| Home > Horror News > Interviews > Interview Pamela Munro Character Actress |
| Rated: 5.00/5 | Votes: 3 | Views: 83 |Submitted: 09/14/07 |
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Movies are full of “character” actors, especially horror films, in my travels around the internet I ended up meeting one stellar character: Pamela Munro. One can check out Pamela on Imdb or read some of her articles on Associated Content. Pam was cool enough to do a Q and A (via the internet) with me involving her works and especially her time on the horror film Jolly Roger: Massacre at Cutter’s Cove.  Q. What was it that interested you the most about getting involved with acting? “I have always loved the theatre and grew up around NYC during what I now find out was a great theatrical period - both on the stage - in the off-Broadway movement and on the dramatic TV of the time. (Not to mention all the great old movies I saw on the Late Late Show!) I had collection of dolls and I would act out scenarios in my bedroom, tearing it apart and would play imaginative games. I got to sing a solo in my kindergarten Xmas show and that hooked me. From then on, I was always trying to get into school plays! So, I say, that when everyone gave up playacting and playing with dolls, I just went on acting and had the great luck to be in a wonderful teen drama group. Then I went to HB Studio to test my mettle, right after high school and alas, they confirmed that I was talented.” Q. What was your first film role and how did you get it? How do you usually go about seeking roles? “My first film role - sort of - was in an experimental film done through the Berkeley Film House when I was up there. I had no idea what I was doing - but the technique I had learned at HB Studio translated well into film. Then, when I came to L.A. I took a film acting course, which helped a lot. When you start off as an actress, you have no idea that you will spend most of your time looking for work! Sad but true. One uses any avenues available - it used to be trade papers - but now it's internet casting - which is much more efficient and productive.” Q. Are there any sort of films or roles you would refuse to take? “I used to say that I wouldn't take roles that were exploitative of a woman's sexuality -but as a character actress that's not so much of a problem. Generally, I wouldn't work for people who felt "icky" - every time I ignore that instinct I get into trouble. You have to trust your director. But "icky" people make me close down anyway - so I am less likely to get the part, anyway! I don't like films that are overly violent - and there are sorts of philosophies I disagree with, and I wouldn't like to associate with such people.” Q. You had a role on that Tv show Unsolved Mysteries, could you tell us about your role, that show, and did you get to meet Robert Stack? “No - you never get to meet Robert Stack, more's the pity. I was off on location in the Valley and in Griffith Park, etc. doing our stuff. The crew was great and everything went like a well-oiled machine! Nothing is like the feeling of being on a well run set doing your stuff and getting paid for it. It's heaven. I got the part because I was doing an actor's showcase at the casting directors office, which he rented out evenings - and also I met a colleague at the audition who introduced me to him. Not to mention that I could tell them that I had actually worked as a phone psychic (one of my screwball ideas to make money - that didn't last long.) It really was an interesting part - with all sorts of twists and turns. I have an accident which causes me to see visions and am tormented by it and then I see visions of this crime, and am able to help solve it.” Q. Do you know if they ever solved that mystery? “Yes, I think in real life it was solved, too. The psychic's was actually from New Jersey, just like me. They love verisimilitude.” Q. Tell us about: Jolly Roger: Massacre at Cutter's Cove and your experience with the role you had. “Jolly Roger was one of my internet submissions, and I got a call to go over to Crossroads of the World, a picturesque 30's place, with a building that looks like an ocean liner...I met the director and looked and the script, and just had a good feeling about it. Then I had a call back and the director, Gary Jones, asked me to do the scene where I talk about the pirate story and then am assaulted by the pirate. himself. Gary gave me some direction, which was really helpful, and I was impressed with him and thought it was a great part for me, and good parts for mature women are hard to find. One funny part was that I had to have a mold of my head made for the pirate to drag around, as he collected heads. I had straws in my nose and the whole 9 yards. I sat there thinking, I just hope that this guy knows what he is doing. His father had been a dancer with Gene Kelly and we talked old Hollywood while the goop was drying. Also on the set, I had to have a tube put down my robe and hide my hand so it would look like it got cut off, and then the effects guy would pump the blood mixture through the tube and it sprayed all over. It made the plastic sheeting on the floor really slippery, so I had to watch my step. The effects guy also put rubber cement on those fake fire logs to create a fire in the fire place, which wasn't functional. I really like how the story of the pirates which I told in that scene came out. (I felt like I was channeling Robert Shaw from Jaws - remember the speech about the sharks and the Indianapolis?) It was almost all shot in a mansion in downtown L.A., and an area that had been upscale in the 20's - the house belonged to someone who made his fortune in cement, I think...I never did really find out if we were supposed to be in New England or what…” Q. What are your favorite types of movies or programs to watch? Like any horror? “What do I like to watch? Old movies from the 30's and 40's into the early 50's - even some silents. When we got cable I insisted on getting Turner Classic Movies. I also like all the ghost hunter shows - especially the English ones where you get to see those old houses and mansions. And I love archeology shows, about mummies and remains and things. My husband says I like all the shows about dead people. The horror I like is mostly the classic kind. Except the first Shamoulian flick about the boy who saw dead people, which caught that feeling. The most frightened I ever got watching a movie was watching the original The Haunting with Julie Harris and Claire Bloom late at night alone in my old New York apartment on a little b/w TV. I think the newer films rely too much on sheer gore, rather than mind games. The mind game aspect is what is really intriguing. Maybe that's why I like stories about hauntings. But in real life it's very scary. There used to be a ghost, maybe 2 in my Hollywood apartment. Lots of apartments around here have imprints of what on years ago. And that's not fun at all. All gone now, though. Oh, and I love those old Vincent Price and the Hammer horror movies, too. They are wonderfully cheesy. I think Jolly Roger was trying for that note, too.” Q. What do you think about "Hollywood" in general? “Never thought I would end up HERE in Hollywood of all places. That was the antithesis of everything I envisioned for myself! But I was madly in love and followed him to California and realized that I liked the trees and the grass, and decided to come down here. I thought of going back to NY and one year spent almost 6 months there with my family - but by that time I had been branded a "Hollywood" actress and hadn't done theater in Connecticut, even though I had worked with Ralph Waite's wonderful L.A. Actors Theater in Pinter - and standing up in the Path train into the World Trade Center was too awful...That place always gave me the creeps, and I never went into it or saw the view...I was grateful to come back to L.A. and commute sitting down listening to the radio and seeing the sun set over the Hollywood Hills! But I do love the theater. I founded a Shakespeare company in Berkeley and did classic revivals in a 99 seat theater I produced in. I did a Horton Foote play a couple of years ago at Company of Angels here in L.A. and the production won an award. That's typical, the production wins awards, not me! I've been in productions that have won Emmy's, cable awards, been at Sundance and gotten Ovation awards...Like I say, lots of art, no money. I do still get tiny residuals from Unsolved Mysteries, though. Bless the producers. And I am apparently known at least in Scotland, as a Scottish folk singer my brother knows was impressed that I had appeared with Mr. Stack! I like rubbing shoulders with glamour occasionally here - it can be great fun dressing up. And I actually like award shows, whereas people think it's cool to be blase about them, except for that whole red carpet thing, I guess. And I love the history of it. Bela Lugosi happened to have died in my apartment building. For years I was the only who knew - but now we have the grave side tour buses come by.... It's hard on the women, though. I did get a lot of pressure at one point to get really thin - and I was at my thinnest! I could have gone the Judy Garland route - but I was too concerned about my health, and if I had, I wouldn't be here to tell the tale...There is this ruthlessness, where people will do anything to get ahead - and because I love it so much, I was sorely tempted at times...it's a great morality play writ large. But then again, there are wonderful, creative people whom you meet. And the friends you make are the true kind who stick with you through thick and thin and there is a lot of that...It's all been very interesting, like going on safari in the wildest jungle in the Dark continent in the olden days...Although that gets wearing, so I am glad we have our sailboat up in Ventura to get away to! Actually, you think about giving it all up on a regular basis, and then find that you just can't bear living without whatever crumbs you have…” Q. What does the future hold for Pamela Monroe and what would she like to take this time to possibly promote? “Ah, the future. I read somewhere that we are all creatures of hope - and I would think that actors are especially like that! The Jolly Roger part was the best I have ever had on film, and I know I have a lot more in me. Hell, I am an extremely talented actress and I can sing, dance, play instruments, speak other languages, do accents, and other characters - and I have done everything but be in the circus!! As they used to say in the old days - I just need a break. I almost got there as an ingénue in NY theatre and here in L.A. on TV - but it didn't happen. So, I won't be a star - but I am sure set to be a darned good character actress. I would love to do sitcoms, somehow that's never worked for me - and more indies...Thank heaven there has been an indie revival in L.A. For years it was dead as a doornail - or so it seemed to me. And as big movies were filmed away on location, the parts I could have done went to retired dentists and the like who had done plays in high school and could afford the union initiation fee to hang out with the stars...You see the old movies of the classic era - and they are filled with wonderful character people! They come on in a scene or 2 and are marvelous and then they moved to the next movie! Our movies lack that. Watch closely and you will see how lame the supporting people can be. They just don't know how to act oftentimes, and are shoved in there because they don't want to bother to pay for or hire a real actor.... When I first came to Hollywood there was an ethos that actors got certain parts, sort of as an award for hanging in there. That whole thing has collapsed, alas - and everyone and everyone's uncle has a union card. The priest in my old parish had one and was in a movie they filmed in the parish hall! The old studio system would probably be better for the rank and file. It was busted up by the stars - and now we are all on own all the time.... So -as a creature of hope - I would love to see the new media create oodles of paying jobs for all of us. I would love to have real support from an agent or manager to get to the next step. I just want to work and work. Actors are frustrated workaholics, you know. (Do you have any pull with Theatre 150 up in Ojai - I would love to work with them and/or the Rubicon in Ventura.) Gotta a job? Got $. I will come.…” - Wes Laurie |
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