like I said, we could go on. We've got like 25 cards here. You've done everything. You've worked with everybody. Tell us about the website, your books. You can find everything about me at IamDWallace.com. And you're on Twitter, I noticed.

I'm all over Twitter and Instagram and Facebook. Yeah. I think it's D underscore Wallace. And you're teaching acting too? Yeah, I have five books. But if you want to read the one about my career and everything, that's Bright Light. And everything's on Amazon. Everything that I've written is also on Amazon.

And mention your daughter again. Gabrielle Stone. Look for her. She's quite awesome. We're actually having a film written for the two of us right now. Oh, that's nice. Oh, wow. And it's nice to see the acting passing down from your mom to you to the next generation.

Yeah. You know, one of the highlights of my life was that I was able to get my mom her SAG card. Oh. She had dreamed about it all her life. My series, Together We Stand, and I went to Al Burton and I said,

Al, there's this little scene for this lady who's a neighbor in the apartment thing where the kids could you audition my mom, please? She's a beautiful actress. And Al looked at me and said,

she's hired. Oh, that's wonderful. And then when we did the new Lassie, he had her out, um, to do another scene in that. And,

um, it was just, you know, that's, that's the best when you can give your mom a gift like that. Oh, wow. It's just the best. Wow, I wish I could get my mom into sex.

She's 90. Of course, she's not an actress, so it's going to be tough. Oh, well, no, no. We're using a lot of real people, if you hadn't noticed. Oh, that's true. That's true. Dee, this has been wonderful. Oh my God, so much fun, you guys.

A great ride. And we've been discussing you for years now saying... Uh-oh. Well, you were... We should tell our listeners who you were booked a couple of months ago to do this. What happened? Oh, something happened.

You had a scheduling conflict of course i did but that's okay i'm sorry guys but we're here now we started this four years ago three years ago and gilbert's been saying what about d wallace like every every three months caller well thank you and here you are thank you for your persistence because this has been a blast. Oh, we're so glad. You've entertained us, and thanks for entertaining us all these years. Thank you. Well, this has been Gilbert Gottfried's Amazing Colossal Podcast

with my co-host, Frank Santopadre. And we've been talking to a woman who likes sex. You bet, baby. And wants to play a nun. So go figure. The great Dee Wallace. I love it.

Dee, our listeners are going to love this show. I hope so because I love them. I love my fans. I hope so, because I love them. I love my fans. I do. And you're the star of so many movies that people are obsessed with. Yes. Like The Hills Have Eyes and Cujo.

A lot of iconic movies. Oh, you know, I know we've already signed off. That's okay. One thing people should really tune into if you have younger children and you want to introduce them to the late great me. Amazon Prime, Just Add Magic. It's a beautiful, beautiful little show. And it's great for kids anywhere from 6 through 14. They love it.

It's one of the highest rated shows Amazon Prime has. Okay. Just add magic. Yeah. I play the grandmother. Oh, you do? For the first time. But she likes sex.

Oh, of course. Well, that's in your rider by now. I want it in my bio. Oh, and before I go, Patrick McGee, you worked with. Oh, Mac Neat. Mac Neat. Yes, the great Pat. Of course.

John Steed. Boy, do you think he had some stories. Woo! You've worked with everybody. A lot of them. What a journey. A lot of them. What a journey.

And I'd like you to know that after hearing your approach to life, Gilbert is a changed man. Oh, yes. Well, I hope so, because you needed to be cleaned up. I want to tell our listeners that Gilbert's wearing a T-shirt from a radio station. And when he walked into the room, we have Dee here on a monitor. And she said, thanks for dressing up, Gilbert. And shorts, you know, it's like, let's swim it.

Well, I've got the legs for it. You do, baby. You do. Dee, we love you. Thank you so much. Thank you, Dee. You do, baby. You do. Dee, we love you. Thank you so much. Thank you, Dee. Thank you.

Bye. Bye. Bye. Gilbert Gottfried's Amazing Colossal Podcast is produced by Dara Gottfried and Frank Santapadre with audio production by Frank Verderosa. Our researchers are Paul Rayburn and Andrea Simmons. Web and social media is handled by Mike McPadden, Greg Pair, Nancy Chinchar, and John Bradley-Seals.

Special audio contributions by John Beach. Special thanks to John Murray, John Fodiatis, and Nutmeg Creative. Especially Sam Giovonco and Daniel Farrell for their assistance. © transcript Emily Beynon